We flew into Dublin with our favourite air line, Ryanair, on Monday evening, after Christine had been in to see one of her teaching agencies. As we were sitting on the plane we got chatting to the old guy next to us. A lot of what he said we didn’t understand, our first encounter of the Irish accent, in the UK anyway.
What we did make out was kind of amusing. We found out he was from Ireland on his way home. He asked us if we knew “John and Edward”, we said no! He then asked if we watched the “X factor”, we said “whats that?”. He looked so disappointed. We later found out that X factor is a singing tv show, like Australia’s got talent. This guy turned out to be the father of the twins on the show, so he was proud as punch, he showed us a birthday card to the twins from Whitney Houston. Back in London we had to put up with this show on the communal tv, and the twins did well, made the top 8 or something. The poor old guy was shattered when he couldn’t talk about his sons all the way to Ireland, as probably everyone else on the plane would have!
What we did make out was kind of amusing. We found out he was from Ireland on his way home. He asked us if we knew “John and Edward”, we said no! He then asked if we watched the “X factor”, we said “whats that?”. He looked so disappointed. We later found out that X factor is a singing tv show, like Australia’s got talent. This guy turned out to be the father of the twins on the show, so he was proud as punch, he showed us a birthday card to the twins from Whitney Houston. Back in London we had to put up with this show on the communal tv, and the twins did well, made the top 8 or something. The poor old guy was shattered when he couldn’t talk about his sons all the way to Ireland, as probably everyone else on the plane would have!
Tuesday was our first full day in Dublin. When we woke up, it was cold and raining. Christine still has a cold from the flight to London, so instead of just wondering around town like we had hoped, we joined the Hop-on Hop-off bus tour. This is the first time we have done one of these since we left home in May, they are generally a bit expensive. It was good though, taking us past all of the popular tourist areas, including Trinity College (near where we are staying), St Stephens green, Temple Bar area, cathedral district, Guinness Factory, Pheonix Park and O’Connel St which is the main tourist area and still has bullet holes in statues and buildings from the massacres of the past.
We had a short stop in Pheonix park which is very big and very green. It has a Monument, very similar to the Washington Monument in USA. Unfortunately it was very cold and a bit wet so we headed back into town and had lunch on Grafton Street.
We had a short stop in Pheonix park which is very big and very green. It has a Monument, very similar to the Washington Monument in USA. Unfortunately it was very cold and a bit wet so we headed back into town and had lunch on Grafton Street.
After lunch Christine headed back to the hostel for a few hours sleep, not feeling the best. Damien jumped back on the bus and headed to the Guinness factory. It was fun, more like a museum than factory tour, but was in a building shaped like a glass pint and about 7 levels with different themed displays. Above the building is a bar with 360 degree views where you can go to enjoy your free pint of Guinness. It was the first time I have ever finished a Guinness, and was quite enjoyable!
Damien returned to the hostel and found everyone else in our 6 bed dorm was having an afternoon nap! Lazy bastards! Of course I had to join them for a while. Our room is great, were in a hostel walking distance to most of the main areas in the city. The room is tiny but everyone is awesome, an aussie couple living in London, Italian guy and Lithuanian girl. We ended up heading to a local pub for some more Guinness and some Irish music with the Lithuanian and Italian. 
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