Dublin, Ireland & little bit of England

Allen’s Visit

When Allen arrived we stayed in The Netherlands for a few days. We showed him the local sights, ate the local foods, and just hung out. We made it to Amsterdam for one day and visited the van Gogh museum among the other sights you just HAVE to see when you visit Amsterdam.

The next day we boarded a ferry to head to England. It was not exactly a Carnival Cruise ship but it was neat to be sailing across the North Sea. We took off from the port at 8:00 PM and ended up in England at 9:00 AM. On the boat we walked around, went to the different drinking establishments they had on the ship and checked out the entertainment.

Our arrival in England was pretty easy until the customs guy asked Allen a ton of questions. Just after he got stamped, a worker who witnessed his whole interaction with the costumes people decided to ask him some more questions. It was kind of funny because the questions they were asking were…. who are the people you are visiting in England, and what does you work have to do with being here in England. These types of questions were coming after we had come across the sea and at no time had our bags checked or anything. We did not know why they started with super security all of a sudden.

After that we traveled to Sheffield to see Karin and Corey. We spent the day touring around and checking out different establishments in the city. We met Karin’s classmate Stanley and had a very entertaining evening. At the end of our night-we hailed one of the typical British cabs and got home safely. Karin provided us with some typical English food-crumpets, treacle, and ginger beer.

The next day we split forces. Allen and I went to Manchester early in the day so we could tour Old Trafford stadium, the Theatre of Dreams, the field of Manchester United. This was quite a trip. The train ride to Manchester was magnificent. The countryside was gorgeous. The hills and farms and forests were very quaint. You could see the stone fences that were created hundreds of years prior during the enclosure movement which has been thought to considered one of the caused of the English Civil War.

Once we arrived at Manchester we were able find our way to the stadium, or so we thought. We got off the tram and followed some signs. We then saw a sign that said ‘Welcome to Old Trafford’. The sign was not that spectacular and the stadium behind it did not look like the stadium we had seen on t.v. many times. We stopped to pose for some pictures and then we realized that we were at the Manchester United Cricket Stadium. That was a relief-and we walked 100 meters to a much more impressive sight.

We took the tour of the museum and went through the players locker room, and the players’ lounge. We were also able to walk throughout the players tunnel with a recording of a game in the background and we were able to sit in the seats of the players. We did not expect to spend as much time as we did, but the history was very impressive which resulted in us not seeing much more of Manchester. The funniest part of the day may have been when we went to the restaurant to get a quick snack before our tour. They had a big crowd that day because they had opened a new exhibit on the Munich plane crash that had killed several players in 1958. They were apparently running low on supplies. Allen ordered two chicken paninis for us. There were two clerks and the one said that they were out of chicken and only had tuna. To clarify what she was saying Allen said ‘You don’t chicken, just tuna? Do you have anything besides tuna?’ The other clerk comes over and says we have chicken. We were a little confused and the first clerk says no chicken- we have tuna. The second clerk opens a drawer and says no, we have chicken, but this is our last one. Allen said yes and they made up the chicken panini. No big deal. We shared that until we got away from the stadium for more food. However, we think the working relationship between the two workers might be strained because after we sat down we noticed the first clerk unhappily making a panini, we assume tuna, and going on her break. We think she was trying to hold on to the chicken panini for her lunch break. I can see why, it was pretty good.

At this point we arrive at the airport in Manchester for everyone else to take off for Dublin.

It was a quick trip and after a little problem of getting to our bed and breakfast, which was fantastic, we prepared for a few days in Dublin. On our first full day in Dublin we walked around, got lost, and made our way to St. Patrick’s Church. A large impressive building, as one would expect. Unfortunately the largest spire was under construction but the church itself was still quite impressive. From there were walked to Christ’s Church, which is another equally impressive place to see. We visited these places as we made our walk to the Guinness Brewery. It definitely is a place to visit and a place that just gives you goose bumps. The history and tour were interesting, but what were very enjoyable was the exhibits on the Guinness advertising campaigns. They were years ahead of themselves in many ways. As Chad watched some of the old TV commercials telling how Guinness is for strength and how Guinness is good for you, he overheard a small child loudly ask his mother, ‘Is it really good for us?’ An uneasy no came from the mother, unsure if she was committing some sort of mortal sin by saying something negative about Guinness in the Guinness Brewery of all places.

Halfway through the tour they had a tasting lab where they gave out a small glass of Guinness to let you experience the flavors they were discussing at the time. Karin was approached by a woman who asked about the University of Iowa t-shirt she was wearing. Karin stated that several of us had attended the U of I and the woman said that she and her husband had as well. Another one of those small world occurrences -except as we talked more we found that they were also from Dubuque. It was a surprise and awkward at the same time, no one knew what to say. I don’t think we even got their names.

At the top of the brewery we all had our pint of Guinness as we look over the city of Dublin. We all felt that the Guinness was better here than anywhere else. We had heard that from many people, and we think they are right. The head of the beer was so creamy I think we could have made sculptures out of it. The Guinness was so good-that Jen drank her first Guinness in its entirety.

From Guinness we went to eat. Jen had a list of Dublin pubs that she acquired from Shelly back in Dubuque that were to be the best pubs in Dublin. From here on our the order of events may or may not be exactly how they occurred.

First we checked out John St. Gogherty’s-a place famous for good Irish music and tasty food. It was packed-so we had a beer and headed on. We stopped in a few other bars and then hit Temple Bar at Cory’s request. We checked out a few more pubs and then attempted to find another off Shelly’s list-The Staghead. After several different directions, we finally found the place. This pub had several floors, good live music, and still quite quaint. We enjoyed the atmosphere, but again, it was quite busy so we had a beer and moved on for some tapas for dinner and headed home. Well-at least the girls did. After leaving the boys, we found out the next day that Cory met an older gentleman that actually lived in Dubuque back in the 50’s. Cory also left Ireland short of 1 bookbag-this transpired-after the girls had gone home.

Day 2; This day started with a great breakfast at the B & B. From there we made our way through the city running into historical buildings and sights. We walked through St. Stephens Green, up Grafton Street to do a little shopping. We got our pictures of the Molly Malone statue, and made our way across the river to gain access to St. Jameson’s Distillery. We learned about the regional differences in whiskey making around the world and what is done to make Jameson different from the rest. At the end we did the complimentary tasting, and yes, the stuff is strong. Another first-for most of us-we drank our first Jameson mixed drink!

From here we ate at one of Dublin’s best pubs. The food was not only divine but was given out in large portions. It was cafeteria style. You go up to the counter and walk down the counter picking out what you want. And they don’t just give you some potatoes. You have to take potatoes in several varieties of concoctions…… boiled, mashed, fried, scalloped and so on. It seemed to be a week’s worth of food. We of course, took a picture for you to check out. It was a ridiculously large amount of food. Very tasty-and would definitely go back for more!

We then looked for another one of Shelly’s bars-Mcdaid’s. This 2 story bar was a bit run-down. Probably not our favorite-so we had a beer and moved on. Do you see a pattern here? Later on we went to the oldest bar in Dublin, The Brazen Head -apparently it was opened in 1125. This place was great! It had an old medivial type feel with lots of little nooks and crannies. It was here that we watched a heated and CONTINUED argument between some locals. Wonderful entertainment for us at this joint! It was also here that we left behind 2 $1 bills to be placed upon the walls. One in which we wrote IOWA HAWKEYES, of course. Another one in which Alan left his new advertisement slogan for Guinness….GUINNESS FOR TEETH. He came up with this after many encounters in England……I think you know where he picked this one up!

We ended the night at O’Donohues, a great place to stop our madness. This place-also crammed with people-forced us to sit quite closely to some of the locals. The Irish really are quite friendly-and so we spent some time chatting it up with a few different groups. It was agreed that this place had the best Guinness on tap in Dublin-by the locals-and the group of Iowans. It was the end of this evening that provided us with one of the funniest things we have ever witnessed. We stopped at a horrible, greasy diner on our way back to the B&B only to hear 1 girl crash in the lady’s room and be carried out by a security guard. Then…….as we walked out, we came across 3 extremely intoxicated girls trying to eat. We say trying to eat, because they were also sleeping. Their eyes were rolling back in their heads-their heads were against the wall, and the food was falling out of their mouth. They tried to wipe away the food that was falling out, but kept missing their face! It was like a funny YouTube video a friend would find and then pass along to you. I have to say-it was probably one of the highlights of this trip because it was such an odd sight.

On the last full day we went to the Kilmainham Gaol This jail had quite a story behind it. It was created to help modernize the system of punishment during the Victorian era. However, due to events like the famine it suffered from extreme overcrowding. It had some 220 cells but at one time held 9,000 people. During the famine, people were committing crimes to get thrown in jail in order to get small amounts of food to eat. At other times the jail was the holding place for many of the Irish who fought for independence and against British rule over Ireland. Men and women, young and old, had all spent time in the jail. The youngest female was 10 and the youngest male was 9. The jail was also the sight of public hangings. In the past, the main entrance to the jail had two beams that extended out the front that were used to hang prisoners in front of large crowds.

Sinead our friend of Dublin returned home from a few months in India in time to meet up with us on our last day out. Sinead along with some of her friends showed us a bit of Dublin that you can only get from the natives. We had a fantastic dinner and went to a few local pubs. In one pub, Sinead talked to the bar keep-who let me behind the bar to pretend to pour my own Guinness. Sinead-always one for good times and great laughs showed us both. It was a late night, and our last one-a great way to end our February break.