Limerick and Dublin, Ireland

Monday through Wednesday, October 1^st – 3^rd

I basically followed the same Monday-Wednesday routine that I've been following: class all day on Monday, studying and class on Tuesday, museums on Wednesday (National Gallery and the V&A for two classes) and then pub with BU friends on Wednesday night. In reality, it's kind of hard to remember if anything rather eventful happened last week. It feels a bit like I'm trying see back through to the other side of a very thick forest, and that forest was my weekend in Ireland.

Thursday, October 4th

Woke up rather early and spent the day eating my last cafeteria meals, reading, and packing. Headed to the Tube station around 6pm in order to catch the shuttle from Baker Street at 7:30, which may seem rather early, but I had to take the Circle Line, which is notoriously unreliable (it was the reason we missed our train to Oxford a couple weeks ago). And of course, once I got on the Tube, someone pulled the emergency stop handle and wouldn't confess so we were stuck in the station for about fifteen minutes. Actually, I think the Circle Line is the only thing I hate in London. After a muggy 20 minute ride to Baker Street I made my way to the street. My ticket for my shuttle read that I would be departing from "Gloucester Place Coach Station", so I began looking for an actual coach station, I don't think that's too far-fetched.

Well soon enough I was half a mile up Gloucester Place and it was 7:20, and the coach station was nowhere to be found. So in a panic I hailed a cab and told the cabbie "Gloucester Place Coach Station", and then he chuckled, "Station? It's just a bus stop." Okay, that account makes him seem a bit rude, but he was actually very helpful and nice – heck, I even tipped him for getting me to the coach "station" on time, which happened to be three blocks from the Tube station. I wasn't even out of London yet, and I already had a close call (mind you if I would have missed the shuttle I would have missed my flight). So after a bumpy and jerky ride shuttle ride to Stansted I met up with Tim (who took the train) and checked in. The flight was surprisingly decent considering it was 35 US dollars. We got into Shannon airport (near Limerick, Ireland) at midnight and walked to the information desk.

Friday, October 5^th

-Me: "What would you recommend for a cheap hotel for the night?"
-Information Woman: "Well the only thing that is open is the Travelodge, and that will set you back about sixty Euro each."
-Me: "Oh okay, well how are your public parks?"
-Information Woman: "In Limerick? Oh no, you do not want to do that. You'd be much safer just staying here in the airport."

So we slept in the airport, on some of the most uncomfortable benches ever manufactured, underneath glaring fluorescent lights and thirty feet from a blaring television playing a rugby game.

We woke up before the sun came up, grabbed some tea and a candy bar for breakfast and made our way to an actual coach station to catch the bus to Limerick. The sunrise bus ride through the Irish countryside was beautiful, well until we hit traffic right outside of town, and it was so bad that we just got out and walked the rest of the way into town. Walking through Limerick we were quite glad we didn't spend the night on its streets. We walked across town to the Treaty Stone and then to King John's Castle, where I reluctantly paid the 8 Euro/12 USD admission – but it turned out to be worth it. We had the museum and castle to ourselves because it was still quite early. And while there were not many artifacts aside from the gutted castle, it was wonderfully informative and interesting. After spending about two hours there we headed for the Limerick coach station and took the 12:30 coach to Dublin. Even though the ride was four hours long, it was enjoyable because the Irish countryside was so picturesque. We got into Dublin and walked the five blocks to our hostel to check in. The hostel was "interesting", and I'm using interesting in its euphemistic form. Honestly, it was the worst place I have ever stayed. The 10 person windowless room was horribly cramped with 16 people, always a 90 degree steam/sweat room, and smelled of wet dog. The bathroom had mold growing on every wall, three inches of standing water on the floor – okay now I'm eating, so I will stop describing the hostel. Well I guess you get what you pay for, and I did pay 20 USD a night. Hostels are really quite odd, particularly the demographics of people that stay there. It's essentially a melting pot of international stereotypes. The esoteric and unkempt French, drunk Irish men and women, loud Americans, the schmoozing Italians, the very Prussian Germans, the clubbing Spaniards, and occasionally a person you can actually carry on a conversation with.

After experiencing our wonderful hostel for a few minutes we headed out to explore the city and get a hold of Jenny and Lisa. Jenny and Lisa are two girls that have become pretty good friends of mine over here (they're the ones I'm going to Italy with next week), and it just so happened that we planned our separate trips to Dublin for the same weekend – so it was really nice having two more travel buddies for the weekend. We met up with them at the Dublin Spire, which is essentially an enormous aluminum flagpole without a flag. We then went to Temple Bar, which is listed as the number one thing to do in Dublin – which struck me as quite odd. I spent our entire time there trying to understand why this area was such a destination, the pub was only 150 years old (young by European standards), had no evident tie to Irish history, and served overpriced pints. I arrived at the conclusion that it is a destination just because it is a pub that takes up an entire city block. It was expensive, and full of drunk and rowdy Americans and Europeans, so I only stayed for about five minutes. We then found a nice little ritzy pub called Farrington's next door which was classy and quiet, and a pint of Guinness was only 4 Euro (as opposed to 6). So after a pint and a bowl of chips we called it a night at around 11, keep in mind that I got three hours of sleep on an airport bench the night before, so I was excused from staying out until the city closed down.

Saturday, October 6^th

Woke up very early after getting a few hours in our stuffy and noisy room, met up with the girls, and walked the mile and half to the Guinness brewery/museum at 9am. Visiting the brewery was the best part of the trip by far. It was a fantastic museum, one of the best that I've been to here over here. It was just so interesting to learn about the 300 year history of a brewery and most of all Guinness, which many food and drink critics claim to be the best beer ever brewed. I suppose it also helps that Guinness is one of my favorite drinks, because as some Irish guys I later met said "It's a drink and a meal in a glass". They also have the wonderful Gravity Bar, which is a classy pub where you get your complimentary pint at the top of a tower with 360 views of Dublin. After Guinness we headed off to Dublin Castle, which was a misnomer, because the only structure that remained from the original castle was one keep/tower. I decided on my own that I didn't want to pay anything to see State Apartments (I've already seen the ones at Blenheim Palace and Windsor Castle, and they're not really my thing), so Tim and I headed off to the National Museum of Ireland. On a side note, it's kind of comical when I simply type out "then I went to _____", because it seems like I simply hopped on a bus or into a cab, but in reality that means I walked the two miles to the museum. We had two hours before the museum closed, so we just visited one exhibit which was easily one of the best exhibits I will ever see. It focused on the military conflicts that Irishmen have taken part in since 1500 (e.g. American Civil War, fighting for the French against the English), and had a very enlightening section on Irish Independence and the Irish Civil War. After visiting two Irish museums concerning Anglo-Irish relations in two days, I was forced to reshape my status as an Anglophile – because simply put, the English did unimaginably horrible things to this island for hundreds of years. It just makes you realize that no nation, no matter how much one loves it, can be infallible and/or immune from committing atrocities. I should note that I was surprised at how balanced and objective the museums were; the subject matter simply stands on its own as being thought provoking.

We then "headed back" to our hostel (another mile) and took a much-deserved nap. Wasting no time in the hostel we went to meet the girls at Farrington's for dinner. I had the best salmon that I have ever had (in defense of my nearly non-existent budget, it cost as much as a ham and cheese sandwich, and it was the only thing I ate that day) and a pint of Guinness, which was about as good a dinner as you can get. We met a few Irish guys: Dave, Brian, and Fernel, and hung out with them for the next two hours in Farrington's. It was an absolute blast. We had Irish sing-alongs and wonderful conversations. Everybody went to another pub, but I don't like rowdy pubs (I suppose I'm a bit like an old man in that fashion) so I went back to the hostel and tried to go to sleep. It should be noted that I was awoken at 4am by the loudest and drunkest people I have ever encountered, and it just so happened that they were staying in the next bed over. So yet again, I got about three or four hours of sleep.

Sunday, October 7^th

Woke up rather early again, went directly to the bus station, and caught the bus back to Limerick. Then we were lucky enough to catch the bus 5 minutes later to Shannon airport and hung out there for a few hours. I couldn't help but thinking to myself that I'd probably spent more time in this airport than at Sea-Tac. And I think that was when I jinxed myself. Because after four hours of sitting around we finally went to check in, and it turned out I booked my ticket for the next evening. My mistake, but the representative lady rubbed it in my face and I became rather distraught at the idea of spending another night in Shannon airport. Luckily I hopped on the computer and booked a ticket for 6am the next morning, which made me feel a lot better because I couldn't afford to miss three classes the week before finals.

Monday, October 8th

I spent another night (this time alone) in the airport, woke up at 4am and was back to my flat at about 10am on Monday. Which seems pretty ridiculous considering the flight was only one hour, but that's how air transport works I suppose. Took a one-hour nap and my first shower in five days, both of which were amazing. Then I went to class for the next six hours, but luckily a trip to Parliament was included in that mix. It was our first Parliament session with John Hayes MP in a Parliament committee room, and it was very enjoyable walk through those halls for free (and not have to wait in the visitor's queue). I'm looking forward to our remaining sessions, and am actually looking forward to my 15 minute presentation that I have to give in two and a half weeks time because it will be given to an MP in the same room where British Prime Ministers have given speeches.

Tuesday, October 9^th

Today was recovery day, I slept late because I deserved it. Went to class, and after hearing about how elaborate everyone's projects were going to be, I realized that I could not academically (or financially) afford to go to Norway in two days time. So I am not going this weekend, I am going to essentially be confined to my room with books and my laptop finishing things up. But I will still try to go back to the homeland next month, so I'm not too bummed out. Well that's "all" for now, sorry, this post has probably been the longest one yet.