Dublin

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For fall break, I visited two cities that you just don’t want to visit in the winter if you can help it. Northern Europe is crazy cold with the high humidity and all the weird weather stuff that happens there. Dublin was first on the list and it was everything I hoped for.

Although smaller than I imagined, it made sense once I remembered I was on an island. If you have ever thought it might be nice to visit Ireland, you are correct. The people are polite and have a level of sophistication that I didn’t see to the same extent in eastern European countries. And that is not to say that eastern Europeans are not sophisticated—they most certainly can be, but they are much more varied in their clothing styles than what I saw in Ireland. Ireland had mostly blacks and greys and lots of wools and tweeds. I see all kinds of interesting personal styles in Budapest. This is great, as it reinforces that while I am a weirdo, I am not the weirdest weirdo out there. :P

I was in the city for about 3 hours when a group of us decided to go out to the Temple Bar. I found out later that it is the iconic Dublin pub and it was super-busy and lively. There was a section with live music and an outdoor garden area where I enjoyed seeing all the jolly, round, pink cheeks of the grinning Irish, drinking and socializing.

The next day I spent in the main city park, the national gallery, and spotted random cool sights along the way. There is a 1,000 year old church on every other corner, it seems. The history of this place is oozing out, everywhere you turn.

We settled in for a traditional Irish dinner at the most reputed spot in the city, called O’Neil’s. We were not disappointed. And when I say we, I mean 5 or 6 guys visiting from all over and myself. We tried everything between all of us and nothing was short of exceeding our high expectations. I was thinking of my brother when I ordered one of his favorite dishes: the corned beef and buttered cabbage with mashed potatoes and stuffing… and there was turkey and toasted breads and… nomnomNOM!!

As I usually find to be true when traveling, I wish I had more time here, too! :D

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