touring and exploring

I believe that today began with some sort of plan, but morphed as the day went on. Interesting… is anyone else noticing a pattern here? In the early afternoon we headed over to the Northern edge of Dublin City, where the Jameson wiskey company gives tours of its brewing process (though not in the real brewery, which has been relocated to a town about 30 minutes away). Jameson claims to be the original and finest Irish wiskey, and is apparently a staple of Ireland, so we decided to check it out. It was relatively interesting tour, despite a possible superiority complex regarding the founder, and involved stuffed cats, miniaturized brewery equipment, wax people, and a tasting at the end.

Umbrellas in hand, we marched down the puddled Dublin streets after the tour, and followed our stomachs into a dessert shop called Queen of Tarts. There was chocolate chip cheesecake and apple crumble involved… I´ll spare you all the rest of the delicious details. If you´re ever in Dublin, do not leave until you go to Queen of Tarts… you won´t regret it. That´s all I´ll say.

With happy tummys and tastebuds, we wandered the streets, our direction decided by whatever struck our interest at the time. It was in this way that we happened upon the (possibly only) Medieval and Viking Museum in Dublin. We trotted through the tour, playing with the period clothes, armour, and games, before heading up to the viking portion. Though we all had fun, I think this one was the most up Josh´s ally. He got to dress up as a knight (sort of) in the giftshop after the tour. We´re very excited for him. There was a cathedral attached to the museum, which we also explored.

Remember when I mentioned the possibility of a gay pride parade today? Well it happened… and it was bigger and grander than any of us had expected. We were poking around the upstairs giftshop after the Viking museum, heard noise, looked out the window, and saw a pink Cadillac. The parade that followed was of epic proportions, with float after float dripping with color, lights, and fabulous outfits. Pictures will not quite describe the excitement in those minutes during which the parade went by on the streets below, but we´ll try to post some anyway.

Before heading back to the hostel for bed, we decided to spend a couple hours seeing Dublin at night. It´s a bit of a different scene. We ran into quite a few stag (bachelor) and hen (bachelorette) parties, often for Brits and Australians, always wearing some absurd or hilarious costumes, and always very fun to people-watch. One group of gents (who were staying at our hostel) was decked out in argle knit clothing from head to toe. There always seem to be funny hats involved. Just a pattern I´ve noticed.

There are quieter things that are nice about the city after dark, such as the reflection of the city lights on the river Liffey as you walk along it. I personally think that´s something I´ll remember for quite a long time.

physical health day number two

Needless to say, there was some sleep to catch up on today, despite the seemingly endless naps of yesterday. Keep in mind we have a weary traveler in our party who just arrived in the country, a girl recovering from a pesky not-so-little cold, and Nolin… who loves to nap. We had a glorious and much-needed sleep-in day today, and then headed out to one of the many Bagel Factorys in town, where they serve the most delicious egg-and-sausage or sandwich-fillings clad bagels you’ll ever find. Afterward, we went out for a waltz around the city, ending up even deeper in the Temple Bar area than we were aware existed, and around Grafton Street (a busy main street that starts near our hostel and extends south). We sauntered through St. Stephen’s Green, a large and beautiful park on the southern end of Dublin, with green grass, trees, flowers, and a duck pond. You wouldn’t expect to find such a nice park in the middle of a brick and cobblestone city, but it works well here in Dublin.

Besides our relaxing exploration of formerly undiscovered areas of Dublin, we did some more napping back at the hostel. Yes, I did say MORE napping. No, that is not a typo. It’s important that we get Josh well rested and on Ireland time, me feeling better, and Nolin…. well, he’ll pretty much sleep or read whenever he gets the chance. He’s very good at both, for which Josh and I are very grateful when it means we get to take part in some recovery-sleep (whether from jetlag or sickness).

We found Japanese candy and delicious Chinese food for dinner. Again, this is the culture mix you’ll find in Dublin. We thank Josh for his delicious-Asian-food-finding sixth sense. I’m eating a strawberry hi-chew at the moment, and I have chocolate pocky in my bag. We’ll be sure to make fast work of that during the soccer game tonight, which has actually already started. It’s Turkey vs. Croatia tonight, and I’m sure that the box (the TV) is currently on and crowded around back at the hostel.

It was a beautifully sunny day in Dublin today… even permitting the donning of flip-flops and short sleeves. A very exciting time for us Dubliners. We’ll be heading to bed early tonight to make sure we’re alive, awake, alert, and enthusiastic for the outdoor food and flea markets tomorrow, and any parade-like festivities linked to the 25-year anniversary of the first gay pride parade in Dublin. No matter what we do, it promises to be an exciting day, so plenty of rest will be needed.

We’re heading back home now (from the internet cafe) to catch the end of the game with our friends at the hostel, eat some Japanese candy, and curl up in our bunks.

Goodnight to all back in the states. Hope your days are sunny in more than just a weather way.

Love from across the world.

Josh’s first day in Dublin

Hello all!

Nolin and I awaited Josh’s arrival this morning with great excitement, though the minutes and hours seemed to roll by with no Josh in sight. As it turns out, there were some interesting complications with his flight and luggage. Something about having to circle Newark airport due to storms, running out of fuel, landing in Buffalo, flying back to Newark, missing a connecting flight, losing luggage, etc. It’s a long and epic tale. If I can convince him, I’ll try to get Josh on the blog to preserve his tale in text. He finally arrived around noon, and as promised we took him to the chipper for a proper Irish burger, first thing. We then explored the city as the complete trio. All is now right in the world. We have reunited. Have no fear. We showed Josh around the Temple Bar area, Trinity College, the river Liffey, and then ended up on a long, undiscovered side-street of beautiful brick buildings with ivy crawling up the sides. Incredibly Irish-looking. It was lovely, especially because it avoided the large crowds and traffic of the major Dublin streets.

Though Nolin and I had a long napping episode on the couch this morning while waiting for Josh, which again meant me sleeping while Nolin read another mystery novel, I guess that just wasn’t enough. Of course, we had to accommodate our friend Josh who spent the whole day on planes… so, alas, we took another long nap. It was tough on Nolin and I, but we were willing to make the sacrifice, because that’s how much we care about Josh. It was truly a labor of love, if you’ve ever seen one.

Tonight, after watching another Euro2008 soccer game (Portugal vs. Germany… Germany won), we ventured out to the Temple Bar area and into the historic Temple Bar Pub. Filled with patrons of both the super-Irish and rather obviously tourist persuasion, the pub was united in song by the Irish musicians in the corner, who played everything from traditional Irish music to Bob Dylan.

Hanging out on the quaint cobblestone streets of the Temple Bar area, we met some teenagers from the Dublin area. It always strikes me as amazing how we can bump into kids our age from a different continent, and have a grand conversation. There was a lot of talk about each area’s slang and lifestyle. We found out that “good crack” means good fun. Though be wary of asking someone for crack or asking if they want some crack…because then you’re just talking about the drug. “Class” was one of our favorites, and is equivalent to “cool”, “top-notch”, “great”, etc. All in all, we had a fun time with some new Irish friends, while listening to “Wonderwall” sung by a kind street musician.

It was a lovely day of reunited friends, delicious food, sleep, new friends, meshing of cultures, and more sleep.

We’re glad to have Josh with us finally, and can’t wait for the Nolin-Josh-Jen triumvirate adventures ahead.

Love and hugs to everyone at home!

Peace and love from Dublin, Ireland

back home in Dublin

This morning we woke up in Galway. We decided to trot around the town one more time before we left, so we packed our things and headed out of our hostel. Galway is such a lovely little place in the morning and early afternoon, with bakeries on every street and people bustling all around. We decided to head back to Thomas Dillon’s, the original maker of claddagh rings. With an executive decision to disregard our inner “cheap starving college student” and take true advantage of our happy accident (ending up in the home of the claddagh ring, unbeknownst to us until our arrival), Nolin and I bought silver claddagh rings. They’re stamped by the Irish government on the inside, which proves that they are the “official, original claddagh ring.” It turns out that the shop didn’t have a ring small enough in stock, so we had the privilege of watching them size my ring by hand. The lovely couple that owned the shop allowed us behind the counter to an old-world looking workbench, where the man sat and sawed minute pieces out of the band with a coping saw. He then placed the ring around a ring sizer and pounded it with a small hammer until the ends met, used some combination of hot welding tools, and delicately sanded it down. Afterward, he polished it on some sort of fabric wheel, and told us about the use of rouge as an abrasive for polishing (he put some on the wheels). Yes, he said to us (though he directed it at Nolin), “so the next time you put blush on your cheeks, you’ve seen what’s in it.”

After purchasing our rings and getting an impromptu, complimentary lesson on old-school ring making and sizing, we headed to the bus station. Naturally, we hopped on the first bus to Dublin. About halfway through the ride, we took a short stop at a bus station where there was food, restrooms, other buses, etc. Our driver was talking to Nolin and mentioned that there was a different bus a few spaces over that was also going to Dublin, but would be taking a more direct route, which would shave about 45 minutes off of our journey. Sounds great, right? Right. So we headed to the luggage storage area on the side of our bus and flung our packs over our shoulders. By this time, of course, it had begun pouring rain. This was no wimpy California spring rain either. This was proper, heavy, Irish rain. So we sprinted some 40 yards to the other bus, backpacks and all, threw our luggage into the luggage carrier under the bus, and hopped through the doors with barely any time to spare. We took our seats, soaked, and a bit out of breath… but hey, we had made it, and that meant 45 whole minutes less traveling time. Again… great, right? You bet. Flash forward a couple hours: we’re nearly to Dublin… the last 30 minutes of the trip. Looking out the window, something jumps out at me… “20″… the number on a bus in the next lane over. We pull up next to this bus…yes, from behind… and I say “hey Nolin….wasn’t our first bus the number 20?” ……it was. There may have been a bang or two of my head against the window. So when we eventually pull up to the Dublin bus station, who pulls up no more than 4 minutes later, but the number 20 bus. Lovely.

It was all good fun though, no worry, no hard feelings. Switching buses was a fun adrenaline rush, even if it didn’t work out exactly the way we planned.

So we made it back home to the Ashfield house in Dublin, a little tired, a little damp, but no worse for the wear. After that, aside from a stop at our favorite burger place (ironically, a fish’n'chips shop) and a short walk in the city, we had a quiet night in, which was especially nice after the long bus ride earlier today. We watched the Euro2008 soccer game: Russia vs. Sweden. Russia won, 2-0. Luckily, I think the group of Swedish guys left the hostel a few days prior.

Tonight was our first major encounter with Americans since arriving in Dublin. There are some good and some bad, which we definitely figured out tonight. There was the girl sitting behind us during the soccer game, who seemed insistent upon giving her commentary on exactly how “intense” each major play was. Then of course, there was the other group. Nolin and I were curious as to when the group of American teenagers with parent chaperones (an unusual occurrence in a hostel) were going to leave. They were a large group, and their parents cooked them dinner in the hostel kitchen, which smelled delicious. This of course, made us dislike them even more. Anyway, we wanted to know when they were going to leave (hoping it would be soon), but didn’t want to be rude by seeming pushy and asking. I jumped at my chance to strike up a conversation with one of them when he couldn’t get the soda machine to work, and slipped into the conversation “so how long will you guys be staying?” Of course, just after finding out that they’re leaving in the morning, I discovered that he and the rest of the kids (who joined the conversation) were actually pretty cool. So I made about 7 friends tonight. They’re from Kentucky. It figures that Nolin and I go all the way to Ireland, and the friends we make are from the midwest.

Anyway, it was a long, two-city day. Rings, bus rides, sprints in the rain, watching soccer with couchfuls of Europeans, and making friends from Kentucky.

That’s something I love about Dublin, you never know who you’ll meet. Over half the people in the city are actually from somewhere other than Ireland, which creates an interesting mix. Just walking down the street, you can hear English, French, Russian, Dutch, Spanish, Irish, and goodness knows what else.

We’ve really come to love Dublin and the ever-exciting Ashfield house. We can’t wait for Josh to come in the morning.

Hope these blogs are reaching healthy and happy people back home. You’re in our thoughts all the way over here.

Love always from Dublin.

our second day in Galway

Hello all!

Today is our second day in Galway, the fastest growing city in Europe. With our “breakfast at the hostel is over by 10am, so eat early” burden lifted during our time in Galway, we were free to “accidentally” sleep in until 11 this morning. Well, for Nolin it may have been an accident, but when I woke up briefly around 8, I didn’t exactly make an attempt to inform Nolin of the time before I snuggled back into my nest of comforters that I collected from surrounding empty beds the day before.

Recharged from our blissfully long night’s sleep, Nolin and I headed into town again, which is basically a two block trot to the main streets. Today was a lovely soak in small-town life, as we spent the majority of it waltzing around town, peering in bakery windows, splashing in the Irish rain, and sipping freshly blended juice from a place called “Pulp.” We also decided to explore a few of the many grand churches in town. Most of the churches are scattered on the outskirts of the main streets, and tower over passersby with their beautiful but unimposing stone walls and pillars.

Today we stopped into Thomas Dillon’s, the original maker of Claddagh rings. We also visited the small museum attached to the store, which tells the historic tail of how the Claddagh ring was first created, and the many people and stories related to it. The shop and the people that work there are lovely, and we’re planning on returning tomorrow, possibly to purchase a ring or two.

On a small and personal-victory sort of note, Nolin and I have officially decided that my health is on the incline. He was actually able to hear me speak today…though the extent to which that is defined as a good thing is debatable, from his point of view. Hopefully I’ll be good as new in the coming days.

We’ll be heading back to Dublin tomorrow afternoon, and though I’m sure we’ll both miss the sweetness of Galway, we’ll be happy to return to our hip and happening home at the Ashfield house in the city.

Hope everyone is in good health and spirits!

We send our love from across the globe.

a vacation from our vacation

After talking to the cool people behind the desk at our hostel this morning, we decided to skip town and head over to Galway, Ireland. Since we still have a few days before Josh gets here, we wanted to make sure that we didn’t overdo Dublin, and that we got to explore some other area in Ireland. Josh, if you’re reading this, don’t worry, we have plenty of ideas for Dublin stuff once you get here. So anyway, we decided to go to Galway this morning, and within the hour we had bought our tickets and were on the bus. The funny thing about bus Eireann is that it is kind of like the Irish equivalent to the Greyhound bus system in the US, especially because the mascot for bus Eireann is also a dog (just like on Greyhound), except that it’s a golden retriever. And there’s a picture on the side of the bus of it running…yes, again, just like greyhound. I was rather amused by it. I tried pointing out the similarities to Nolin, though his level of excitement was considerably lower than mine.

After about a 3 hour ride, we arrived in Galway, a lovely little seaside, formerly fishing, town. It’s definitely a shift from the bustling streets of Dublin… everything here seems to close at 5pm, until the clubs open at around 11. The pubs, as is to be expected anywhere in Ireland, are open all day. There’s the main square (Eyre Square) and two popular pedestrian-only streets (Shop Street and High Street), which are lined with restaurants, pubs, bookstores, cafes, and clothing stores. Nolin and I have enjoyed trotting up and down these streets all day long, along with all of the surrounding side-streets. What neither of us realized until we got here is that Galway is the town where the famous Claddagh rings originated. Claddagh rings are the ones with the hands holding a heart topped by a crown, symbolizing friendship, love, and loyalty.

We also took a walk out by the seaside, which was incredibly windy, but rather beautiful. An approximately 1 mile walk down a jetty, led by our thirsty inner-photographers, toward a red and white lighthouse. Of course, we discovered that the entire area at the end of the jetty was locked off, and we couldn’t get anywhere near the lighthouse. We did get some good exercise though, that’s for sure, and by the time we reached town again we had the classic pink noses and cheeks caused by cold and windy Irish weather.

coast of Galway:

Thanks to our “Let’s Go: Ireland” (our bible here), we ended up finding some live jazz music at a pub. It was a full 18-piece jazz band, accompanied by some old-fashioned swing dancing. It was great fun, and a nice change of pace for us. We’re hoping to find some good live traditional Irish music once we get back to Dublin.

Yes, I may have been a little skeptical when we first arrived, but I think that’s because I’ve grown so attached to Dublin. We both quickly discovered what a great little find Galway is, the history that it holds, and the nice little change of pace to a quiet seaside city. We’ll be spending all of tomorrow here too, and then will be heading back to Dublin on the 18th before we meet up with Josh on the 19th.

We’ll hopefully upload some pictures tomorrow of our trip so far. Thanks to all those who have been reading along with our adventures! We’ll try to keep the updates coming.

Peace and love from Galway, Ireland

sleep and exploration

Today was our physical health day. By accident. Mr “I always wake up at 6:30 a.m. on the dot even without an alarm clock” Nolin even slept in until 10 or so. Of course, I was hardly about to complain. A dreadful little voice-stealing, congestion-causing cold has caught me in the past few days, and it was worth missing breakfast at the hostel for a few extra winks.

Our little sleeping-in accident forced us onto the city streets to find an alternative source for breakfast, quickly leading us to a bagel shop just across the river Liffey. On the way, we took an alternate route just for the heck of it and crossed a bridge which opened up near a quaint stone-arch alleyway. My curiosity took charge, as it so often does, and we headed through the alley. Little did we know that on the other side laid the formerly undiscovered (by Nolin and I) stone and brick pedestrian streets of Temple Bar. For those who don’t know, Temple Bar is actually the area where our hostel is technically located, but we had never actually gotten around to seeing the rest of neighborhood. Temple Bar is lovely, and includes the original Temple Bar (which the area is named after), the Botticelli homemade gelato shop (just like the one in Malahide), an outdoor used book market, and some small shops and cafes. It was a fantastic find, all thanks to an accidental over-sleep and a series of coincidences.

part of the Temple Bar area:

Besides our little adventure this morning, we pretty much came back to the hostel and fell asleep on the couch in the lobby of our hostel. Or rather, I fell asleep while Nolin read the book he bought at the market. That’s one of the cool things about the Ashfield house (our hostel). You can always find people around, and that includes at least one person asleep on a couch in the lobby pretty much at all times.

So as you saw in the title, that was pretty much our day. Sleep and exploration. And then more sleep. Hopefully our rigorous schedule of sleep, vitamin C, tea, fruit, and cold medicine will knock out whatever has decided to crusade against my immune system these past few days.

Tomorrow we’re planning to skip town for a few days before Josh gets here. That was our plan for today, but that obviously didn’t happen. So hopefully tomorrow we’ll be a little more successful. We’re thinking about these three little towns in Southwest Ireland, but we’re going to talk to the people behind the front desk in the morning in case they have any recommendations.

Things are all well over here, across the pond.

Love to all of you back home.

Darting into the suburbs

Hello all!

Today is my second day, and Nolin’s…third I think… in Dublin, Ireland. We’re staying in a hostel right in the center of the city, which is cool because there’s always something to do and everything is within walking distance. Of course, this also means that there is a club a couple doors down which blasts EuroPop dance music into the wee hours of the morning. It’s all good fun though, we just go to bed to the beat of the rumbling bass.

This morning, we took DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) to a little town called Malahide about 30 minutes outside of Dublin. We visited Malahide Castle, which is about 800 years old and has a lovely stone exterior surrounded by trees. We went inside too, of course, which involved a rather detailed audio tour. Needless to say we easily got our daily dose of history. In the courtyard next to the castle, there’s a peacock named Ben (yes, the people who work at the castle named him that). He was absolutely beautiful, and was kind enough to let Nolin and I stalk him with our cameras for over 20 minutes, and even lifted and displayed all of his feathers in an arc almost as tall as me. It was completely awesome, especially because we were able to get so close.

Malahide Castle:

Ben, the peacock:

After the castle, the peacock, and a walk through some old ruins of stone towers, we headed back to the main streets of Malahide where we stumbled upon some seriously delicous homemade gelato at a cafe called Botticelli.

Fish-n-chips place again for dinner. We just can’t stay away, though we have yet to actually get fish and chips there. It’s all about their burgers. Josh, if you’re reading this, we’re taking you there the second you arrive. Not only because you’ll love it, but also because we want an excuse to keep going back. Palmer, if you’re reading this, we promise we still love your burgers.

Early night tonight. Nolin and I are hanging out in the buzzing lobby of our hostel, eating hazelnut chocolate (we’re addicted), apples, and blogging.

We’ll keep you all updated on our adventures!

Peace and love from Dublin, Ireland

jetlagged adventures

Hello to all of you back home! This is Jen.

I just flew into Dublin at 7 this morning and met Nolin at the hostel (he has already been here for a couple of days). Exhausted from two plane rides and my first encounters with thick Irish accents (not good when you’re trying to get directions), I was glad to finally get here. After an accidental 1 1/2 hour nap (sorry dad, I know that’s exactly what you’re not supposed to do, but I couldn’t help it!), Nolin and I headed out into the city streets. Kudos to Nolin for keeping me awake for the rest of the day despite major jetlag. We went to a beautiful park a few blocks from our hostel with winding cement walkways through thick woods, where they were holding the “Street Performer World Championships.” Oh yes. It was even more exciting than it sounds. It ranged from the talented to the absurd. There was the self-proclaimed “Beautiful Stu,” who managed to keep the crowd wildly entertained while doing almost nothing for 40 minutes (his claim to fame is his quick wit and his “blatant lack of any real skill”), and the English Gents, who did comedy and some awesome strength-acrobatics. Our favorite, however, was Charlie Caper, a charming and hilarious magician from Sweden.

the English Gents:

We also visited Trinity College, a beautiful college just about a block from us. While walking around the “classic collegiate” campus, we saw two old professors with white beards, canes, and tweed three-piece suits. They were discussing philosophy and politics, and one of them actually exclaimed something very Irish-sounding and clicked his cain against the ground. Classic. We could barely hold in our laughter. My first day in Ireland and we just so happened to see one of the most stereotypical scenes possible.

Trinity College:

old professors:

We’ve also discovered the most delicious chipper (fish-n-chips vendor) around. Apparently it’s the famous original chipper, with a huge list of well-known people who have eaten there posted on the wall.

Dublin is a great city. It was hard to see that at first because I was tired and was feeling rather confused in this new place with people who couldn’t understand me. It grew on me quickly though. This morning, after some sleep, a bite to eat, and walking about 5 blocks, I really began to like it here. It’s not one of those so-blatantly-beautiful cities like Paris. You have to look closely and be open to it, and you’ll realize what a cool place it is. The streets are lined with tiny shops all squished together, made up of a highly varied mix of pubs, cafes, pharmacies, music shops, and more pubs.

So far, Nolin and I are having a great time, and can’t wait to explore the countryside before Josh gets here, and then hang out in the city when we’re all together.

Hope everyone is doing well at home!

We’ll be posting pictures of the trip so far once we get to France in roughly a weekand a half.