Well, I'm sitting at our hostel in Dublin. 6 of us made the trek to Stansted airport via the train, then took a Ryan Air flight to Dublin. Cait and I arrived earlier in the day, since our boss is quite laid back about our work schedule. We took the 747 city bus from the airport and navigated our way to our cheap hostel. After dumping our worthless luggage in our 8 person room, we took our valuables (passport + wallet) and hit the city. We wondered a bit in our area, passing Polish markets and loads of touristy shops. We made our way South across the Liffey river over to the Temple Bar area, containing loads of pubs, a few bars, and some other watering holes. As we made our way into shops, we noticed right away - - the people here really are much nicer!! Customs, Museum staff, shop keepers, waiters, random people on the street - everyone is quick to make small talk with a smile, and its quite refreshing.
Anywho, we grabbed a pint of Guinness and headed back to our hostel to meet our other 4 traveling companions from London - their bus driver had dropped them off directly at the hostel, deviating from the route (once again, nice folks here). We then ate at The Bank, a beautiful pub with spectacular sausage and posh architecture. Soon after we found ourselves in a pub called Tea on Quays ('keys'), crammed in with tons people enjoying a pint while shaking to two Irish folk musicians on a guitar and fiddle - just fucking awesome. After crashing hard, we did a self guided walking tour of the city before ending up at the Jameson Irish Whiskey Distillery (founded in 1780), where we had a spectacular tour guide and learned why Irish Whiskey is the best whiskey (they distill it three times, plus essentially created whiskey itself). Yours truly was picked as a volunteer...which consisted of trying 5 different kinds of whiskeys following the tour (resulting in about 4 shots) and choosing the best. Fucking awesome. We then buzzed our way around town for 'shopping' before grabbing a 'Boxty' at a local pub. Then I had some cognac. It was a good day. Tonight we'll be taking it easy, but most likely that will still involve a pint or two.
A day trip to the country tomorrow and then a crazy market on sunday before leaving that afternoon. This place has got to be the best stop so far. The people here make you feel right at home. Pictures when we get back.
Bloody hell!
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