Here was the basis of Mike and Kerrys trip plan (which they had been planning since they came here in September) Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday in Dublin, Thursday Travel to Cork till Saturday, and come home Saturday to see the big 6 Nations Rugby Match between Ireland and Scotland.
So because Mike and Kerry missed there flight (cause the gate closed early), All of us besides Oystein were on the same flight there. The flight lefts at 11:20 or something like that and got in at 1pm, so we had the whole first day to explore. The First day we were just in a surreal atmosphere, so many tourists dressed in big hats, and lots of green (i think 750,000 went to Ireland for paddys day), and people spoke English! After we dropped off our bags we headed to the temple bar to enjoyed some good old bar food.
We saw this sign here, which i thought my Irish friends would enjoy
At the bar i had fish and chips, something me and Kerry had been talking about the whole morning, and although my meal Fish and Chips 10 Euros, Mushy Peas 2 Euros, and Guinness 3 Euros (half the price of miller by the way) was probably triple the price i would pay in Czech Republic i enjoyed in thoroughly, especially the free water, and free ketchup and malt vinegar yum!
After fish and chips we walked around a little bit, seeing both Trinty College (the oldest and most famous college in Ireland), and we had a couple drinks in the smallest bar in the world and then went to Jasmine and Mikes hostel. Here we played drinking games with some people staying at the hostel and then headed home to take a couple shots of beckerovka (czech medicine) before going to sleep.
The Next day i got to sleep in a bit which was enjoyable as i only had a few hours sleep in the previous couple of days. After we woke up we headed for some traditional Irish Breakfast (which was super cheap too!) for 5 euros i got toast, tea, hashbrowns, sausage, bacon, and eggs. (thought i should of got some beans too!) After we ate that we jumped on a hop on hop off bus tour. The tour was awesome cause the 3 guides we had were hilarious “Skinny people die too”, “If you come at the right time you can get a perfect shot of Madame president’s legs” “Watch out for the girls walking up the stairs they be whisked up!” Along the tour we stopped at the famous Guisness Brewery this was super cool. Not only was it the tallest building in Dublin (guess you can figure out what the Irish like), but it was well designed and included many free samples. The coolest thing to me about the Guisness Brewery was the fact that the Brewery was purchased for 100 pounds and was leased for 9000 years for 45 pounds a year, and not only that Arthur Guisness also negotiated free mountain water for the use of the lease (quite a good deal when you use 3 million litres of water every day hahaha. Also Arthur Guisness had 25 children hahaha. After the Brewery we got off at the Whiskey distillery (which was booked for the rest of the day which sucked :( ) and we say the national museum.
(The Bartenders were very talented)
That night was Irish people Paddys day, so we headed back to our 4 star hotel, which rate was 300 + Euros a night be we somehow got it for 80 Euros, split up between all of us it worked out to 12.50 euros a night, definitely a bargain! That night Oystein met up with us and we met up with Arrtu and his friends and we drank in true irish fashion) Also we went to Eddie Rockets (a 50’s diner chain all over Ireland) i Recommend the Sliders and Cheesy fries!
So as we went to bed around 5am the night before walking up for the Paddys day parade was definitely a chore. But we knew Paddy’s day only happens once, so we dragged out ass out of bed and started doing shots! (well i didn’t but Kerry, Jasmine, Oystein and such did, true warriors!) The paddys day parade was one of the most random parades i have ever seen. But instead of describing it to you i will show you in pictures (P.S i guess the egg came before the chicken)
After the Parade we headed on our Pub Crawl. The first pub we headed to was so birazze, it was like something like the foggy dew (half bar half dance floor) and it was packed with drunk people and it was noon hahahaha! After that we headed to another 5 bars, all had great music, great people, and were overall great atmosphere. At 6 we decided to go to gourmet burger (amazing handmade burgers soooo good, and shotgunned some beers) Also i found the Ireland Jersey i wanted around this time! After that we partyed a numerous bars till only about 1 or 130 am (as we were practically drinking since 7pm the night before) headed home and collapsed. Though before we collapsed we got a nice warning for being loud when the hotel manager walked in on 10 people in 3 beds, in a hotel room for 3 adults. He was deffinetely shocked.
Ultimately, St Patricks day in Ireland was definitely an an amazing experience and I was so glad I went.
The next day we headed to Cork at 2pm. Cork was an awesome city, people were friendly the town was on the Atlantic ocean, and people sang there words, thus far in my travels Cork has been my favourite city. We arrived in Cork having no idea where our hostel was so we asked a bus driver where the street was, he answered giving us very good directions, and he even followed up asking us where exactly we were headed to and gave us even better directions (The people of Ireland are sooo friendly) After checking into the Hostel we played some pool and watched some rugby at the bar in the hostel. Following this we went to a close by restaurant where I got some delicious Sheppard’s pie (soooo good). After the restaurant we headed to go to the bar. We ended up at a bar on a student night it was a blast especially cause we were singing Seven Nation Army at the top of our lung, and that we found some interesting characters that were lots of fun hahaha.
After the bar closed at 2am (way to early) we headed home singing Country Roads by John Denver, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN86d0CdgHQ Great end to the day.
The next day we headed to kiss the Blarney Stone, it was a cool castle, and I loved the moat, here is a picture of me kissing the Blarney stone. As we were leaving the stone it started to rain so after we got home we just watched a couple (probably more like 6) episodes of a show that apparently my sister and lyss both introduced me to, but i forgot, and when Kerry introduced it to me i was instantly hooked! Later that day me Kerry and Oystein headed to buy ingredients for Kerry famous spaghetti that he was made for all of us (and a couple of delicious beers, rum and whisky) The predrink before the club was lots of fun and so we headed to the bar about 5 minutes away and we were greeted by Irelands very own Boone County, the old people of Ireland drink just as hard as young people, it looked like some of them ever did a predrink! After that bar we went to the bar we went to the night before and it was good times once again, though it does suck going back to the North American way where the bars close around 2 – 3 am. (Below is me kissing the Blarney Stone)
Our final day in Ireland we woke up at 930am to catch the 10am bus. We figured it was a 10am bus on a Saturday so there would be no line, but there was. This was actually pretty frustrating since we hustled so hard to the bus stop, packed in 10 mins and then pretty much ran to the bus getting there at 959am.
Because of this we had to take the bus at noon which we thought would of gotten us to the match at 30 mins before or so. We ended up catching a Dublin Direct bus which worked out amazingly. We got to the city just about an hour before the match, which gave us enough time to find a hostel and walk to the stadium for the 6 nation Rugby Match between Ireland and Scotland. There was 5 of us walking there, we had 0 tickets and the face value was 75 Euros for the CHEAPEST ticket. About 3 blocks before the stadium we got offered tickets for $50 euros, for a SOLD OUT game. I personally was soo pumped we found tickets at all especially for that cheap (i was willing to spend a whopping 200 euros to watch this match) and we snatched up those tickets in less than a minute. We arrived at the stadium 5 mins or so before the 5pm start time, the atmosphere was crazy it was in Crooke Park a rugby stadium that seats 85,000 people. The rugby game was absolutely incredible, screaming CRUSH HIM, 85,000 green flags (everyone gets one under there seat) when Tommy Bowe scored an epic try, and the roar of rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr when a scrum formed. Though it would of been much better if Ireland would of won the game earning them the triple crown, this Rugby game was one of my best experiences thus far in Europe and probably my best experience in Ireland.
John Beattie's Try
Overall Ireland was an amazing Country, and Cork is my favourite city thus far in Europe. Definitely if I earn my CA designation I would very much consider getting transferred to Ireland to work for a year there.
Haha you enjoyed Ireland that much eh? I should have hit it up, although you're much more Irish then I am :P
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