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Published: March 21st 2012
Dublin
Famous Statue, couldn't show ankles, but the chest was a free for all apparently!Slainte!
This weekend I was lucky enough to go to the homeland for a true irish St. Patrick's celebration! Taking an early flight, with practically all americans (go figure), I arrived in Dublin at about 9 a.m. From the plane I could already see I was going to absolutely love the landscape of the country. I've never seen grass so green, not even in Papoo's yard!
We went to our first hostel, in a residential part of Dublin and then headed out toward the Guinness factory! On the way we walked up to Grafton Street and walked through Stephen's Green, a great park with flowers in bloom, swans in the pond and I saw a commercial getting filmed! Grafton Street was bustling with St. Patty's traffic and city workers setting up for the next day's festivities.
The facotry is back to back with St. Joseph's Church, a few doors down from Arthur Guinness's home. The factory had a huge line, but thank goodness we had a reservation and got right in to start the self guided tour! Each room describes a part of the process to making a delicious pint 😊 There was descriptions on the walls and
Dublin
Carnival also on tv screens that showed the actual factory and machinery in action. Once I learned the basics, there was a room where you could try the draft beer, and on St. Patty's day they had a taste of an unreleased beer! After the making of the beer itself, the tour switched to the history of the company, how the barrels were made to store the beer, how it was transported over seas and advertising of the company. One of the most interesting facts I learned was that Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year contract for the St. James factory. It's amazing how confident he was in his success! Also that the Guinness book of World Records is the top selling book in the world third to the Bible and Koran. One the other floors, there was a cafe, Guinness in sports history, and the Guinness Academy. At the 'academy' I learned how to properly pour a pint (much more complicated than you think!) and was able to enjoy my first Guinness!! I absolutely love this beer!
Wandering the city for some grub, I came across a sign for the Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Ireland. The pub
Dublin
Gaelic! is situated right down the block from the River Liffey and has been built up, or backwards rather, since it was founded in the 1100's! The place was packed with both locals and tourists alike and we were lucky enough to run into our friends in the program to eat with! Apparently corned beef and cabbage is more of a home cooked meal and isn't regularly served in restaurants so I ordered the next closest thing, Traditional Bacon and Cabbage. In Europe "bacon" isn't the crunchy delicious bacon I normally devour, it was more like a ham steak but still SO delicious! With people speaking Gaelic behind us and irish music playing, I felt very proud to be Irish in that moment! After dinner I returned to the hostel to gear up for St. Patty's!
Bright and early and stuffed from the offered breakfast, I was able to see St. Patrick's Cathedral in the sunlight that had been hiding all Friday! The night before, all the main monuments including the church were light up green
After checking into the hostel we'd be at for the next two nights, a much more youthful and vibrant one, Dublin
hostel we went souvenier shopping and wandering to find the best spot to watch the parade. After deciding on a spot right in front of Christ's Church (aren't they all christ's church...? :P) we waited an endless amount of time for the Science themed parade to get under way. There were a lot of fantasy-like "floats" and costumes with many American college and high school bands in between showing off their talent, including Notre Dame! The parade got to us around 1 and ended an hour or so later, the mother next to us told her son it took so long becuase all the people were busy finishing their pints. probably true! Afterwords we wandered on into Dublin Castle and took a tour through just a few of the hundreds of rooms built. Our amazingly informed tour guide explained how Ireland is known for being "a small country with an enormous history", and man was he right. With his explanations of the development of the castle's construction and the change of power, I realized how head-strong us Irish really are! One of my favorite parts was being able to go underground and see part of the excavation process where workers found
an original Viking wall, and also some of the moat that still remains! Next up I checked out the chapel attatched to the castle that has all of the English Vicounts names across the paneling and windows and as fate would have it, as the last one resigned to give the Irish their independence, he took the very last window! A little warmed up from the tour, the hunt began for a great pub to cozy up in and watch the England v Ireland Rugby match. While we battled for a seat, I was able to enjoy a Guinness and the mix of decorations around the pub, included a statue wearing an orange green and white wig perfect for the day! The game was a BIG loss, but the energy before the ass-kicking was contagious and really fun to experience. Having to wake up early on Sunday we had an early St. Patty's night but not before finding a carnival across the river from our hostel and going on a ride!
Judging by the streets on Sunday morning, I would assume that an american or two might have possibly been drinking?....maybe? God bless the workers that morning, they had
a big job ahead of them! On Friday I bought a ticket to go on a bus tour to go visit the Cliffs of Moher for the day, with a stop or two in between at other sites and for lunch. Our group got really lucky with our guide, Matt, who not only was a miracle driver on winding roads but was great entertainer and storyteller as well. We first stopped at an old monastary, in which people (dead of course) are still being buried today, we even saw a family laying down flowers while we were there. Each headstone had a more Irish name than the last, and the Celtic crosses protecting the beloved were so detailed and beautiful to see. Matt told us that there were many sites, Abbey's, like this all around the countryside that were abandoned during the famine, and never reconstructed. We passed a few "castles" that were really just houses that the lords of the land lived in, and were also in ruins but ironically with suburban houses built next door! We stopped at a restaurant called Fitzerald's and I was able to enjoy another meal with 3 kinds of potatoes and turkey with
St. Stephen's Green
Stop lookin at me swan! ;) cranberry sauce, my kind of meal!! Then after a quick walk around the area it was back on the bus and off to the cliffs. (But not OFF the cliffs!)
The first thing I noticed at the cliffs was that the shop, museum and cafe's were all built INTO the hillside, which was very very very cool to see, then I climbed up and saw the cliffs and didn't think that was as awesome anymore! Never have I seen a landscape so powerful and unreal. The green heights of the cliffs mixed with the staggering rock constantly being smoothed away and eroded by the Atlantic was unbelievable. Walking up to O'Brien's Tower, a lookout station, I kept looking behind me to make sure it wouldn't disappear! All along the path ways are signs saying "Danger" "Steep Cliff" "No entry" ect. but much to Mom's dismay, I climbed right over those signs and got as close to the edge as I could. Talk about feeling small and insignificant, the closer to the edge I got the stronger the crashing waves sounded, I even got a little spray at one point! At the highest point of the cliffs, looking back across
to the tower, I can't imagine anyone sitting in my spot could ever feel any stress. The contrast of the colors in the ocean and land, mixed with the sounds of the waves and wind, I actually though that must be what heaven is like, then a couple behind me started to fight over what option on their camera to use and I snapped back pretty fast! Walking back to the bus after almost 2 hours in this magnificent spot I kept wondering what the first Irishman's thoughts were when they found that sight, and how they ever got around to wanting to share it.
Somehow on the way home I fell asleep, probably by counting the sheep in the fields, that part of Ireland is known well for their wool sweaters! Arriving back in Dublin a little of schedule, I was able to meet with a friend from home studying at Trinity College and enjoy a Bulmer's Hard Cider with her to catch up!! Besides the cliffs this might have been my favorite part! After two months (yes, it's been 2 months already!) it was relaxing and calming to be able to talk about and get a little
piece of home!
This week I start up new classes, and so far I am enjoying them!
Hope everyone enjoyed their St. Patty's as much as I did!
Air
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Sharon Hare
non-member comment
WOW!
My Dear Lass, I totally enjoyed this blog! The pictures are unreal. I have so many favorites, especially the shops built in the side of the hill at the Cliffs. I almost fell out of my chair looking at the pictures of you close to the edge of the cliffs....regardless of the MANY signs expressing DANGER!!! You write the blog so well that it makes me wonder if there are jobs for traveling and blogging???????? A perfect match for you and your wonderlust! Love you so much, MOM