Lovely day for a Guinness..

Ahhh Dublin, where to begin?

Well I guess I'll start here...

So after taking a train from Vaxjo to Alvesta, another train from Alvesta to Norrkoping (nor-show-ping), then a bus form Norrkoping to Linkoping (lean-show-ping) Jess and I had worked up an appetite after sitting on our asses for 4 hours.  We decided to bust out this funky looking cheese in a tube we had seen at the grocery store.

Surprisingly it was pretty good!  Sundried tomato and feta (I think..) we put it on some ciabatta bread and put it back in my backpack for later for when we got hungry again.  

Since we were going to Dublin it was an absolute must to have a few pre-arrival Guinness' at the Skavsta airport.  So after having a few just to make sure we would remember exactly what they tasted like in Sweden and compare it to the pints we'd be getting served in Ireland we were a bit giggly and decided to go through airport customs.  Going through the motions, taking off my belt, making sure my water bottle was empty, putting my laptop in a seperate tray.   Walked through the scanner, and for some reason I always get nervous going through those damn things.  Like my nose ring or button snaps on my flannel will set the alarm off and four airport security guards the size of Jesse Ventura are going to tackle me to the ground.  I always hold my breath and exhale when I make it through unscathed.  So waiting, waiting and watching these people sending my backpack through, and then reversing the conveyer belt and looking at their screen baffled, checking through my bag and then sending it through again, I finally said "Hej Hej, that's my bag is there a problem?"

to which he replied "Svenska eller Engelska?"

I wanted to be a smartass and say "Well obviously since I just spoke English, I'll be speaking to you in that language."  but instead I was polite.

"Well ma'am it appears you have a liquid in your bag, and we can't figure out which pocket it's in..."

After opening up all the zippers on my Dakine pack I discovered the culprit, my god damn cheese spread... they took it from me.  What a life it must be to be a luggage inspector at the airport since they instituted that rule.  I bet they score so much cool shit and then when they're on their breaks they sit around tables trading their loot for the day... 

 I was sad, that cheese was a good find and I planned on getting the rest of my meals for the day out of it.  Instead we went and got another Guinness before our flight took off to ease the pain.

Let me just say that I have ALWAYS wanted to go to Ireland, and don't ask my why... contrary to popular belief I don't have a thing for gingers (even though I've dated a couple.)  I read the book Angela's Ashes which makes Dublin sound like a damp and dark ghetto with hungry mother's and children sitting at home while the father's are at the local pub pissing the dole away every night.  Their beer is good, but when I go out it's not like I step up to order and say "bartender do you have anything that will make me feel like I ate a loaf of bread and contains less alcohol than normal back there?"  Guinness is good, and don't get me wrong I drank more of it in those 3 days than I probably will for the rest of my life, but I didn't drink it because it's my favorite kind of beer. At one point I'm pretty sure that's all Ireland really had going for itself, when you go to Paris you see the Eifel Tower, while in China maybe the Great Wall, well in Dublin you get a pint, and if you don't your somewhat of pussy.   Do I seem like a pussy to you?

We took a bus from the airport to O'Connel Street.  One piece of advice to any of you ever going to Ireland:  print a damn good map, and don't ask anyone besides a police officer or taxi driver for directions.  We started at the top of the street and after stopping in 4 different convenient stores in going 2 kilometers in the opposite direction of our hostel we finally were told by a group of cab drivers that we had to go back to where we started and walk one block right and one block left.  Thank god we made it without getting mugged, nothing makes you stick out more than carrying backpackers pack.  

"Mug me!"

Finally getting to our hostel we had to walk through a movie set, apparently some other version of Neverland was being filmed outside of it.  We checked in cleaned up and decided we would go out and have a coupe beers.  Walking down O'Connel Street and over River Liffey we went to the Temple Bar area and after passing some traditional looking pubs we came to this one called Gypsy Rose.  There was a guy standing at the entrance smoking a cigarette who appeared to work there so I asked if there was a cover, he laughed at me and walked back behind the bar.  The place was pretty small, and all the store fronts in Dublin are like the kinds they have in shopping malls where there isn't really a door it's just a big gaping hole in the side of the brick building that they pull down a metal gate to close at the end of the night.  This place was awesome, the walls were plastered with posters of all the classics Zeppelin, Doors, Stones, RHCP.  Bittner would have loved it because they especially had an 80's theme going with some Poison, G'n'R and all those bands.  I wanted to pull out my camera but we were afraid we'd get our asses kicked.  It was a pub filled with locals, and even though they all knew where we came from we just sat in the corner and pretended we couldn't hear them saying "oh look over there, those little lasses are from UGHmerka (america)."  This one tough looking broad kept talking about us and gesturing towards us. She especially scared the shit out of me, so after two pints we went back to the hostel and passed out.  

Monday we woke up and decided to commit the ultimate legit traveling sin: hop on hop off bus tour.  Yep I feel like I maybe lost all of my credibility as a backpacker buy purchasing that 2 day pass (which also included free headphones so I could listen in 7 different languages.)  But I don't really care, because we wanted to try and get all the sights in that were possible in 2 days.  So here are some highlights...

These first few are in St. Stephen's Green (city park)

crazy pigeon ladies around the world unite!

For lunch we ate some pb&j's that we had stolen the bread and jam for from our hostels "continental breakfast" which included bread, american cheese, jam and tea.

Apparently the bench we were sitting on was some historical display and this one man passing by started to read the marquee, so I told him "just so you know we're not part of this display" to which he replied "and by the sounds of it you're not a part of Ireland either!"

Next stop was the old Guinness brewery, this was great it starts on the first floor and you travel up each floor which exhibits a different department of the company.  At the top you have the option to get your free pint, or learn how to properly pour your own.  The above one is mine, and I failed because of the stupid shit dripping down the side!

Later on we did a pub crawl.  It's pretty funny their's a company in a lot of the big cities around Europe that do these.  The girl name Anna was our guide for the night.  When we told her we were American's she went "oh shit, can you hold your liquor?"  Of course we can.

This is where I'll end it, every cross walk has this written so people don't walk across looking the wrong way.  I wonder how many tourists got hit by cars before this happened. As many more things I could tell you about on here this thing would be longer than the bible.  So, next stop London!