At Home in Ireland

Sitting on the runway in our 6:45 flight to Dublin, Caitlin and I both feel an enormous sense of relief. Two days later than planned, we would finally make it to Dublin. We still don't quite believe that we will be in Dublin in two hours, and then our pilot comes over the intercom, "this is your captain, Sean Flannagan..." That name in that accent--it hit us--we really are going to make it.

We did in fact make it to Dublin that night. Caitlin's friend Caroline who lives in Dublin with her fiance picked us up from the airport, took us to drop off our bags at their apartment, and streamlined us to the nearest pub for a pint of Guinness. The delay, stress, and build-up of trying to get to Dublin made being there that much sweeter. As we sat sipping our pints in the dark mahogony, fire-lit pub humming with Irish accents, Ireland seemed like the best place in the world.

This morning we left Caroline's apartment by 8am, bags in tow, to ride with her into town and leave our bags at her office in the historic Trinity College. Without much of a plan for our only day in Ireland, since we are to leave by 7am for Brussels tomorrow, we headed to the nearby Grafton street--a popular shopping street--to wander around. Being early morning, there wasn't much to do there so we meandered into St. Stephen's Green park--a nice, quiet, inner-city park filled with flowers, birds, and coffee-laden walkers on their way to work. From there we walked to Christ's Church and St. Patrick's Cathedral to admire their impressive facades.

We walked back to Caroline's office to pick up our back packs before we got too far away, and hiked to our hostel tourist style with our backpacks and map. We thought we knew the way to our hostel, but after getting slightly turned around we pulled out the map. We must have looked like a red flag, because within a minute of consulting our map, two older Irish men stopped to see if we needed any help. They jollily pointed us in the right direction, or so we thought, until we couldn't find the street we needed. Pulling out the map yet again to get our bearings, we were immediately accosted by another older Irish gentelman who offered his help. On the right track again, we made it to the street with our elusive hostel, but still could not seem to find it. This time we pulled out the map, not to consult, but to wave it as a white flag of surrender and hope one last Irish man would come to our rescue. And of course, he did and, embarassingly, pointed us to our hostel, which was only 200 feet down the road.

Our shoulders and feet aching, we checked into our hostel and went to our room to drop off our bags only to find that our roommates in our 4 person suite appeared to be two men by the looks of the underwear drying in the window and the shaving kits in the bathroom. Great, that won't be awkward, but we were really too tired to care. We still had the Guinness Storeroom to see, which is a must, so we had to put our sore feet and roommate worries aside and head back out onto the streets of Dublin.

After what seemed like an eternity we made it to the storehouse, which is basically a museum dedicated to Guinness with a well worth it free pint in the rooftop bar at the end of the tour. Tired, but content with our days accomplishments we headed back to the hostel to recuperate, which is where we currently sit now. Our only plan for the night is to head to the famous Temple bar for one last Irish pub experience.

Although, we have only been in Dublin for one day, we are in love with the city and want to see much more of Ireland. Dublin feels like a small village with the convenience of a big city. The people seem like family rather than foreigners. Maybe it's the extensive Irish influence in the United States, but most likely it is the more tangible congeniality and hospitality of the Irish.  All I know is that we are going to do everything possible to make it back to Ireland for a few more days before we leave because we want more of this friendly and beautiful country.

~Lori

Entrance to St. Stephen's Green Park, Dublin

Grafton Street, Dublin

Dublin is famous for its colorful doors

Curious sign...no idea.

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin

We each got a free pint of Guinness at the end of our tour of the Guinness Storehouse Museum.

View of Dublin from the rooftop bar at the Guinness storehouse through the quote-filled window panes...of course I had to put in the James Joyce quote.

Just after our arduous trek to find our hostel and the discovery of our male roommates via drying boxers, we took time to jot down our thoughts about our day in Dublin in our hostel room.

Famous Temple bar confusingly located in the Temple bar district, which is a popular area for nightlife in Dublin. We spent our last few hours in Dublin here before heading back to our hostel to then drag ourselves into a bus at 4am to get to the airport in time for our morning flight.