Sadly, I am that good!

I arrived in Dublin around 23:00, and all I had the energy for was to find my hotel and call it a night. I got up early on Wednesday and found one of those hop-on/hop-off bus tours like I did in London. The plan was to go all around the city for one lap, and then jump off at places of interest. Except the problem was my first bus driver was a singer (and I started to wonder if he was a little tipsy) so I got off pretty quick- I appreciate the “real Irish experience” but seriously? Danny Boy and Molly Malone sung off-key over a loudspeaker? Just so happened the next stop was the Guinness Storehouse. Which was perfect since I wanted to go there anyway! The museum part was MUCH more interesting and in-depth than Carlsberg was, but I can officially say: I’ve had my FIRST and LAST Guinness! Which I can’t think of anything more appropriate (I’m in Dublin, I’m at the St. James Gate Guinness Plant, it’s a Free- sorry, COMPLIMENTARY, Pint, and I’m 7 floors up overlooking the Dublin skyline!) Perfect! Add a Canadian CPA hitting on me and my experience was complete! After my pint, I actually had about 1.25 (I could NOT even get going on a second pint!), I hit the gift shop. Yikes! It was HUGE, and I was a bit tipsy- I think that’s the way they plan it though! They had everything imaginable there! Pretty funny to see baby accessories with Guinness written all over them…(sorry Evelyn, I refrained).

Jumped back on the bus and a few stops later, I came to the Old Jameson Whiskey Distillery. Since I employed the logic of “when in Scotland” I HAD to do the same with Ireland! (Plus the bus driver said the views from their lounge were even better than those of Guinness) But of course, I had a horribly blond moment, and my camera’s battery had been dying since Scotland, and well, it just died. So while I did go on the Jameson tour, and drank a shot of Irish Whiskey, I didn’t get to take any pictures ☹ But I’m not sure if the views were “better” than the Guinness, it was just a different part of town.

After this, I took the bus back around, completed the tour and stopped in Temple Bar at a Dublin Tourism Office to book a day tour out of Dublin. Since most of them operators weren’t running tours in the winter, I didn’t get to go on the one that took you through the streets of Killiney (where the rich and famous Irish live…I’m not going to give names if you don’t know- cause that means you don’t know me!). But I signed up for another tour to Wicklow (which is where, if you read my Scotland blog- Mel Gibson won his battle as William Wallace…Braveheart was 95% filmed in Wicklow County, Ireland, while only 5% in Scotland). I actually got the best seat on the bus for this tour, one advantage of traveling alone. I got to sit up front next to the driver (like where the tour guide would sit?) – which meant I was able to take pictures from the bus- while we were driving, and I got to see BOTH sides of the road when he pointed out things of interest. It was VERY windy again, and VERY rainy!

We then went to St Kevin’s Monastic Ruins. Still not sure what St. Kevin was known for…something about converting Pagans and keeping people (along with valuables) safe from the Vikings? Not too sure… After I got soaked being out in the rain, since my umbrella had gotten turned inside out for like the 48th time, and I saw a vicious looking mountain goat with the BIGGEST horns I’d ever seen on a goat, I gave up and returned to the bus…which I found several others had done as well, and the bus driver (for the passengers’ benefit only!) had pulled out a few bottles of Jameson. Why the heck not?

Then it was back into Dublin, where I found the HRC for Nicole’s shirt, and then I did the craziest thing ever. Let’s just say I put my stalking skills to use! Since no tour bus was going to drive through Killiney, I found a DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) and took myself to Killiney! I had read on the internet- Vico Street, overlooking Killiney Bay. That’s all I had to go on, but I knew Killiney was a very small town, so I just wandered. Believe it or not- I found the gates I was looking for! (but how ironic would it have been if I could write “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for”?) I took a few pictures, not my best work, but out of respect (or perhaps fear?) I was quick and headed back to the DART station. Turned out, I’d walked around the town for nothing! Literally like 200 meters down the road was the station, if only had turned right and not left! Oh well, I had officially made a pilgrimage!

Thankfully it was not raining in Killiney, which perhaps one of the factors that makes it so desirable? (That and I saw the view, I get it!) But when I got back to Dublin it was still rainy and windy so I decided to just head back to the hotel and get some sleep before my 8 am flight back to Glasgow, then back to Oslo. It’s strange for me to think about “going home” when really, it’ll only be “home” for another 3 nights. I cannot even express how sad I am that my time in Oslo is winding down and soon I’ll be returning home. Not that I’m sad to go home, in fact I’m very excited, but I’m sad to leave Oslo. Took me so long to get used to it, I finally feel comfortable here, and I’m going to miss all my new friends! But I guess I now have ample excuses to come back to Europe to visit! But before we all depart, we have a ice-skating, Nobel Day festivities and just one last weekend together planned. I will be heading to Budapest on Monday night, and everyone else will be gone before I get back to Oslo (of course I do get to see Katja again in Helsinki!).