The Dublin Debacle ('Bitch Goddess city of my Ancestors '-K)

Dublin, originally uploaded by chlorinebeach.

Got up early on Friday morning + put my things together, + then we (Sarah H, Sarah L, Susannah, Laura, Amanda, Adrianne + I) got to the train station far too early. Got on the train with some good seats, and after a short nap, watched the scenery go by. Wales and upper England are BEAUTIFUL. I took a thousand pictures of the rolling countryside, the sheep, and the coastline. We also went straight past the Castle Conway, an old fortress built right next to the train line. The steep hillsides and rolling country reminded me of a less steep, less densely forested putnam county. From the train we got right on the Ferry, + it was much bigger than I had though it would be! It looked like a cruise ship, but they were driving sixteen wheelers out of it, so I guess it had to be quite large.

We got off the boat and into a bus with some incredibly intoxicated Welshmen, who were out for a Stag Slag (Bachelor Party). The bus dropped us off in front of a train station, but we had no idea where we were because our map was crap. I eventually made us go into an Hotel, where the concierge pointed us in the right direction.

The Hostel, Avalon House, was decent, I think- I've never been in an Hostel before. We slept in a room with two bunk beds which seemed pretty clean, and all of the people staying at/working in the hostel had a pretty cool vibe. After some diner food, everybody went out to a pub but I stayed in and wrote/slept, because I was feeling a bit ill.
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Up early the next morning for free breakfast (that's toast and orange juice to all of you with food allergies), + then out into the city. We wandered around, looking at Christchurch Cathedral, the Book of Kells at Trinity College (which wasn't actually there, there was a reproduction of it! But we got a discount + the exhibit beforehand was informative), and the Garden at Dublin Castle (we couldn't get inside), which was very beautiful + made me realize why they call Ireland the "Land of the Green"- everything looked lush and growing, even though it was January.

We stopped at a little place in Temple Bar for lunch, + all got Guinness/Beef stew, which was yummy and filling. Afterward, some of the others went off to the Guinness factory, but Sarah H + I didn't care about that, so we wandered around looking at whatever we wanted to. I must say that Dublin is a much tougher city than London- you can feel from the people that they more recently went through periods of intense violence. I never felt directly threatened, but I was nervous for most of the time we were there.

In the evening we went out + got some Vegetarian takeaway + sat in the Hostel kitchen arguing about literature + racism + politics + women's studies- a very interesting, collegiate discussion. We all mozied out to a pub afterward, but I got in there + instantly didn't like it- it was too dark, + loud, + not my scene, so Susannah + Amanda + I bounced. We fooled around a bit on the hostel computers, and then decided to call it a night.
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On Sunday, we got up early, checked out, ate, and then went to St. Patrick's, which you had to pay to get inside of so we gave it a skip. We walked out to the Kilmainhaim jail, which was the one thing we wanted to see not directly inside the (tiny) city centre. I loved the tour, because I learned a lot about Irish political history and nationalism from it. It was also interesting to see the evolution of (prison) architecture- from the old freezing castle wing to the open Victorian section, it very much typified all of my visions of jails from different eras.

We took the bus back to the town centre and ate at a cute little place called "The Queen of Tarts", which was probably the best meal I have had so far during my entire time in the UK. I had a goat cheese and roasted tomato tart, which came with a green salad, potato salad and a big slice of Ciabatta bread. Everything tasted really fresh + good, and afterward we sat with a pot of tea and some desserts and people watched, because it was raining outside.

Back over to Dublin Castle, for another tour. The more modern section (think Queen Victoria until Thatcher) was kind of boring, because it looked like every other mansion from that era, but we got to go into the basement and see the remains of the old Nordic city walls, and have a bit of the viking/norse conflict explained to us. In the gift shop, I bought some stickers to give out to people when I get home.

We hung about in the hostel until it was about time to go, + then walked over to the bus station for what felt like a much longer ride than we had taken to get into the city, and no wonder- it brought us to the wrong ferry station. So with less than an hour until its departure at 8:55, we caught cabs to the other, north side of town, where we leapt into the ferry. Once we were on, we tried to relax + sleep, but the water was choppy + making me kind of sick. The ferry ride finally ended at 12:05, and we waited in the Holyhead ferry station (where they didn't seem to care about our passports) until the next train, at 4:50. It was quite cold, so we all put on all of the clothing we had packed and huddled under our towels together to try + keep warm. There was a creepy guy we had had the pleasure of meeting on the Ferry who kept trying to talk to us, but after we repeatedly expressed complete + total disinterest in him he eventually took the hint and left.

When we finally got onto the train, I fell directly asleep and didn't wake up until we got into London Euston, at which point we dragged our sorry butts home + went to sleep.
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Overall, Dublin was enjoyable and informative, but it's definitely a weekend town- we saw everything we had wanted to see within two (admittedly rather active) days. It was a bit rough, so I recommend knowing where you're going and (for young women) not going out alone, especially at night. They say the Irish locals are friendly, and while the cabbie was nice, and the young man I stopped on the street to ask for directions was nice, it mostly seemed like the Dubliners were a little pissed at having foreigners there- I did in fact hear two very drunk young men screaming obscenities at an Asian couple.