Still jet lagged

But soldiering on.

Back in NYC

Just landed.

So it ends.....

I had to get up at 5am and didn't fall asleep til 2:30am so I'm a bit out of it right now.

Oh and I'm on a bus to the airport. It actually stopped right in front of my hotel so very convenient.

Once I get back to a real computer or when I'm more awake, I'll write my thoughts and such on my trip.

:)

I'm ready to come home!

I poured my own pint

And got a certificate.

Fun!

I don't think I can drink anymore though.....

Hmmm......

Many exhibits are closed!!

This has happened in other places too. December is not the best time to come to Dublin. Many places are closed or only open on the weekend. Especially walking tours and pin crawls.

The view from my table

That's Guinness being brewed my friend.

Mom!

You would like this bread! It has sunflower seeds throughout!

And brown/black bread too.

Yes it is good!

Here you go.....

Guess where I am?

Yes, at the Guinness Storehouse. Having lunch with a view of the city and a pint of Guinness.

I guess they mean it......

Look right look left

For the Americans I'm sure! ;)

And......

It's so obviously a Catholic country. Everyone is saying Merry Christmas, not Happy Holidays. Interesting.

Uh oh.....

Jet lag has struck again.
There's an Irish language channel here and there are subtitles so I've watched some of it and wow it's totally undecipherable (did I spell that right?)

Well I'm going to watch Law and Order CI. I don't need subtitles nor have to strain to understand. :)

Yikes!

Did you see the Iraqi journalist throw his shoes at W?! Not only does that man have amazing aim but W has amazing reflexes! Wow.

Irish accent

Love that th is pronounced like t. So, I'm in room thirty three or in Ireland turty tree.

:)

Today's postings

Are few because it's crazy cold and I'm tired! I bought a book and am now sitting on my hotel bed watching the news (ice storm in the Northeast of the United States, riots in Greece, Irishman missing in Italy, etc.) Like you really needed to know about the news. It turns out radon is a big problem in Ireland. Yikes.

Ok. Going to read a bit. I'm going to try to stay awake so I don't wake up at 3am. Wait, that's when I fell asleep this morning because of jet lag.

Oh and that raspberry scone I had earlier, it was so yummy I bought another one for later. Thing is.......I was walking around and a homeless woman asked me for food or money and I gave it away. Probably cheaper for me to give some change but homeless people need yummy food sometimes too, right?

Christmas tree on O'Connell Street

Because you just never know when you might need either....

20 cents to use the bathroom!

In a shopping mall.

I just had a very laurel and hardy moment in the Boots at the Stephen's Green shopping center. I wanted to exchange something and it took a good 3-5 min to figure it out. The dude was really good natured and I thought it was really funny so it was actually a lot of fun. Everyone in the queue (even my language is changing!) was laughing and I told the dude we should form a comedy duo and tour the world. His co worker thought that was hilarious.

:)

Market building

Inside was really run down. But really pretty outside.

OMG

It is sooo cold. I'm freezing. I took a two hour historical tour of Dublin and my feet are frozen!

Brrrr. Getting tea and raspberry scone at Queen of Tarts to warm up. Brrrrrr.

I can't sleep

Oh and Mom don't read this.........

Just kidding. I know you worry so much about me and I don't want you to worry at all!

I walked up Grafton Street to go to Boots for Jim. I had to go to two different ones to find the things he wanted and as I was leaving the second one and bbming with Jeanette, two guys came running out of a TJ Maxx. Yes there seems to be TJ Maxxes here too. Anyway, it turns out, one of the guys was a shoplifter and the other a store clerk. Almost ran right into me and it was kinda scary. But they caught the guy and gave him a black eye to boot.

So, nothing directly affecting me but pretty close.

:)

Guinness

in Ireland is amazing. It is so good. I think, even the one person I know who refuses to drink it, would become a convert to Guinness here in Dublin. Really. Honestly. For real.

Concerts

Pink is going to be here October of 2009 and Rod Stewart July 2009. And you can buy tickets now! Wow! They sure do advertise and sell tickets early here.

Musical Pub crawl

Two pubs, two dudes, one pint and one glass (half pint) of Guinness.

Symbol of Ireland

The harp.

Please note, the harp on Guinness faces the other way! Inside Dublin castle.

Comments

I have responded to some commments..

The keyboard here is odd.

Pubs

It's true. You can't go into a pub without getting hit on.

Drunk, married to an Italian and said I was beautiful 3 times. Lol. Also said Americans are brainwashed by the bullshit that is politics and Obama isn't going to do anything. Ha! Not.

YES WE CAN and we will.

Hahahahahaha.

We can all hope.

Beautiful moon over Dublin

It is too hard to capture. On camera but it's big and full. Is it because I'm so far north that the moon looks so big? Hmmm.

Bewley's

The picture is quite dark because I didn't want to use my flash. I think I got the last scone as well since it's a bit late for tea.

It was sooo yummy. The scone was not dry at all and the jelly was sooo good. And of course you can't go wrong with cream.

Scone, cream, jelly and tea!

Comments

It is quite expensive for me to go online on my phone so I haven't been able to respond to the comments.

There's a computer in the hotel I can use so I'll write back soon.

Thanks for reading and leaving comments.

Sankyu!

When in Ireland

I recommend carrying handkerchiefs. The bathrooms only have the air dry hand dry thing and sometimes that just takes too long! Also bathrooms are usually not heated. Brrrr.

Off to take a tour of Dublin Castle now.

And that's all I could manage!

Oh and

Are you supposed to eat pizza with a knife and fork in Ireland?

Vivaldi pizza!

Ha'penny Bridge

You used to have to pay half a penny to cross this bridge.

Lunch

Is hard to do for "just for one."

Dublin Writer Museum

And even a little omiyage shopping!

Garden of Remembrance

ok, 1916 Easter Rebellion where many lost their lives fighting for Independence. This is the garden to remember them.

On my way to the James Joyce center

The James Joyce Center is on this block. To the right of the picture. Maybe 1/3 way up. Not really worth the $$ or euro should I say! It was a couple of rooms with a video of his life and a library of his books. Ummmm.... ok.....

Anyway, it was a great walk.

Sunny!

Dublin is sunny today. But cold! Brrrr.

H for Heathers?

I was supposed to see a band called Heathers but got really tired! So I heard one song and left.

Small street in Temple Bar

Chicken boxty

Irish potato pancake with chicken inside.

GPO

Christmas caroling, violin playing and the irish jig all in the post office!

The GPO is very important in Irish Republican history as this is where the Easter Rebellion of 1916 started. The Irish Republicans, not the George Bushes of Ireland but the ones who wanted independence from Great Britain, took over the Post Office and read the proclamation of independence from here. I'll have to double check the info but I think that is correct. Either way, very important and significant building in Irish history. I am a block away from this building and it's really cool to walk past it everyday. It's not even 100 years ago that this happened. The history everywhere is palpable. (literally too.. you can touch the bullet holes in the columns..)

I made it.

I hopped on the 747 airlink bus to O'Connell Street and it's still so dark out the only thing I can really see is the most beautiful full moon. It's HUGE! It's 7am here.

Oh and the flight arrived 1 hour early even though we left 30 minutes late. The pilot said "we have amazing tail winds."

Shamrock Hana

Courtesy of mom!!