Honeymoon (Part 4 - there and back again)
Dublin.... (pics here)
Dublin is a major city. The last leg of our trip and the point from where we would depart the emerald isle.
Frankly, after the serenity and beauty of the west coast, entering Dublin was depressing...
We drove straight on through and headed directly to the last bed and breakfast we would call home for the next two days.
To date, this was the warmest welcome we received in all of Ireland. The couple we stayed with were older and just lovely people. We were basically staying in a suburb of Dublin. There was even a full sized tub to soak in...
Since we arrived late in the day, we really did not want to venture back into Dublin City proper to find a meal so instead we inquired with Mrs. O'Reilly and she let us know that there was actually a 'strip center' up the road where we could find shops and food. Erin also needed to find an electrical adapter - unfortunately on that end we had no luck, so we just decided to grab a quick bite to eat and here I am ashamed to admit it was at (*gasp*) McDonald's. Afterwards, we headed up the road to catch a movie. A lot of you know that I am not fond of scary movies, however for the sake of being 'flexible' I agreed to see 'The Happening' the new film by M. Night Shama-lama-ding-dong (sorry I HAD to go there). I had heard it was a pretty good movie. Well let me tell you kids, I would rather have slit my wrists than have wasted the time I wasted on seeing this movie (inside joke if you actually HAD to sit through the movie yourself - you know that of which I speak). It sucks, pure and simple...
The next morning we rose about 8-ish and after breakfast, headed into Dublin City. First stop, Trinity College where we would get to see the famous Book of Kells. The college is really an amazing place. We lined up with all the other tourists and payed the price, entering the 'Library' where the book is housed. We got to see a marvelous display complete with videos of how the book came into existence and how one made an 'illuminated' manuscript...however, when it came time to actually 'see' the book itself it was impossible (at least for me). The tourists were packed into the space around the book's display case like sardines and I just didn't feel like being rude and elbowing my way in...especially since none of them seemed to want to move away to give anyone else a chance to see - tourists as far as I am concerned on the whole as a 'group; are rude as fuck and American tourists are the worst. There is no sense of respecting personal space, there's no respect period. There's a selfishness involved here and again, I just didn't feel like dealing with it...at least Erin got a chance to see the book and for that I am very happy. If you are interested in The book of Kells there's a link here.
After Trinity College, we went to the James Joyce center - the neat thing about us being in Dublin on June 16th is that it is Bloomsday - those of you who are literary buffs will know the significance of this day. It was very cool seeing people dressed in period costume.
After walking to the Joyce center, we found a pedicab and a brilliant young man drove us up to St. Patrick's cathedral. On the way he entertained us with stories of the history of Dublin and Ireland - what a wonderful young man.
At St. Patrick's cathedral we ran into our first encounter with the 'money-changers-in-the-temple' and then again at Christ cathedral. We were both rather upset over this...cash stand in a church?
I understand the idea behind upkeep etc. but how do you reconcile this to your God? What if all I want to do is come into your church to kneel down and pray? (which is actually what I wanted to do). How about if you want a 'guided tour' THEN and only then should you have to pay but otherwise I firmly believe a church should be open to those who wish to worship...
We then went to eat a a wonderful restaurant (we had originally wanted to eat at the oldest seafood place in Dublin - unfortunately, we just missed their lunch serving)...but the place we landed at was way cooler with wonderful food and great ambiance and music (trance, ambient, techno) in the background.
After lunch we hit a couple of pubs that then made our way (via transit) back to the B&B - our last night in Dublin we soaked in a hot tub, made love to one another and fell asleep...we woke up early the next morning and headed to the airport, shopped duty free and boarded a plane headed for NYC.
Tomorrow - or sometime later this week I will give some tips for traveling - bits of info that may help you should you decide you want to go visit the lovely, ancient land of lush, rolling green hills and lively, foot-tapping music (oh yeah and Guinness too).
Ireland will haunt my dreams until the day I get to return. It was a dream come true to go there (on my honeymoon no less) but the best part of the dream and the part that I get to re-live every day is being married to my wonderful husband.
I love you, baby.
Love to all of you as well.
C~
Dublin is a major city. The last leg of our trip and the point from where we would depart the emerald isle.
Frankly, after the serenity and beauty of the west coast, entering Dublin was depressing...
We drove straight on through and headed directly to the last bed and breakfast we would call home for the next two days.
To date, this was the warmest welcome we received in all of Ireland. The couple we stayed with were older and just lovely people. We were basically staying in a suburb of Dublin. There was even a full sized tub to soak in...
Since we arrived late in the day, we really did not want to venture back into Dublin City proper to find a meal so instead we inquired with Mrs. O'Reilly and she let us know that there was actually a 'strip center' up the road where we could find shops and food. Erin also needed to find an electrical adapter - unfortunately on that end we had no luck, so we just decided to grab a quick bite to eat and here I am ashamed to admit it was at (*gasp*) McDonald's. Afterwards, we headed up the road to catch a movie. A lot of you know that I am not fond of scary movies, however for the sake of being 'flexible' I agreed to see 'The Happening' the new film by M. Night Shama-lama-ding-dong (sorry I HAD to go there). I had heard it was a pretty good movie. Well let me tell you kids, I would rather have slit my wrists than have wasted the time I wasted on seeing this movie (inside joke if you actually HAD to sit through the movie yourself - you know that of which I speak). It sucks, pure and simple...
The next morning we rose about 8-ish and after breakfast, headed into Dublin City. First stop, Trinity College where we would get to see the famous Book of Kells. The college is really an amazing place. We lined up with all the other tourists and payed the price, entering the 'Library' where the book is housed. We got to see a marvelous display complete with videos of how the book came into existence and how one made an 'illuminated' manuscript...however, when it came time to actually 'see' the book itself it was impossible (at least for me). The tourists were packed into the space around the book's display case like sardines and I just didn't feel like being rude and elbowing my way in...especially since none of them seemed to want to move away to give anyone else a chance to see - tourists as far as I am concerned on the whole as a 'group; are rude as fuck and American tourists are the worst. There is no sense of respecting personal space, there's no respect period. There's a selfishness involved here and again, I just didn't feel like dealing with it...at least Erin got a chance to see the book and for that I am very happy. If you are interested in The book of Kells there's a link here.
After Trinity College, we went to the James Joyce center - the neat thing about us being in Dublin on June 16th is that it is Bloomsday - those of you who are literary buffs will know the significance of this day. It was very cool seeing people dressed in period costume.
After walking to the Joyce center, we found a pedicab and a brilliant young man drove us up to St. Patrick's cathedral. On the way he entertained us with stories of the history of Dublin and Ireland - what a wonderful young man.
At St. Patrick's cathedral we ran into our first encounter with the 'money-changers-in-the-temple' and then again at Christ cathedral. We were both rather upset over this...cash stand in a church?
I understand the idea behind upkeep etc. but how do you reconcile this to your God? What if all I want to do is come into your church to kneel down and pray? (which is actually what I wanted to do). How about if you want a 'guided tour' THEN and only then should you have to pay but otherwise I firmly believe a church should be open to those who wish to worship...
We then went to eat a a wonderful restaurant (we had originally wanted to eat at the oldest seafood place in Dublin - unfortunately, we just missed their lunch serving)...but the place we landed at was way cooler with wonderful food and great ambiance and music (trance, ambient, techno) in the background.
After lunch we hit a couple of pubs that then made our way (via transit) back to the B&B - our last night in Dublin we soaked in a hot tub, made love to one another and fell asleep...we woke up early the next morning and headed to the airport, shopped duty free and boarded a plane headed for NYC.
Tomorrow - or sometime later this week I will give some tips for traveling - bits of info that may help you should you decide you want to go visit the lovely, ancient land of lush, rolling green hills and lively, foot-tapping music (oh yeah and Guinness too).
Ireland will haunt my dreams until the day I get to return. It was a dream come true to go there (on my honeymoon no less) but the best part of the dream and the part that I get to re-live every day is being married to my wonderful husband.
I love you, baby.
Love to all of you as well.
C~
posted by Colette at 7:22 PM
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