Terra Incognita

night and day
Sarah and I set out for Dublin Thursday evening. We traveled by overnight coach and ferry which was an interesting experience. We got little sleep, of course, but we did meet some American boys who were also studying in London and taking a weekend trip to Dublin. The group of us hung out during our travel across land and sea. We fell asleep (kind of) to the blaring news bulletins of Sky News repeating the same information about the war while aboard the ferry. It was like a time warp because I went to sleep hearing the same bulletin to which I awoke...I have no clue how long I slept or even if I did.

out of control
The best story of the weekend had to come from the trip out there. It really has nothing to do with me or Sarah, but since we found it amusing, I figure you should get a laugh as well. We got on the coach (read: bus) at 6:30 with a drunken couple on our heels. I couldn't tell if they were Irish or English because the drunken slur overrode the accent. They were fighting and definitely reeked of alcohol as they sat only two seats behind Sarah and me. A bit later, the American chaps sat behind us and the drunk couple got up and moved a seat back so they wouldn't have to listed to 'those damned Yanks.' Classic.
As the coach made its way toward the port, the drunk man finished his (highly prohibited) bottle of Asda (Wal-Mart in the UK) vodka. We heard the lovely musical arrangement of the bottle rolling side to side in the aisle while the man was passed out, legs sprawled between seats. When we made a pit stop, the drunk tried to swipe a pack of beer from another passenger. The owner of the beer turned around and slugged the drunk. It was great...the drunk wasn't allowed back on the coach...but his fiancee was already on...and she stayed on without him.
The plot thickens. When we got back on the coach to leave the ferry the next morning, the fiancee, more drunk than when she got on the coach the first time, had found another man! He wasn't much of an improvement from the first. It certainly made for an amusing time, speculating about the mess that was this love triangle.

a sort of homecoming
We arrived in Dublin at 7 a.m. and arranged to meet the boys at 3 that afternoon to take a trip to the Guiness Storehouse. Our hostel refused to let us check in yet, so we locked up our bags and set off to explore Dublin. We actually accomplished a lot in a short amount of time. Before meeting the boys, we visited and saw:
Christ Church Cathedral (where Handel's Messiah was performed for the first time)
Dublin Castle
A small Millennium park with sculptures
Trinity College (but completely forgot to find the book of Kells, the Gaelic translation of the Gospels...oops)
2 high class shopping centres
and strolled along Grafton Street

drowning man
When we met the boys to go to the Guinness Storehouse, one of them was missing. It seems that he had passed out after too many drinks...before 3 in the afternoon. Classy. Sarah and I headed to the factory ourselves. I had a full three sips of my half-pint of the 'black gold' and decided that the view of Dublin from atop the Gravity Bar was better than the beer.

twilight
That night (Friday) we met for a musical pub crawl at the Ha'penny Bridge in Temple Bar where we were accompanied by real Irish musicians in two pubs. They taught us the history about Irish music (it was originally made to accompany Irish dancing and only later became popular as a form of entertainment on its own) and explained the different types of music. It was really interesting. We learned the chorus of a song, a whole bunch of nonsense words I can't remember.

sunday bloody sunday
...or Saturday. The next morning we slept in but the day was still full of events. We stumbled upon a gallery featuring originals and prints by John Lennon. Sarah, the Beatles-phile, naturally freaked out. Continuing the art theme, we walked three blocks to the Irish National Gallery. To tell the truth, it was the least impressive of the galleries I have seen. Then we headed to see the General Post Office where the Easter Rising of 1917 was held. I wish I'd known a little more of Irish history to appreciate the building, but it looked nice to me. (My only real knowledge of Irish history comes from the U2 song that is the title of this paragraph.) We took in the beauty of St. Stephen's Green after that and then headed to dinner.

tryin' to throw your arms around the world
After dinner, Sarah called Robin, the brother of Gwen (a friend of Sarah’s from school). Robin is in his third year of college. In true gentleman's form, he bought Protz and me drinks at the first two pubs we visited. I have found two new drinks that satisfy me much more than Guinness: Malibu and Coke, and Baileys. We finished the night at a third pub before we had to head back to the hostel at 1 a.m. It was so great to actually spend time chilling and chatting with someone my own age from another country. Confined to the little American ghetto in which I live, inhabited mostly by fellow Missouri System students, it is nearly impossible to leave the States even though I am across the pond. We discussed enarly everything: the war, politics, our childhoods, a bit of religion, our prom (or 'debs' in Ireland) experiences, our desire to travel and our dreams for a family, the problems with America/Ireland. It was amasing to see how we'd each had so many different influences based on our cultures and yet we could share memories of clubs we set up as children and the frustrations of dealing with our first crushes. Sometimes it seems like we focus so much of our attention to looking at how different cultures are that we are blind to the similarities we share as humans. I'm so glad I was able to share thoughts and experiences with Robin and Sarah.

enough o' that.

exit
...and my observations.
-Dublin is pronounced 'Dohb-lin'
-Ireland is pronounced 'Ahre-lan'
-Guinness owns the city. If a building is not claimed by a Guinness sign, then Heineken or Baileys Irish Cream has plastered their label on it.
-There are no leprechauns and no one but tourists say 'Top o' the mornin'

in god's country
We left the Republic of Ireland and returned to the UK on Sunday. The weather was gorgeous and I'm glad I was able to take in the Welsh counrtyside while the sun was shining clearly above. If you hadn't noticed, the headings to this post have been titles of U2 songs. Since U2 is from Ireland and simply one of the greatest contemporary bands, I thought it appropriate to weave them into my post. If you would like to hear more about our adventures, check out Sarah's blog. I'm not sure if you can get access to her pictures as well...they've been kind of finicky for me. I think that if you go to the very bottom of the page (hurry, before she posts again and that entry gets pushed into archives) you can find a link to her photo album that says 'CLICK HERE' and that should get you to the pics.