On Ireland, my new favorite country

Never before have I been so proud of a country that I am not a descendant of. The Irish people just have a way of tricking you into thinking that you are also Irish. By the end of my short visit there, I was like, "Yeah, Hozier is from Ireland! And the Script! And Guinness. We ROCK." And then someone would bring up that Obama is from Ireland, and I quickly would be brought back to reality... "Oh yeah, I'm not Irish like him..." Ha.

Tuesday, I let myself sleep in. Well, this was also the morning that I thought one of my roommates was in the bathroom... When in reality, I ended up getting ready in the dark every morning because they all loved to sleep in until God knows when. Feeling fully refreshed, I headed to the tourist information office straightaway. 

Now that's another amazing thing about traveling in the winter - the tourist people don't have that much business, so they treat you extra special... At least in my experience! Not only did he spend so much time telling me everywhere I should go in Dublin, but he also explained to me all of the day trips that I should and could make from there. When two ladies came in asking for bus tickets, he said, "Are ya students?" Their reply, "No..." "I'ma ask you again, are ya students?" "Yes!" they said. And just like that they got cheap tickets. 

He asked me how long I was staying in Dublin for - I replied with a "Ummm, I don't know. I should really look at plane tickets though... til Friday possibly?" He looked at me with a horrified expression on his face and replied with, "You're an interesting kind of traveler..." Why, yes. Yes, I am.

With a good idea of what I wanted to accomplish, I grabbed a coffee and muffin from a local bakery and hopped on the bus. 

Another perk of winter travel: best seat on the bus... because no one else is on it!

After a short ride and nice little tour, I hopped off at the National Museum of Archeology. Now, you may be thinking, "...Why?!" Well, let me tell you. Rick Steves highly recommended it, and it was free! After wandering lost for a bit in the museum, I remembered that Rick had a walk of the highlights of the museum! I was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked this museum. Seeing so many ancient artifacts with incredible stories was so fascinating. From gold jewelry from 2000BC to Viking swords from the 12th century - I learned so much and soaked it all in. This brings me to one of my favorite stories from the day.

I overheard this interaction between a 5th grade student and his teacher...

Student (standing in front of ancient Viking sword, holding his iPad): "Hold on, everyone, get out of the way. I'm going to take a selfie with this!"

Teacher: "If I hear that word come out of your mouth one more time, I'm gonna take that thing from ya and break it over your head!"

I wanted to give him a standing ovation and applaud - it was such a brilliant statement that I've never had the courage to say to my friends... I have been inspired.

I then headed to my favorite part of the museum. It was a special exhibit with human remains of people that were found in Irish bogs anywhere from 200 BC to 200 AD. It held my attention for so long and the time just flew. Take a look.

Yep, you're seeing it right... the hair is still there from 100 BC! SO CRAZY. 

They had a detailed description listed by each body of where they came from and how they died. They could even tell that the second guy used a certain kind of hair product from Rome. 

After the history geek in me was fully appeased, I headed back to catch another bus with absolutely no clue where I wanted to go next. I stared at the map, pretty sure that I was going to go to St. Patrick's Cathedral - felt like an Irish thing to do. Then everyone started getting off at the Guinness Brewery... now if that's not a very Irish thing to do then I do not know what is... And when in doubt, follow the crowd, right? Well, at least, that's what I did. 

Now, for some people the Guinness brewery is a pilgrimage. If you are thinking of going on a pilgrimage, I wouldn't recommend this one. Thankfully, I had been warned that the brewery is disappointing. It is not actually a tour of the brewery - it is more like a museum and fake brewery to show tourists how the factory began and how everything is done - which is cool I guess - but after touring both a working brewery and a working distillery in Scotland, this was definitely not on the same level of authenticity. There was a tasting room that was pretty cool and I did get an included (or "free" as they like to say) pint of Guinness at the end.

When I was in line for the tasting room, I observed another funny interaction. 

Guide: "So the free tasting room is right through here."

Irish guy: "But where do I get my pint?"

Guide: "Upstairs, but there's free tastes right through here."

Irish guy: "Thanks, but I want the pint."

The Irish are often a one-track-mind kind of people.

 My "free" pint with Guinness stew at the end of the tour!

My next stop was Dublin Castle. I navigated my way there with my trusty map. I could have taken the bus, but I would have had to loop all the way around because we had already passed it. So I basically navigated by following the many steeples in Dublin and made it without a problem to the castle, where I did a self-guided tour. I couldn't stay too long because I had to get back to the tourist-info guy before he closed because he told me if I booked the tour through him, he would give me a discount. 

So I booked my day tours for the next two days through him and then grabbed the bus on its last loop through the city. I just sat at the front of the bus on the top deck and listened to the fascinating history of everything on the tour for a full acclimation to the city of Dublin. When the tour ended, I realized just what a perfect location my hostel was in because the bus dropped me off right in front of it!

I then headed out with my computer to find a nice, quiet restaurant at which to plan the rest of my trip. Wanting to be healthy, I ordered a salad - mistake. I was hungry again by the time that I left. I did buy two plane tickets though and figure out where I was staying for the rest of the trip. 

I feel like I may be stressing some of you out... ferrying into a country not knowing how I'm going to leave the country. Booking my hostel a day at a time as I figure out that I don't want to leave the city. I originally booked it for one night and ended up staying for four. I wouldn't dare traveling this way if I was with other people - because then when something inevitably goes wrong everyone gets stressed out and the blame game ensues (this is when things aren't planned ahead for a group.) But when you're alone, you have only yourself to blame - so why not wing everything? It adds excitement. I love it. Keeps me on my toes.