Au Pairs take on Dublin

I may have to keep this shorter than I'd like because I am EXHAUSTED and want to go to bed. However, based on several angry emails I received about not updating my blog, I figured I owed you something.

So, I woke up at 5:10 Saturday morning to be picked up and driven to the airport for our 7:40 flight. Things were off to a good start when I couldn't make it through security because I had to get my passport checked at a special checkpoint. The other girls didn't have that problem because they were EU passengers. Natalie (from France) had even more trouble going through security. She didn't seem to understand the liquid policy and had brought full bottles of shampoo, conditioner, hair spray, and hand lotion. Try explaining to someone-with a language barrier-that their things are going to be thrown away! She figured it out soon enough (!)

We got to watch a gorgeous sunrise after taking off and then landed in Dublin. We caught a bus to the city center and then started our adventure in Dublin. I'm going to preface my story by saying that one thing that did frustrate me this weekend was the money issue. Au pairs do not make much money at all, but I didn't want money to be an issue really since I only get to have these experiences so many times. We did not go in several museum type places that I would have liked to have seen because of the admission prices. I'm hoping I will get the chance to see a few of them when my siblings come over in the winter.

Anyway, so we landed near the city center and walked up and down the shopping area. It was still very early in the morning so things were quiet and only a few stores were open. It was a gorgeous day outside though, so we tricked the rainy Irish weather into going elsewhere for the weekend. After shopping around for a little while, we walked towards our hostel to see if we could drop off some of our luggage. We passed St. Patrick's Cathedral and Christchurch and finally made it to "The Four Courts Hostel". Staying in a hostel was an interesting experience. We had the room to ourselves, so I didn't meet any strange, exciting people, but it was entertaining to see such an eclectic group at breakfast this morning. People of all ages were there- some in their pajamas and some very dressed up. Quite a group! We had a self-service breakfast of buttered toast and then we had to clean our own dishes.

After finding our hostel, we walked through the Temple Bar area. Temple Bar is the name of the area where most of the Dublin nightlife happens. There was one band playing outside in the streets. I will try to post the videos tomorrow. We had a nice lunch at Subway (again, the money issue) and then went on the Viking Splash Tour (probably one of the highlights of the trip).

The Viking Splash tour was so entertaining. We rode through Dublin in a bright yellow army tank- with Viking hats on. As the Vikings, it was our job to yell at the "Celts" that were on the street. On the drivers count, we would "roar" at the innocent people walking by. We got one group of girls pretty bad. Again, I'll try to post the videos tomorrow. The cool thing about this tour is that the tank can go on land and in water. Towards the end of the tour, our tank became a boat and rode through a small body of water. While on the water we saw U2's recording studio. We also saw a boat that had rusted greatly. However if you went around to the other side, it looked brand new. Apparently, the people on one side of the boat were complaining about it's appearance, so the owner made an economic choice and only restored the side of the boat that the people could see!

That night we went to a few pubs in the Temple Bar area. We found one pub playing great music and stayed there most of the night. It was amazing to see how busy the street could be at midnight. You would never guess it was late with the number of people out walking around.

This morning we headed down to see the Kilmainham Gaol (Irish for "jail"). En route, I got the biggest kick out of Eliza referring to a garbageman as the "man from the rubbish company". I don't know what they call them here, but I found that so funny. Maybe you had to be there.. Anyway, the jail was interesting but not overly exciting. From the jail, we headed to the Guinness Storehouse where we spent most of the day. It was great walking through and seeing how Guinness is made- especially when I know so many people involved in the Anheuser-Busch brewery. It was an incredibly well-done museum. If you're over 18, you get a free pint of Guinness, but I wasn't up for drinking another one. Still trying to get the taste of the first one out of my mouth (don't tell Mr. Arthur Guinness)

We then took the metro to another shopping center and shopped around until it was time to head to the airport. We arrived early this time, so we sat down in Starbucks for awhile and I gave them English lessons. The two German girls (Maren and Eliza) were so much fun to be with- mainly because their English is so good. The other three were fine too, but our conversations were very limited because we have such a hard time understanding each other.

All in all, it was a great weekend. My feet are blistered and exhausted and probably will not want to wear shoes again for the rest of the week. So slippers it is!

The Guinness Storehouse











Maren and I on the Viking Splash tour











The beautiful side of the boat











The unrestored side of the boat










The Viking Tour bus











Maren, Eliza, and I being true Ireland tourists











The famous "Temple Bar" in the middle of the main Irish nightlife area











Five of us outside St. Patrick's Cathedral












St. Steven's Green shopping center