Publin...I mean Dublin.

February 22, 2008

Another weekend jaunt thanks to the cheap flights from Ryanair. I don't know how they do it. But I know when we get back to Canada I am going to think air travel is expensive. This time we were off to the home of Ryanair...Dublin or as some people call it Publin (photo evidence later).

It was a busy weekend in Dublin. The city was full of Rugby fans for the 6 Nations Rugby Tournament. Scottland was in town to play Ireland. So the streets and pubs were full of people in kilts there to cheer on Scottland.

The following is the Spire of Dublin which was built to replace Nelson Pillar in an effort to regenerate the city center. It acts as a handy landmark to find your way back to the city center.

The journey to Dublin took us a while and we didn't account for the fact that we would be flying over lunch on a no frills airline. So we were quite hungry when we arrived. So right after checking in at our hotel we headed right for some drinks lunch. Ummm...Bulmers and Guinness!!

We had heard that there were quite a few Irish Pubs in Dublin. Supposedly it has even more than the 4 Irish Pubs in Karlsruhe. We decided to go on a pub crawl of some of Dublin's pubs. But, not just any pub crawl...a literary pub crawl. The Dublin Literary Pub Crawl has two actors that act out parts from many famous Irish literary works as well as giving you a little literary history at the same time. As the hosts put it "they are just trying to help you gain back the brain cells that you will be losing from the beer".

The Duke

The Old Stand

Bridget was actually at this pub back in June when she had a lay over in Dublin coming back to Germany from England. She went on a bus tour of Dublin instead of sitting around the airport for a few hours. She didn't realize it was the same pub that she had already been to until we were inside and the same guy was working that served her Magner's Cider soup that day way back in June.

Davy Byrne's

February 23, 2008

This is the river Liffey. I am not sure why Bridget added this picture. My hair looks really weird. I don't know how to describe it. But I blame it on a combination of the wind and Germany's lack of appropriate styling product for those of us with gorgeous curls.


The next day we went on a Historical Walking Tour of Dublin. Our guide Edward was very knowledgeable and made the History of Dublin and Ireland easy to digest. The history of Dublin and Ireland is actually quite interesting. I will now have a little more clue of what Mike is talking about now.

After our history lesson and all that walking we needed some beer. What better place than the Guinness Brewery at St. James's Gate. The tour is a self guided multimedia tour through the different stages of the brewing process and the history of Guinness. This first photo is a waterfall representing the water they use in making Guinness. I hope it isn't the actual water they use to make the beer.

At the end of the tour you end up on the top floor floor of the building in the Gravity Bar. This 360 degree bar has a complete panorama of the city with floor to ceiling windows. Plus you get a free Guinness.

This is an art installation on O'Connell Street. The images were animated people walking. They were quite cool. This lady walked kind of sexy for a animation.

February 24, 2008

The next day we basically got up and ate our award winning full Irish breakfast from our Hotel an headed back to Karlsruhe. I am not sure what award they won because it wasn't that special. But it was nice to have a non-german breakfast. I think my heart stopped for a while after eating it.

When we got back to Karlsruhe the weather was amazing. I think it was +18 or so. Dublin was overcast and about +12. Which for Dublin is pretty good. But getting off the plane felt like it had just turned summer. We had a while to wait for our bus to take us back to the city. So we just say outside in the sun playing some speed. I must have had a deprived childhood. Because I have never played speed before. Bridget taught me to play...I think so that she can enjoy destroying me. She is fast...freakishly fast. You should challenge her sometime if you get the chance.