I left you almost blogless yesterday due to some heavy carousing!
Yesterday was grand.
I headed off a bit late, 11am, on my own to see Kilmainham Gaol.
It's about an hours walk away so I took a cab.
The gaol is amazing. Very moving to witness all the history there first hand.
I was told they film quite a bit of movies and shows there including The Tudors (they us the dungeons and the exercise yards).
After Kilmainham I walked over to The Guinness Storehouse.
It's like Willy Wonka's Factory for grownups.
I had my tasting of Guinness which is about a quarter pint and then walked through the rest of the exhibit to the 4th floor where you can hand in your ticket and you get to pull your own pint for free. The other option is to go to the 5th floor and get served a free pint. But, pulling your own pint is more fun AND you get a certificate with your name on it!
I hadn't eaten so I had lunch in the Storehouse. great views of Dublin, yummy food. I had a St. Kevin's Brie and Apricot chutney sandwich with Potato Leek soup. I try and make a pint of having potatoes with every meal if I can :-)
I went to St' Patrick's and Christ Church Cathedral after that and walked back towards the center of town. Wandered around Temple Bar a bit and tried to find my way to Hodges and Figgis Bookstore near Trinity. I didn't know the street it was on so I didn't have much luck.
I decided to ask these lads who were standing in front of a pub where it was.
They looked to be about 14 but in reality they were 21. They gave me some very convoluted directions and then asked me in for a pint. My first instinct was to say know but I thought 'Hell, I am on Holiday and some real Dubliners want to buy me a pint, why not?!?"
I went in with Allen, Karl and met their friend Brian once I was at the table.
Allen was a mess, all spitting and shouting and trying to be handsy.
he kept begging me for a kiss and it was getting really annoying. I even pretended to have a boyfriend, that didn't seem to matter to him. His friends were quite sick of his persistence also and they formed a protective barrier around me.
Karl was extremely friendly. He is at University but he really wants to be a fireman.
His sister lives in NYC and worked as a nanny and a waitress and is also an actress.
Brian was very interesting. Looked very 80's punk. A bit hard, too skinny, very pale, his skin was not so great but there was something very charming about him.
He was very passionate about the Irish language and the culture and he really appreciated that I had done some homework before coming to their city.
He said most Americans don't know what GAA is or even the IRA. Odd...
I had a fairly nice time with them and we went our separate ways. they headed off to the horse racing and I headed off to find the book store.
No such luck.
I got a bit lost and found my way back to my hotel.
I love getting lost in new cities!
That evening I headed out to Spy bar to meet my friend Chelsea's friend Aoife.
She was dj'ing and it was a great time.
Everyone at the bar was either an English language teacher (Aoife's friends) or a journalist (Aoife's boyfriends friends).
I only had to buy myself one drink while I was there.
Everyone else was very generous in their drink buying.
I met a guy named Cormack who loves American Baseball so we had a LOT to talk about.
I also must say that Aoife is so lovely!
She is very cool. It was like all of the people at this bar could have been dropped in the middle of the east village and done just fine.
They are hipsterish without the bad attitude or the artifice. I like it!
After I had been there for a bit Greg and his friend Joe who is also staying with Colm (Toibin) came to meet me.
We moved upstairs for another drink and headed out to a gay bar.
The bar was fun and we made some new friends.
Niall who now lives in Brussels branded himself the "Male Irish Kathy Griffin" told me he wanted to talk to me because my hair was so cute and proceeded to try and touch my boobs for the rest of the night. pretty typical night for me in a gay bar.
His friend Matt was also lovely (and straight, who knew!?!). A woman named Julie was also with them, she is from Kentucky but has been living in Ireland for 4 years getting her PhD. (I think...).
We moved on to yet another bar and this one had DANCING!
It was loads of fun. I danced, drank, made flirtatious comments, got sneak kiss attacked on the dance floor and eventually realized I needed to leave.
Greg and Joe walked me home which was very sweet of them.
A note about Joe, he is also a New Yorker, grew up in Darien (yeah CT!) and it very handsome and smart. I have heard tell that someone way have referred to him as looking like a "greek god", I'd say that's not too far off.
In my drunken stupor I facebook chatted with my mom and Chelsea and probably a few other people.
I also ordered room service, Hah!
I am awfully behind on my photo uploading.
Facebook has been giving me some difficulties.
But, I will remedy that all later tonight or when I arrive in Paris tomorrow, eek!
I guess I'll write about today when I am finally in for the evening.
Ta for now!
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