"... I guess I could we saw pubs"

After a long night of partying we wake up Saturday morning feeling a bit rough. We get up anyways because it was really important to my mom that we see Howth, (a coastline city just north of Dublin). Let me preface this story with telling you many of our original plans went awry during our stay in Ireland. My mom had planned a day trip to West Ireland to see Galloway and the Cliffs of Moher. We had to cancel this adventure when we found out the driving out there was treacherous. Considering how our first experience with driving went, we decided we shouldn't try to drive out there ourselves. With that being said we were planning on driving to Howth so we could see the coastline a little bit. We got in the car and it just went downhill from there. The GPS we had started freaking out. "Turn left then turn left ... Recalculating .... Turn left .... Recalculating... turn left then turn right ... Recalculating". Compile that with my brother freaking out thinking my mom was going to kill him in a car wreck and my mom decided to just give up and go back to the hotel. When we got back to the hotel my mom had a little breakdown. She said "I can't believe we came to Ireland and I didn't even get to see any of the scenery ... I mean that's why it's called the Emerald Island ... What am I gonna tell people that we saw. ... I guess I could say we saw pubs." Needless to say, my brother and I felt horrible and like a bunch of alcoholics so we started looking at other means of transportation to Howth. Luckily, we found a train up to there and I'm glad we did because it was gorgeous. It had a very Cape Cod feel to it. We got back to the hotel before the storm started. As exhausted as we were, we decided to take a nap before our guided pub crawl. When we got to the place we were supposed to go to for the pub crawl it looked like it was just gonna be us and one other girl. Finally, they said they couldn't go out that night cause there wasn't enough people. We started talking to the girl, Brittany, and she's probably the coolest person ever. She is about to be an E6 in the US army and she decided to take this vacation on her own. Before that night, she had travelled through Southern and Western Ireland by herself, driving on the opposite side of the rode, with a manual car. She's really brave lol. Anyways, my mom left us some money and strict instructions to "be home at midnight!!". Let's just say, that didn't happen. Brett, Brittany, and I had quite the night. We went on our own pub crawl. At one point, we were talking to a stag party on the street, when Brittany got hit by taxi. She bounced right off, completely unphased. It was pretty funny the Irish men insisted that, "if you were in America you'd be rich now!" Later that night I met some French guys, Antoine and Bernard. Bernard looked like a skinnier version of Zach Galifinakis and was insistent that I kiss him. His reasoning "you can't come to Europe and not French kiss a French man. And I've never kissed an American girl." Despite his amazing persuasion skills, that did not happen. I don't know what it is about Dublin bars but, I swear time moves faster. Next thing we know, the bars are closing. We ran into Antoine again on the street and my brother asked him if he could borrow his nice jacket. Antoine was my size if not smaller, so my brother started doing the "fast guy in a little coat" bit which was lost on most of the people on the street. Antoine finally got his jacket back and invited us to a house party with them. House parties are sketchy enough already, but a French house party in Dublin, no thank you! Brittany, Brett, and I decided to go get pizza. Next thing I know, my knows ringing. I answer and it is my mom hysterically crying. I thought something horrible had happened. Brett and I ran home. Apparently, it was 4 in the morning and mom thought we were kidnapped and/or murdered. We finally got her calmed down and went to sleep with the sunrising for the second night in a row.

From Guinness and Carriage Rides to Fairies and Folklore

Friday, we went to the Guinness Storehouse during the day. It was really impressive. Apparently, when the founder, Arthur Guinness, started, he signed a 9000 year lease for the Storehouse. After learning about the brewing process, we went up to the Gravity Bar. It was amazing! All the walls were windows and you could see all of Dublin. Unfortunately, our tickets for a complimentary beverage were only good a Guinness, so I had my first stout beer experience. It wasn't my favorite but the bartender made a 3 leaf clover in the foam on top. Once we were done, we took a horse drawn carriage (our horse's name was Johnny Cash) to our next destination, the Brazen Head. When we first got there we got a few drinks and took in the environment. However, my brother went to the restroom and my mom went to take pictures. So I was sitting there by myself and I started to look around the bar. That's when I made eye contact with this old man in the corner. He had to be late 60s, had a large beard an was smoking a pipe, and almost looked homeless. I smiled then glanced in the other direction. I kid you not I looked away for a split second and behind me I heard "Where ya from?". The man was standing right next to me. I almost screamed I was so startled. I collected my composure and began talking to Frank. He ended up being a very nice gentleman and told me about when President Obama visited and how they made a special keg for him. Apparently, the secret service came over weeks beforehand to taste test it and make sure it wasn't poisoned or anything. Frank proceeded to give me shit for not liking Guinness. After we were done talking to Frank, we went upstairs for "Food, Folklore, and Fairies". It was a dinner where they would tell us Irish folklore and play Irish music between courses. I even had Traditional Irish Stew for my main course and it had lamb in it. We learned about the potato famine and how people used to believe in a fairy world (leprechauns are actually one of the fairies they believed in). After dinner, we went back to the hotel and went out. We went to a lot of different pubs including one called 4 Dame Lane. That's where we met our friend John. John told us some crazy stories about Vegas. Supposedly, he paid a midget to climb a tall pillar in a bar and jump down on his friend. However, as the midget jumped, the friend saw and moved out of the way. Then, the midget had to go to the hospital cause he was knocked out cold. He told us another tale about how he paid cops to kidnap and torture his brother in some foreign country for his bachelor party. I think John has some bad karma coming his way. John then insisted that Brett and I dance. So Brett and I get into a dance battle. I have to say that, beforehand we had noticed that most of the people in the bars were pretty horrible dancers. As Brett and I were dancing, the other people start to clear off the dance floor. After a while, we started to feel awkward being the only ones dancing so we stopped. Then, John admitted to me, "you guys are way ahead of us here in Ireland." We decided to go see some other bars. After that bar, we went to a bar that just played 80s music. We stayed there for a while until this really drunk guy started talking to us. He seemed to be angry, but I couldn't make out much of what he was saying. Then, he proceeded to drop his pants and start dancing right next to us. Brett and I decided that was our cue to leave. We ended up going back to 4 Dame Lane. Where I met some German friends. They were hilarious and a couple insisted that I marry them for a green card lol. What was especially amusing to me is one of them was convinced that all of America was like the old Weatern movies with John Wayne. I tried to explain go him that it's not and he was very disappointed. After the bar closed, Brett and I still wanted to be out so we asked two men on the street where we could go at that hour. The men turned out to be gay. One of them was hilarious. He kept tellin my brother that he was gay and just in denial and that he had been in denial too. My brother handled the situation very well and explained to him that he was not gay. Then, as a woman walked by the man yelled out to her, "Umm, Excuse me ma'am!! You should quit smoking!" The woman yelled back, "Fuck You!!" He then turned back to us and said, "yea, she's probably going to shank you later." The other man he was with was ssssooo nice he even gave a homeless man a bite of the food he was eating. I have never seen so much hospitality in my life. Anyways, we decided it's too late to stay out and head back to a hotel, where I run into a hen party (bachelorette party) that insisted I stay up and drink with them. They were very nice women; however, everytime I tried to leave, they insisted that I stay and poured another glass of wine for me. I think I finally got out of there a little after 5 in the morning and as I walked in my room, I could see that it was getting light out. All and all it was a good day though.

Belfast: Probably NOT the Best City in the World

So yesterday me, my mom, and my brother decided to make the 2 hour trip up to Belfast. Our first day trip was quite the adventure. We spent the first half of the day in the car trying to find a visitor's center, looking back they probably don't have those because they probably don't get many visitors. Once we got our bearings, we went to Victoria Square, which is actually a really nice shopping area. We got a few souvenirs and my brother got a shirt that said "Belfast Probably the Best City in the World". When we were done shopping, we went to a really old pub called "The Crown Saloon". It was quite beautiful, there were booths along the wall that had detailed mahogany doors you could use for privacy and the stained glass windows were gorgeous. Once we found a place at the bar, we met a new "friend" Daniel. He started "taking the piss" (making fun of) at our accents. He was REALLY drunk. We ordered our drinks and my brother decided to use the toast the girls the night before had taught us, "slainte" (slan-cha). Unbeknownst to us, it is an Irish Gaelic toast that Catholics use that roughly means "to your health". Now let me give you a quick history lesson, Northern Ireland is a different country than Ireland and is predominantly Protestant. That being said there has been hundreds of years of strife between the Catholics and Protestants that culminated in the 6 counties of Northern Ireland becoming part of the U.K. There is still animosity between the two and riots are still happening to this day, especially around "The Twelfth" (Wikipedia it). So my brother said "slainte" in this crowded bar and this look came over Daniel's face as he exclaimed with his Irish accent "Ohh, you fucked up!" and went silent. Of course at the time we had no idea what it meant and kept asking him why he fucked up. Then Daniel explained that saying "slainte" in Belfast is like saying "whoop di do n*gger" in the ghetto in the States. As the conversion continued, we could feel the eyes of the other patrons staring at us. Needless to say, we were talking about pretty much the one thing you should never talk about in downtown Belfast in a crowded bar. After we tried to smooth it over, Daniel gave Brett a hug (I was pretty certain that he was gonna shank him, luckily he didn't). We quickly changed the subject, but the mood was quite different afterwards, afraid that if we stayed we might get jumped. We left soon after that and wanted to get out of Belfast as fast as we could. We decided we should grab some snacks before hitting the road. My brother and I had to go to the bathroom so we went into the restaurant next door to the convienient store we were in. My brother left the store before me and when I walked out I found my brother talking to our good ol friend Daniel. Apparently, my brother saw him and said "Hey Daniel!". Daniel being drunk had already forgotten him, got angry and replied "What the fuck?!?" He then realized it was my brother and apologized profusely and said "That's just how it is in Belfast. You don't say hi to strangers on the street. It's fucking Belfast!" Once we got to the restrooms, I had another interesting encounter. As I opened the door, I saw a drunken Irish man standing in there. Confused, I looked at the door and confirmed it was the Ladies room. I said "Umm, this is the Ladies room." He mumbled back, "It's ok." I stood there stunned and a bit paranoid at this point as he pointed to the stall and said "You can go." Then, I just walked out and waited for my brother to finish using the restroom. We got in the car and my brother said, "I'm thinking about returning my 'Belfast Probably the Best City in the World' shirt" which pretty much summed up the day for us. I would not recommend going to Belfast and if you do, don't use any Gaelic you don't understand or say hi to strangers on the street.

Arriving in Dublin

After a 3 hour delay on top of a 4 hour layover at O'Hare Airport, we're finally in Dublin!! It seemed like we would never get here. Unfortunately, I didn't get much sleep on the plane even after  drugging myself up on sleep meds. Then, my mom tried her hand at driving on the opposite side of the road.  Needless to say, it didn't work out well.   She drove into oncoming traffic, almost hit a biker, and knicked one of the rearview mirrors, whoops! Finally, we get to our hotel and we
had to take a nap.  When we woke up, we went to have dinner at Henrey on the Green's. The food was a little different than in the States (as they call us). Then, we went on a Dublin Ghostbus tour.  They told us a lot of cool stories and showed us some cool places but after talking to locals idk if the tales were made up or not.  Tonight, my brother and I were hesitant to stay in the small pub next to our hotel.  However, as we were leaving a Scottish, Irish, and American woman (sounds like the start of a bad joke), insisted that we stay at that pub (gastropub).  We decided we would stay.  Next thing we knew they were buying all our drinks and teaching us all about Irish history. Turns out the reason Dublin has so many colorful doors is because drunk Irish men would get lost and couldn't fid the door to their house. There's a little tid bit you can put in your back pocket. Anyways, the pub closed at midnight but our new friend Shanay took us to a "dodgy", their version of "sketchy", bar. Its name was Flannegin's but it was a lot of fun!! I guess she called it dodgy cause she was older than the other patrons.  While we were there we drank and met an Irish street Cop.  He was very nice and told us about the best places in Ireland.  I'm not gonna lie, I love this place and the people are so nice! Pictures and video to follow!