The next morning we stirred around and got ready slowly. It was the last day in Ireland. It was Sunday. It was Europe's Mother's Day. It was an odd time.
We went downstairs to dine with the other guests. Philip ordered the full Irish breakfast. I don't remember what I ordered. I don't even have very many pictures from this day because 1) we didn't do a whole lot and 2) I wanted to conserve my poor battery life. Because of this, I can't really remember what all we did on that day. Lots of shops were closed due to Mother's Day. But I do remember we walked around the shops on Grafton Street and looked around St. Stephen's Green. We also finally made it to St. Patrick's Cathedral and it would be a safe bet that we stopped in at the Brazen Head for a bite.
While we were at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Alicia and I sat in the entranceway because we didn't want to pay for all of us to go in when, quite honestly, it's just another cathedral. So we paid for Philip to go through and we waited. While we were sitting there we noticed a couple of men acting suspiciously and they wouldn't go away. At first we thought they were plainclothes Garda about to tell us we couldn't sit there. But something was up so we went in and told the man at the front desk and he said they might be pickpockets. Apparently they'd had a terrible problem with them around Dublin the previous year so the garda had to watch the CCTVs to find them.
Another thing we noticed was the ceiling of the little entrance way we were sitting in... that's a harp, some sort of flowers, and some sort of angel sculpture. And the CCTV camera.
We ended up at the Pillar because they had the best value and were closest to the airport. I remember walking our luggage all the way back up this exceptionally long route to get there. After we had settled in we went out for one final pint in Dublin.
Afterwards we went back to The Pillar for some rest before our flight home.
THE END
There's nothing much to note about the day we left or the flight home. The day started way too early and ended way too late but I am happy to report that we had absolutely amazing weather the entire time we were there and it didn't start storming until we left. However that thought was of very little comfort to me since I was flying out about 30 minutes before Philip and Alicia on my own flight and the storm made me nervous. But we all made it home safely, even Lauren about two months afterwards made it home from Italy. We still talk about how much we miss it.
The next morning we took our time getting up and ready, a stark contrast to the morning before. We were headed back to Dublin and the Republic and I couldn't have been happier.
This time, instead of the train, we took a bus between Belfast and Dublin because it was faster and cheaper than getting a train ticket. Once we got back to Dublin we basically had an entire day to kill because we hadn't had anything planned. To be honest I don't really remember what we did that day at this point. I haven't got many pictures from it either because as we were packing to leave Belfast I realized I'd lost my battery charger and electrical converter as well as my spare battery and was trying to conserve power. I believe we walked around the shops quite a bit.
Mother's Day flowers - Bruxelles, the pub behind the flowers, is where we watched the rugby game.
Ireland's rugby team was playing the most important game of their lives that night. They hadn't won in 60 years and were playing against Wales. I don't know the rules of rugby, nor had I seen it before, but you could just feel the tension in the air from the excitement. Every pub you walked into even the employees' eyes were glued to the TVs. We hadn't had any plan to care but we were looking at Mother's Day flowers in a street cart when we kept hearing cheering from up the road so we decided to check it out. We pushed our way barely in through the door to find an entire pub full of onlookers staring up into the TV.
You could've gotten drunk off the excitement and happiness in the air!
The next morning Lauren had to catch a plane back to Italy so she and I went to dinner at the little Italian place down the road from our Inn. We had a good long talk and to be honest, that's the last time I've ever had an actual talk with her about anything important. She slept for a few hours in our room on the floor before she had to make her way back to the airport at something around 3 am. When we woke up she was gone.
On the agenda for the day was to FINALLY make it to Trinity College and to find our way to Belfast to stay with Caitlin, Lauren's friend. We set out south from our hostel to explore the beautiful campus of Trinity College. In the museum were tons of overpriced souvenirs (though if I had the money, several would've been in my possession in a snap). After weaving our way through the gobs of tourists, we entered the Book of Kells exhibit. There was no photography allowed so I don't have any pictures, but if you'd like, there's an entire gift shop full of items plastered with images from the Book of Kells for your purchasing pleasure.
To my dismay no pictures were allowed in the Long Library either. I had carried my camera around for three days thinking we were going to make it to Trinity College everyday and never making it. Then, once we were there, no photos. Screw that, I thought. So I snuck a few. Not that the security was strict, people were snapping and flashing away and all that happened were threats of being thrown out. Alas, my photo:
In Dublin's fair city, where the girls are so pretty I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone As she wheeled her wheelbarrow through streets broad and narrow Crying cockles and mussels alive a-live O!
She was a fishmonger and sure it was no wonder For so were her father and mother before And they both wheeled their barrows through streets broad and narrow Crying cockles and mussels alive a-live O!
She died of a fever and no one could save her And that was the end of sweet Molly Malone Now her ghost wheels her barrow through streets broad and narrow Crying cockles and mussels alive a-live O!
After Trinity College we set out to find Dublin's tourism office (yes, they have a dedicated building for the tourists) for information on train tickets. Our information led us to the train station, which we walked to, on the other side of the city. Lauren went in and checked on the tickets while Philip and I waited outside. She came back with the same exact information we got from the tourism office: to order them online. On our way back to the hostel we stopped at an internet cafe and ordered our tickets. We then went back, picked up our luggage, found Alicia, and walked all the way back to the train station to pick up our tickets and wait.
We were supposed to sit together but two ladies who were in Dublin for the day took two of our spots so we sat across the aisle from each other. Finally, once we found our places, we were on our way North to Belfast.
The ladies on the train warned us about being careful in Belfast. Almost like it was like we were going directly into an active war zone. Once in Belfast we had to switch trains and withdraw some UK currency from the ATM. Then we were to make our way to Jordanstown, about 30 minutes from the central Belfast station. It was getting dark by the time we arrived, and Caitlin was nowhere in sight. So there we were, without a phone, or a phone number to call for that matter, four Americans in a deserted train stop.
Fortunately Caitlin did show up about 5 minutes later (though it felt like 15) and we were off on our mile long hike to campus (ok, maybe it wasn't that long, but it was really far when you have so much to carry).
Dinner that night was to be had from a grocery store that was about three stops on the tram back towards Belfast. We did find some goodies, though, some fresh delicious blackberries and other things that we had planned on cooking once we got back to Caitlin's dorm. Fortunately, since we were starving again, we found a Pizza Hut. Now, before you say anything, yes, I am against eating at chain restaurants when you're in new places, and no, I do not normally like Pizza Hut. BUT! This was a totally Irish-ised version of Pizza Hut (they even had Banoffee pie for dessert!) and it was delicous! Not just because we were starving, but this was literally better than some of the local restaurants I've been to. I don't remember what all we ordered, but it was enough and I think we had leftovers.
Once we were back we had to figure out our sleeping arrangement. We were staying in Belfast for two nights and for the second night Philip and Alicia were supposed to have one of Caitlin's friend's rooms but tonight... it was all five of us in a tiny room. So the sleeping arrangement was as follows:
Lauren and I on the single bed (far left), Philip and Alicia on the air mattress on the floor, and Caitlin on the couch (that we hauled in from the common area... we were sure her Indian floormates wouldn't mind).
Oh, and I'd like to add that we couldn't shut the door if the air mattress was down.
What to do in Northern Ireland? Well... it's a bit complicated. Northern Ireland, whether it's because the war has pushed tourists away or because the war is still going on, is not especially hospital or inclined to capitalize on the tourist market. In fact, there's an entirely different energy about Northern Ireland as opposed to the Republic. Everyone keeps to themselves, no one seems very happy. And since we were there for only one full day, we wanted to make the most of it. So we found the Paddywagon Tour Bus Company. It takes you to all the hotspots in the North like Giant's Causeway, Derry/Londonderry, Ballycastle, and the like. The Tourbus leaves from one two locations in Belfast, one was close to the train station. At I believe 9 am. So we set our alarms for about 6:30 so everyone would have time to get up and get ready and eat breakfast before we set out on the 45 minute train ride for the tour.
Well.... that didn't happen. We woke up late, someone's alarm didn't go off. Someone woke up at 7 (I think it might've been me) and there was a fierce panic for a moment before Caitlin offered to call us a cab which would be faster. The cab company told her they could be there in about 10 minutes to pick us up so we agreed and there was a mad scramble for everyone to get ready. We made it in about 15 which pissed off the cab driver for having to wait 5 minutes. So we ended up getting to our stop at about 8. To illustrate our mood I give you Lauren:
This is Lauren after a late night, really early morning, 10 minutes to get ready, and having to wait for the Paddywagon Tour.
The icing on the cake? The Paddywagon Tour was late. How late? About an hour. So we ended up sitting around in the cold Belfast morning, with no shops open except a drug store that finally decided to open around 9, for what ended up being close to two hours.
Once we finally hopped on we were off to the Northern Coast!
It really wasn't hurricane force winds that day, but it apparently gets like that a lot because that's how all the trees and bushes grew. This was on the north coast in Antrim near the Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge.
"And out there to my right is Sheep's Island. The same family has owned grazing rights to that island for three hundred years. But what I want to know, is how the feck to you get a cow up there?" -Our Tourguide. (Off into the distance you can see a tiny island through the haze towards the left. I could see his point about the cows).
Giant's Causeway. The legend goes that the giant Fin Barr was in love with another giant in Scotland so he tried to build a bridge to get to her across the Irish Sea.
Derry Quay (like from the song... From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay and from Galway to Dublin town, no maid I've seen like the sweet Coleen that I met in the County Down....)
Derry was the most unfortuate, depressing, unhappy town I've ever been to. All of the north felt like that, actually. But Derry was the worse. I was so glad to be back in the republic where they don't have the political issues like that. There's no way I would want to be lost in this city at night.
The famous murals of Derry. Our bus driver had actually marched in one of the civil rights marches when he was young. I believe it was in the early '70s... 71 or 72 maybe. But I also want to say it was Bloody Sunday. There's a boy on one of the murals wearing a gas mask who was 9 at the time and his brother is married to our bus driver's sister.
There was a peace agreement that was never completely reached between the Protestants and Catholics. This statue symbolizes that... one is Protestant and the other Catholic. They have outstretched arms but they never touch.
After Derry we headed back to Belfast, then on to Jordanstown to the dorms. After dinner (which took bloody forever because her Indian floormates took over the stove) Caitlin, Alicia, and Lauren all went out to the pubs but Philip and I stayed in, unfortunately we were in seperate dorms and I would've been locked out if I tried to go find him (I had no idea where to start) and he didn't know I stayed too. To be honest, I didn't really feel safe to go out in Belfast.
Philip, Alicia, and I all woke up fairly early. Around 8:30 if I remember right. Lauren, however, did not. Our hostel offered us breakfast (if I haven't mentioned this before, if you're in Dublin, I strongly recommend staying at The Pillar. Great location, nice people, internet, and breakfast in the morning). But since we were up anyway, we just decided to eat it in the small common area/kitchen with the Serbian family. Around 9 Lauren finally mustered the energy to drag herself across the hall to where we were at and finished her breakfast while we were getting ready. Also, and this is definitely worth noting, it was the first breakfast we had that did not include or have the option of including any meat whatsoever. It was bananas, yogurt, and croissants. And it was wonderful.
We had a lot planned for today. As we headed out of the hostel at around 9:30 we noticed a stark contrast between the day before and the present. No more vendors selling cheap souvenirs, no more drunk teenagers, far fewer tour buses, and Dublin was generally back to normal with business people hustling and bustling about. There was also much, much more smog. I'm not sure if it was because most of the roads had been shut down on St. Patrick's Day, or what but it was noticeably different. First up on our list of things to do today was visit the Guinness factory. Long story short, we worked our way up to the top of the museum and then onto the 360 bar, which gives a panoramic view at the very highest point of Dublin. The whole ordeal actually lasted until about 2 pm which was a shame because 1) we were absolutely starving and 2) it was a gloriously beautiful day outside. Around 16C if I remember right. After St. James Gate (the name of the brewery), we ventured back to The Brazen Head to get something to eat. St. James Gate is actually really far out of the way from the city center and the Brazen Head was conveniently on the way back.
Today we found The Brazen Head considerably less crowded and picked one of the downstairs rooms to sit in. Every room is decorated differently. Granted it's all organized chaos but each room has a different feel to it. We sat next to a wall with pictures of the manager (the guys in white button down shirts... just like the one in Whelan's) having his picture taken outside with both random people and celebrities alike. One of which was Adam Sandler. The food was delicious, once again, but this time I had the mussels because they were very much like the ones I'd had in France (I've been strongly considering writing a blog about my France trip. I probably will. But the Czech one will come first and will also be epically long because it was two weeks instead of one). The cool thing about this mussel dish was that I've just received an Irish pub cookbook for Christmas and it actually has the recipe for The Brazen Head's mussel in it. We had Bailey's Cheesecake, which was not at all like the kind I'd had before. This had some sort of crumbles in between two layers of cheesecake and honestly none of it had much flavor at all.
After our late lunch we set out about the city again. We were determined to make it to Trinity College to see the book of Kells and the Long library. We actually planned on it St. Patrick's Day so, although I wasn't originally planning on lugging my big camera around all day, I was wanting to get a shot of the long library but we obviously didn't make it that far. So, since we were determined to see it today, I lugged around my camera again. Do you think it happened today? Of course it didn't. This afternoon we largely concerned ourselves with finding a new hostel for the night since we didn't think The Pillar had any vacancy left. We found a hostel that was very student-oriented but we were lucky enough to get a room with two bunk beds and a private bathroom. The Ashfield House. The rest of the time we had we concerned ourselves with moving our luggage to the new hostel. It was dark by then and Trinity College had closed.
We decided to check out Temple Bar since it would have to be considerably less crowded that night. As we were walking through the many sequences of rooms we looked to where the band was playing, in the corner of the biggest room. We saw none other than our German friends from The Brazen Head the day before sitting right in front of the band. Seriously, their table couldn't have been in a better spot. They saw us and we waved but we kept walking, not wanting to intrude. We found a seat in the patio outside. It was a bit chilly but we were near a heater so it wasn't all bad. But as we were looking for a better spot the German man found us and, much to our delight, invited us to sit with him and his wife. The rest of our time at Temple Bar consisted of Guinness, wine, conversation, music, conversation, and more Guinness. Also, quite a bit of singing from the husband, who seemed to be a Johnny Cash fan. By the way, if you're ever in Ireland, you'll notice they play Johnny Cash a lot. Like... more than we do. Specifically "Ring of Fire".
The walk back to our hostel, which was considerably closer to Temple Bar than The Pillar, was very foggy. A damp, cold fog had taken over the city and it ended up staying for most of the rest of the trip, even when we travelled north.
