Dublin the Fun!

First off, don't let the cheesy title prevent you from reading this post. Despite the fact we (as in me, Tori, and my roommate Andrew) had less than 24 hours to experience the city, our efficient planning allowed us to see as much of Dublin as we wanted to (and as much as we could afford). We landed on Thursday night and didn't make it to the center of Dublin 'til around 1 a.m. Living in Madrid told us that this was just about the time everyone STARTS going out, but we soon realized that's ONLY Madrid. There was absolutely no one on the streets when we started heading out... Strike One. But we continued anyway and found a bar!.... which proceeded to card us?! Of course we didn't have our I.D.'s cuz it's Dublin, right? Wrong!.... Strike Two. We continue down the street to another bar that is busier, so maybe the carding thing was a blessing in disguise. But at this bar, you had to be 21?... Strike 3. By this point, Dublin has turned out to be a huge bust and we have only been there for 20 minutes. But apparently in Dublin you get 4 strikes cuz we were directed towards the Temple Bar which immediately dashed any malicious thoughts towards the Irish. A live band is playing, Irishmen are singing, and I am drinking a Guinness. For the one hour we were there, it was the best bar experience I have ever had. The band (and therefore us) closed down the bar singing "Hey, Jude" at the top of our lungs. After all, our lone night in Dublin was incredibly successful thanks to Temple Bar.

On Friday, we venture through the heart of the city towards the Guinness Factory for a tour. The tour itself was just OK. It was more a virtual through the process of making Guinness rather than witnessing the assembly line bottling process. At the end, though, we enjoyed a pint of the best Guinness I've ever had (which is, admittedly, a limited exposure) at one of the coolest bars in the city. (Check out the pictures on facebook). From there, Andrew and I were both keen on having our first Irish Carbomb in Dublin. After a little searching, we found a hole-in-the-wall bar that would serve us one (b/c apparently it's a complete American creation). With the whole bar watching the two American idiots, I downed mine like a champ while Andrew proceeded to pour half of his on his shirt, haha. Thanks for making me look good. We quickly hurried out of that bar after the awkward glares and found a lovely park for a nap (nap, drunken stupor, whichever) and proceeded from there to Trinity College. We managed to cram all of this within our short stay and headed for the airport around 6 p.m. for London, Baby!