I need to basically credit Steph for her scrupulous account of her time here which I copy cut and pasted, plagiarism, what? And added my own flair too. Thanks for coming Steph! I had so much fun – so good for the soul to have a real friend here and thanks for blogging this. :D
I was lucky that I found Stephanie. I thought that London Victoria was relatively small like the other tube stations but whoa was I wrong. To my dismay also when I tried to ring Steph, I got a weird message saying I couldn’t get through to her. But I found her and got a hug one could only dream of I was spun around in the middle of a crowded travel space, I mean it’s a scene from a movie when two lovers are reunited, oh well good friends works too.
We and by we I mean Zac and Sam and my friend and Sam's boy, Brez, hung out in her flat I made a nice dinner of garlic bread, pasta, stuffed chicken with ham and cheese, salad, brownies, and Magner's hard cider. After dinner we went out and just chilled at a bar for a bit.
Since Stephanie was here and when in Rome you do what your guests like to do, I went on a jog! Then I took Steph walking around the city. We first took a little let's-get-lost excursion, then made our way to Big Ben, Parliament and Buckingham Palace. We walked sooooooooooo much.
Then we ate some left overs and indulged in one of our favorite new European treats - Digestive cookies dipped in Nutella! So good! Then we took a fat nap (no, not cat), and watched some absolutely horrible English drama.
The best part about having people come visit you is that you get to show them around all the touristie places you haven’t been yet… I took full advantage of dragging Stephie around and using her as an excuse to see things I hadn’t seen before. I hope besides my obvious direction challegenedness, that I was a good tourguide.
I took Stephie to Camden Markets with all the punks on that Sunday. It was cool, the Electric Ballroom was open on Sunday so it was a place to showcase more punk clothes and leather things. Haha.
Then on Monday since I have no Monday classes woot woot! I took Stephie to After Notting Hill area and Portobello Market. Made famous by Hugh Grant and Julia Robert’s movie. The houses and shops were really cute, wouldn't mind living there someday. Jude Law is rumored to live there. Parts of it are a very ritzy neighborhood. We checked out some shops. I bought some Pashmina’s in the colors I had been craving to be all London as I can be. I bought what I thought was a steal of laundry detergent (but it turned out to be just fabric softener but that is ok because with the powder detergent here my clothes are stiff now they are softer, haha)And we bought some fresh bread from a vender delicious! After walking for a bit, we decided to go to the famous Harrods department store. So we got on the top level of one of those cool double-decker buses you always see in London. Cheaper than the tube and better for views. But make sure you know where you are going because the driver wouldn’t help you find your way to the fire department on the bus system if you were on fire. They just hate their lives. We were dead set on having a nice afternoon tea in one of the restaurants, but that idea quickly changed when we discovered the Chocolate Bar. It was a restaurant with hot chocolate, milkshakes, cookies and all kinds of chocolate desserts on the menu. It was pricey, but worth it. I've never had better hot chocolate in my life. It was like I was drinking an amazing chocolate bar, when I had my mint hot chocolate. I had an amazing dessert Chocolate Dome, balls of chocolate with mousee inside. When we were done we both had the shakes and were pretty sure we had just overdosed on chocolate. Then it was St Pattys and we went to the place to be on St Patricks day A pub/club/live music place called O’neils. It was fun and I got the most atrocious St. Patrick’s day 2008 Hat!
Steph’s last day in London. And it rained! Like when anyone comes to visit and we find ourselves explaining “No, its not always like this here!!!” Then I we got excellent Fish n’ Chips at this greesy seedy local hole in the wall place… Delicious! After fish and chips, we hopped on the Tube and made our way to Tower Bridge. It’s the famous bridge you think of when you think of London Bridge, but its not London Bridge!!! The most common misconception. Spaning the Thames river its also connected to a castle and the crown jewels are near there, we didn’t go in though blame it on poor American college students. Then Stephie wanted to see Abbey Road. I snapped a couple pictures for her. After that, we headed back to the flat, chilled out, packed for Ireland and eventually headed to Heathrow to spend the night in the airport for our super early flight (6:50AM!) the next morning. I mean I think that is something you have to do once in your life, spend a night in an airport. In order to be there early enough take the last Tube and leave the night before. That meant no sleep. It was definitely painful, but there happened to be a 24-hour coffee shop, COSTA COFFEE :D with a couch that we stayed in. We periodically got up to purchase things just so they wouldn’t kick us out. Also it was a good feeling when at about 3am the police came in and just checked that we had a flight, that we weren’t just bums off the street. As scared as I was that they were going to kick us out, when they didn’t, I felt safer. The police man was very nice and chatted with us a little bit about what we were going to do in Ireland, he sounded a bit Irish himself. When we could finally go to our gate I momentarily passed out on the benches and then again on the plane. Boom – out cold. I’m thinking we may have gotten a solid hour of good sleep. So not enough.
Friday - After we got off the plane, and successfully navigated our way to the city center by bus, we were hungry. So what was our first food stop, Burger King. I know, I know I cheated on McDonalds. We both purchased baps. It’s funny how different countries have different fast food options. This was their version of the breakfast sandwich. I got a bacon bap. We got a kick out of saying the word bap, most likely due to severe sleep deprivation.
Hostels, also something you have to do once in your life.
Our hostel was nice, it seemed like all of Spain was there visiting Ireland for Easter. Most were students so that made me feel safer. It was very centrally located. We checked in and dropped off some stuff in a locker. After that we got a ticket for the sightseeer double-decker tourist bus that made set stops at different locations and people could hop on and off as they please. It was a good way to get a look at the city without having to walk everywhere, easier to navigate than Paris. That day we decided to hop off and get a tour of Kilmainham Gaol (Jail). It’s this really old, cool looking jail that’s no longer in use, but has been used in the filming of some movies. It really reminded me of Shawshank redemption’s jail. Here, we saw Tom Brady’s twin waiting the tables in the tea room, because we had to get tea, because it was cold outside (every single day we were there.) but inside a stone jail… FREAZING! It must be nice to be a tourist in the summer inside the cold stone walls, but not on a cold Easter weekend! Haha.
It’s famous because it held a lot of people that played a role in the different Irish rebellions and it was where a lot of these people were executed. We then got back on the bus and headed back to the city center. We walked around forever looking for a place where we could eat dinner. It was kind of hard because it was Good Friday and every single pub seemed to be closed. We eventually found one that was open called O’Sheas and got all excited because we thought we’d be able to have some hard cider. Turns out they weren’t serving alcohol because apparently you’re no supposed to drink on Good Friday, at least not in an extremely Catholic country. We concluded that that’s why every pub we walked by was closed. So we ordered some food, had some good convos and managed to enjoy ourselves even though our waitress wasn’t good, oh I can’t wait for service and waitresses who work for tips in the US! We shared appetizers of potato skins and some seafood chowder with really yummy bread. Then for my meal I got some sort of Irish pancake with spicy vegetables inside. It was good, not spectacular, very spicy but I wouldn’t usually order something like that and I wanted to be… When in Ireland… So it was good.
After dinner and a long day running on no sleep, we were ready to hit the sack. It was super fun having to drag stuff up from our locker in the basement to the bathroom on the second floor, then put it back in the locker, then make your way to your actual room. I have a new appreciation for hotels where all necessary accommodations are in one room. The only thing with this hostel was that Stephanie was placed in a different room than me with 4 guys she didn’t know, because we booked stuff at a different time. I was in an 8-person all female room. I went in with a really open mind so it was ok for me, but Steph had a hard time, I don’t blame her. But it was only a place to rest our heads, we made a point to get out of the Hostel as much as we good to avoid thinking about it. I got to tuck Stephie in every night. J
Saturday – Woke up early on Saturday, ate our free breakfast of Irish soda bread (is sooooooo good, by the way), and hopped back on our touristy bus. On the agenda for the day, tours of the Guinness factory and Jameson Whiskey Distillery. We got to the Guinness factory at around 10:30 a.m., which is a good thing because the line was already long. Irish people like their Guinness. It was a self guided tour, had more of a museum feel and it had some historical information, descriptions of how Guinness is actually made, models of the equipment used in the process, examples of old and current Guinness commercials and ads, videos on the process of making the barrels that hold the Guinness (which was actually really cool and looks quite hard, my favorite part of the tour), and last but not least, a free pint! Even though it was only about noon, I tried to finish my whole pint, but I had had sips of Guiness before and yeah … it just didn’t happen. I didn’t have a knife and fork with me, hahaha. Stephie finished hers yay! It took about a good half hour. In that 30 minutes I managed about 3 sips. Hey- I know I am Irish, so at least she tried. Feeling like I had wasted money… I took my full cup into the bathroom with me, emptied it in the toilet, then swiped the cup. There, now I got my money’s worth. It is remarkable how much like poop Guiness looks when you pour it down the toilet.
Funny Guinness story.
My friend requested a postcard from either the Guinness factory or the Jameson factory. I found one at Guinness and decided to get it because I didn’t know if they had any at the Jameson Factory (they didn’t but my friend won’t get the postcard read on to see why.) The postcard was kinda lame, it was in the shape of a pint of Guinness. Well that is all I decided to get from the Guinness gift shop. I went to the till (what they sometimes use to refer to the cash registers in UK) The boy working rang it up, I gave him my .50 eurocents, and he went to find a small paper bag you know so they didn’t have to waste a big bag on a tiny postcard so he went to go find a bag, bagged the postcard, then tore off the receipt, then gave me the receipt, the .50 eurocents back and a wink. Now, I know I am bad at math, so I looked up perplexed saw the wink and walked away with my free postcard. Smooth cashier man, smooth. Hahahahaha.
After our Guinness experience we hopped back on the bus and headed over to this place called Ryan’s bar. It’s a really old Victorian-style bar/restaurant really pretty, unique never would have found a place like that in the US. Also Julia Roberts and former President Bill Clinton have been rumored to have lunch there. So we followed in thief footsteps and got some lunch. I got bangers and mash. A typical dish of the whole Ireland, U.K. area and it consists of mashed potatoes, gravy with onions and some sausages on top. IT WAS THE MOST DELICIOUS MEAL I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY WHOLE ENTIRE TIME STUDYING HERE. It was a very authentically Irish feeling lunch, I was proud. And I really liked that atmosphere.
Then it was back to the bus, it is worthy to mention at this point that our 24 hour bus ticked had definitely run out, but we just flashed it and the drivers didn’t pay attention to the time/wanted to be nice to maybe get more tips, so they let us on for the rest of the day. On to Jameson! The tour here was guided and we were told about the history, the production process and all that jazz. The best part was the taste-test, something I could stand! At the beginning of the tour Stephie quickly volunteered and was chosen to be one of the official taste-testers of 5 different brands of whiskey to determine which was the best. So official, so important. She got a certificate with her name on it saying I was a certified Jameson taste-tester! She is definitely framing it. I had my whiskey with ginger ale. It was good. Oh yeah and we swiped those glasses too. After that we were all booze-factoried out. We headed back to our hostel, chilled out for a bit, got as presentable looking as we could and went out walking in search of dinner. We walked to the Temple Bar area, which is loaded with lots of pubs and restaurants and chose a little Italian place. I got some what I can only describe as creamy macaroni and cheese with salmon, also delicious! (MY SECOND FAVORITE MEAL I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY WHOLE ENTIRE TIME STUDYING HERE). The location was perfect because after we finished dinner we only had to exit the restaurant and walk about 10 feet to our left to get to a really good gelato place. I know I wasn’t in Italy but this place came highly recommended by Julie’s friend who is studying in Ireland. They had an amazing flavor with actual nutella swirled in, called Straicetella, the only gelato I ever ordered after that. Delicious, of course. Then it was back to the hostel where we saw some flyers for day tours of the countryside. We got really excited and decided that was our plan for Sunday.
It was hard to do, but some calls to the US later and some paid for internet service taught us to just show up and hope it worked.
Sunday – Got up early, ate breakfast and eventually made our way to the right bus stop where the tour was leaving from. We couldn’t get the phone number to work the previous night to reserve a spot, but luckily there was room. Yay! We were so excited to see some rolling green hills. I feel like if you travel to Ireland you need to get out of the cities so you can really see the beauty of the country. Like in Scotland on the last day when we had our own time, we ran to climb the hills, Stephie and I had enough city and went to the hills of Ireland. The drive was very scenic and we saw lots of sheep! It makes me sad to think they are lamb, because I love to eat lamb and they are so cute. We had a little break at a café part way through the drive. I got tea and a scone I’m so proud that Stephie and Ireland taught her the wonders of tea! I said I didn’t like it before, meaning I didn’t really try it a lot and I don’t do hot beverages, but it seriously travels in your stomach and reaches your whole self to warm you up! We drove through the Wicklow Mountains and got out to take some pictures. It was really pretty views. The best views, the most picturesque were when we looked down at the Guinness estate. I had to take a video because it all didn’t fit in my camera frame! The road we traveled on through the hills and mountains was windy and narrow it was funny that two cars were meant to travel that road. In order to fill our travel time with fun anecdotes, the bus driver talked about useless facts. Apparently, according to him, Paul McCartney, when he was still with the Beatles (those were the days!) stayed at the Guinness estate. He wrote a song, entitled “Scrambled Eggs.” The tour guide didn’t know the Beatles FREAK he was dealing with and he thought he was soo clever when he posed the question, what did that song turn into? I quickly blurted out YESTERDAY! He was very impressed, then I sang the original lyrics to the tune of yesterday.
“Scrambled Eggs, oh baby how I love your legs.”
A pretty little ditty by Paul McCartney for the morning after. Unfortunately I didn’t win a prize, but I can boast about it forever. We then made our way to Glendelaugh where there was an old cemetery and monastery. We took a mini tour of the grounds and then a little hike through a wooded area and to a lake. After that it was back on the bus and then to lunch in a little town with about two streets running through it. We went to a cute little restaurant with really friendly people. I guess a funny British sit com was filmed there so it was a big deal if you were British. I got a tasty looking toasted sandwich and chips (meaning fries). After lunch there was one more stop and the “meeting of the waters.” Where two rivers meet. Then it was back on the bus and back to Dublin.
Back in Dublin it was souvenir-shopping time. I dragged Stephanie to about 5,000 different places looking trying to find this one shirt that came in my size. I never found it. Then we got McFlurries even though it was about 2 degrees outside. I got a COOKIE MCFLURY! Woza! America! Then it was back to the hostel to get dressed and hit up some pubs on our last night. The first place we went we moved to the back. Then we got our beverage of choice, a Magner’s hard cider (well, they call it Bulmer’s in Ireland, but it’s the same thing). While peacefully sitting at our table and enjoying our drinks another drunk guys comes up to us and demands that we start dancing to the Journey song, “Don’t Stop Believing,” currently booming through the speakers. Again, we respectfully declined. He then continued his crazy dancing with someone else, and the two of them must have lost there balance at some point because they then decided to fall on our table, spilling half of Stephie’s drink. We were upset Then they left (haha). We also decided we’d had enough and made our way to the Temple Bar. It was also a typical pub and extremely packed. We each got a Carlsburg (their slogan is Probably the best beer in the world, hahaha. But it is a pretty good light beer seriously.) We actually ended up seeing the obnoxious guy that fell on our table at the previous bar, small world. We quickly averted our eyes and changed location, haha. We made our way to one last bar, which had more of a clubish feel. We were only there for about 5 minutes when a drunk girl dancing like a maniac accidentally swung her purse, most likely containing bricks, into Stephie’s head. Poor girl this night she was just beat up. She was extremely apologetic, which was nice. But after this event, we decided it was time to head in for the night. We weren’t upset about the events of the evening. In fact, we find them all quite humorous. Having everything go as planned wouldn’t be fun. So it was back to the hostel, into bed, and up at the ass crack of dawn to get me to her early flight at the airport, even though Stephe flight wasn’t until 4p.m. I felt bad because she got 9 hours of absolutely nothing to do. But we both got back safely. And it was a really good time! For years to come Stephanie and I will be able to say, “hey remember that time when we navigated through Ireland????!!! :D “
Don’t forget me, I’ll write to you soon!
Stacey
Distance never separates people that really care, for our memories span the miles and in seconds we are there. But, whenever I start feeling sad because I miss people I remind myself how lucky I am to have people so special to miss.
