The Land of Ire

It is very important to taste the wonderfullness of Guinness in Ireland.  It's supposed to be a world-changing experience.  Well, I'm pretty sure my world is the same, but it was pleasant.  Last night (our first night in Ireland), we walked around the Temple Bar area and started off with a pint of Guinness.  Later on we enjoyed some live Irish music and I got to try Irish whiskey.  And before those of the parent persuasion worry about all the drinks in between those, I'll put your mind at ease.  There weren't any.  Mostly we just walked around.  Today we walked a bit around Dublin, saw a few cathedrals, a castle...etc.  It was nice to just walk around and plan our own day.  And although we were determined to stay away from overly touristy shops, like Carrolls, we did stop in so I could get my spoon.  Which was, I'm pleased to say, cheaper and cuter than the other spoons I had seen.  Go team!  When we entered the shop, there were signs hanging from the ceiling saying that the music playing was a CD exclusive to Carrolls.  Which made us think that they must play that same CD all day.  Every day.  We asked, and indeed, it is.  That's what we call cruel and unusual punishment.  The poor girl said she mostly tunes it out.  But when one of those tracks is "The Lord of the Dance," well, I don't know if you've all heard it...it's supposed to be triumphant and exuberant, but if you have to listen to it too much, it just gets grating and irrepressible.  If I had to listen to it five or more times a day, I might feel like shooting something.  Maybe even Michael Flatley himself.  But that's just me.  And everyone else on the planet.

Anyhoo...we did go to Trinity College and see the Book of Kells.  The artwork that goes into those books is amazing.  Once we passed that, we entered a library of old books (unfortunately we couldn't actually look at them) with display cases in the middle of the hallway.  There were remnants and sections of some other manuscripts, one being part of an old choir book.  I'm pretty sure I saw pictures of some of those in my Music History class, so it was great to actually see them.  There was also an old harp they had restored, which was awesome to see.

So, so far I'm loving Ireland, and we just barely started.  I'm even enjoying the hostel, since you get to meet other travelers from different parts of the world.  Though I feel like I'm in a movie while we walk down the streets, because everyone's talking with these great Irish accents, and I'm sure people don't really talk like that.  Only in movies.  I'm actually having trouble listening to anything anyone says to me, because I'm too busy listening to their accents.  Thankfully my sister is paying attention.

Since Elizabeth talked about our fabulous customs experience at the airport, I won't bore you with a repeat.  But definitely read about it.  It was loads of fun.  Fun fun fun.

Did ew know...?

There's poetry in a pint of Guinness.

Thank you for choosing Lod's Little Tidbits, and have a nice day.

P.S.  Mother, the problem with the orange flower picture was that it wouldn't load.  At all.  Even by itself.  Which is too bad because I really wanted to share my orange flower obsession with alls y'alls.  Ah well.  C'est la vie.  Or as the Irish say, c'est la vie.