When in Rome, Fall 2008: Europe at last!

Pepe and I are in Europe at last! The first flight (to Philadelphia) was filled with many Europeans (Swedes and Germans) and a Japanese man who I sat next to, so it was a fun experience. The airline charged for meals and drinks though so we waited to eat until we landed at the airport and ate a large dinner. The second flight had mainly Irish people, and meals and drinks were complimentary, which was a nice surprise. We landed at the Dublin airport a little after 9 AM (Irish time) and were surprised again with rainy weather (Dublin’s weather actually reminds me a lot of Seattle: very rainy and green grass, even in the summer!). Pepe was surprised with how small the airport was (his first dose of culture shock). We caught a bus to the city center and eventually got to our hotel which was only a couple of blocks away. We took a nap since we didn’t get much sleep on the flight and were suffering a bit from jet lag. When we woke up around 5pm Irish time (8 hours ahead of Pacific Time) we headed towards the main tourist spot: Trinity College. I really enjoyed it since the whole place is built from stone and has classical designs. The main things that I love about Europe so far are all the stone buildings and cobblestone streets. We then walked down one of the main shopping streets (Grafton St), bought sandwiches and ate dinner at St Stephen’s Green (the largest and nicest park in Dublin). After posing and taking pictures in front of some monuments at the park (such as the triumphal arch) we went back to Trinity College to meet up for a pub crawl. There were mainly Americans in our group but I spent much of my time meeting people from different countries such as New Zealand, England and Spain. Since Guinness is brewed in Dublin it is the most popular drink (and it tastes the best here at the original Dublin brewery supposedly because of the Irish water that is used and the fact that it is fresh out of the brewery). The correct way to drink a Guinness Draught is to fill most of the glass, let it settle, and then top the rest of it off so you have a nice thin layer of creamy head (due to the infused nitrogen)… Brilliant!

The next morning I went on the Hop-on, Hop-off bus tour which was great to see all the main sites of the city and learn some history. One of the main things Dublin is known for is its Georgian Style architecture (brick buildings from the 1800s with classical decorations and world-famous fancy single doors with a semicircular space on top. Something interesting I learned: after one of the British queens died the Brits told the Irish to paint all of the front doors on their Georgian-Style buildings black to show morning, so in defiance they painted it every color but black (A hint of the Irish-British rivalry)! I also saw the Christ Church Cathedral and St. Patrick Cathedral (Both of which were extremely beautiful). I went inside the St. Patrick cathedral and it was nice to observe much of what I learned about cathedrals in my history of architecture class (although the ambulatory was used mainly for museum exhibits to St. Patrick and Jonathan Swift instead of just chapels). St. Patrick is known for converting Pagans into Christians in Ireland (and by doing so he “drove out all the snakes/pagans from Ireland”). He supposedly baptized them in a well that was located outside the Cathedral, which was why the Cathedral was built there. I spent the rest of the day walking around and when night came I headed towards Temple Bar (the main pub district in Dublin, named after its most famous pub). I had a great time here, drinking Guinness and listening to some fine Irish Jig music… absorbing the essence of Irish merrymaking and culture. Outside the bar there were two old men playing the harmonica and ukulele, and dancing Irish Jig (the music wasn’t as good as inside but the site of an 80+ year old man swinging his knees and tapping his feet attracted a large crowd). I ended my night at another bar in the region that I went to the night before, where I met some Italians and worked on improving my Italian-speaking skills.

Yesterday I finished my Dublin experience by visiting the Guinness Storehouse. It is a unique building (Shaped in the form of a glass-pint with the “Gravity Bar” on top providing a commanding panoramic view of Dublin. From what I learned so far it seems that Guinness defines the city of Dublin. It is drunk all over the city and of course it is famous worldwide. The success and wealth of the company keeps Dublin alive (they built St. Stephen’s Green for the city’s enjoyment, and are paying for the extremely expensive restoration of St. Patrick’s Cathedral’s tower). Arthur Guinness was a very passionate brewer, signing a 9,000 year lease for the Guinness property by the Liffey river (although the actual source of the water used in brewing isn’t from the Liffey but a mountain spring). When Arthur’s supply of the water was challenged by the city, he wielded an axe and was prepared to protect it to his death. (Luckily a peaceful resolution was made in his favor). A funny fact is that an alcoholic rehabilitation center was located right next to the Guinness Brewery, however when the ex-alcoholics were released from the center they would smell the strong scent of Guinness being brewed and the temptation was too much for them to resist: the “best example of a reason for a relocation” as one of my tour guides put it (he also said he drinks Guinness every day “from the womb to the tomb” haha).

After the tour we caught a flight out of Ireland and into Gatwick Airport (south of central London), however the flight was delayed by half an hour. It also turned out that the London Tube route that we planned on taking was closed, so by the time we figured out what we needed to do we missed the last train into Bath. We spent last night at a cheap hotel (instead of the hostel in Bath as we expected), but took an early train this morning into Bath. It is absolutely beautiful, with Ancient Roman-Style architecture everywhere (It is definitely my favorite stop so far... even more than the little bit that I've seen of London). Anyway I am going to explore Bath right now... I will add pictures as soon as I get the time. =) Cheers mate.