Welcome to Ireland!

Sunday, 7/31/11, Dublin


We made it! As Kathryn and I arrived at our gate in the Chicago airport, the American Airlines rep came over the loudspeaker and said, "The 6:45 time to Dublin is no longer the boarding time, it's decision time." Apparently the plane had some issues and the mechanics needed some extra time to fix them... not a good feeling knowing that and knowing that we would soon be in that plane OVER THE OCEAN!  We finally got on the plane a couple of hours later, slept a little, read a bit, watched a couple movies,

Kat's "workstation" during the flight

and arrived in Dublin at 11 am Sunday morning... We had problems already - Kat couldn't get money out of the ATM - "Why?" You ask - Well, she didn't tell the bank she would be in Ireland... Oh, well... details:)

We caught a double decker bus into the city center, missed our stop, missed the next stop, and finally got off the dang bus. Wandered around for about 30-45 minutes before we FINALLY found our hostel (it was on the one street we didn't walk down).

Our "budget accommodations" in Dublin:) 

We left the hostel after we dropped off our bags and headed to see the exciting city of Dublin! Following our trusty travel BFF's (Rick Steves) book, we wandered over to the Dublin Castle - and saw a sand sculpture exhibit, then saw the Christchurch Cathedral (where we almost were beheaded by pigeons), then lastly was over at St. Patrick's Cathedral...

St. Patrick's... quite grand, huh?

 We were too cheap to pay the 4 euro to go into any of the churches, so we decided to attend an evensong service at St. Patrick's. We weren't too sure about what an evensong service was, but we were in for a great surprise. It was beautiful! Lovely acoustics, an amazingly beautiful cathedral interior, and a choir that sang like angels (slight exaggeration there) all added up to an experience we will not soon forget... Also, Miss Kathryn kept trying to record the songs on her iPhone (video and photo recordings were strictly prohibited - and we were in CHURCH) while I kept giving her the stank eye so that she would put her phone back in her purse. The phone kept making little noises as it would stop and start... whatever. We didn't get kicked out... That time.

Me at St. Patrick's... note the "Peter Pan" pose. You'll see it again.

 Walked down the big pedestrian shopping street, Grafton Street, where the latest production of Riverdance is currently being performed... I couldn't make myself (and Kat wouldn't let me) spend the ridiculous amount of money to go see it, so I did my own little Riverdance performance on the street...

Where's Michael Flatly?!

 For some reason, no one left coins in my hat...

We then made the trek to the famous Temple Bar. Had heard about it from too many people to not take a look. There we each had our first Guinness and listened to some fabulous Irish folk music. It was then and there Kathryn and I knew we were in for a great trip! Our last stop of the night was a pub right next to our hostel (it was only 9:30pm!) called Doyle's. A great little low key place filled with Dubliners, we soon found some friends who told us where we needed to visit and what we needed do while in Ireland... All in all, the first full day in Ireland was a successful one! Tomorrow, I'll tell you about pouring the perfect pint:)