6/1/2014 - Dublin

Last day in Dublin! Well, for this go around. I went to the pub crawl last night. I was early, ugh. Tasha, Jenna, and Kaley (Kaley! A cross between Kelsey and Casey!) met up there and I met two British girls from my hostel, Emily and Lizzy, who were in Dublin for Lizzy's 21st birthday. They were super nice - I almost got split into a different group and they screamed, and Lizzy seemed like she was trying to look after me, which I appreciate but at the same time I'm 24 years old - why do I present as so young all the time?! Anyway, I did go a-crawling and I drank a Guinness (half-pint) and some shots of Baileys and a vodka lemonade. I didn't get the carcinogenic red lemonade though, I sort of regret it. Then we stopped for chips on the way home. It was mostly not that bad - the last 'pub' was actually a club and filled with smoking dancers, but we left before the smell of cigarette fully impregnated my clothes - thank goodness!

Today I woke up and I think I hurt my ankle crawling or something - not a blister but like a muscle thing? After lunch I'm gonna go back to the hostel and rest it. Already today I've gone to the Irish-Jewish Museum - it was cool, very small, and it seemed to have too many people working - they all wanted to help but I just wanted to toodle and poke around. Found out some interesting things - 352 Jews registered as living in Belfast in the 1981 census! Also maybe I knew this but it didn't register, Republic of Ireland's neutrality in WWII meant they refused to take Jewish refugees. No Kindertransport. De Valera sent condolences after Hitler's death. I wonder if that would affect Mo's feelings in the play - the wording of 'I love Ireland' might have to change. Only one Irish person died in the war - the Holocaust, correction. 

I liked it a lot. Got some pics of pics and docs, some 1980's bar mitzvah boy pics - BUT NO GIRLS AH. The walk there was awesome as well, aside from my awkward crawl-ankled gait. Down past St. Stephen's Green and into a more residential area, Portobello Road, the Grand Canal (HAHAHA IT'S LIKE A BIG PUDDLE.) Saw the Dublin doors, etc. Some cool graffiti. Only awkward thing is I guess the museum is planning on expanding and the neighborhood is in an uproar - I got a little lost and when this old couple gave me directions they ended by saying "Just look for the big protest signs - they don't want that museum there." Which put me totally on edge as I walked. They've done pretty well keeping the signs specific enough that it doesn't seem anti-semitic but it's still off-putting. 

Then I walked back. I thought I might do Kilmainham Gaol today but maybe I'll save that for the end of my trip - I'm afraid I'll screw up my ankle two days in and have to hobble for sixty days more. Maybe I'll work on my play since I'm in a Jew-y frame of mind. 

I like a lot of what I've seen in Dublin. So much of it has been just tourist shit. But yesterday/today I've gotten to wander some into living areas. It's a very me sort of city - I've walked almost everywhere I've been since the airport, and it's got quaint Georgian houses or littler up and down houses with the colorful doors and COBBLESTONES (is that what I did to my ankle?) and books books books everywhere - there's a bookshop on every corner in the area near my hostel. It's SO HARD not to buy any - like really surprisingly difficult. Bibliotropic. I go towards books. Hopefully in Sweden/Germany/Czech Republic/Austria/Hungary/Italy/the Netherlands, I won't have this issue since the books will be in Swedish/German/Czech/More German/Hungarian/Italian/Dutch. 

Right now I'm eating in a chain restaurant called Apache's. It's pizza and incredibly racist. It's got like a big chief in headdresses all over the place and the diff. pizzas have names like 'Wigwammer' and 'Hiawatha.' Why is an Italian food being marketed with so many Native American stereotypes? I guess they consider pizza more American than Italian in this instance. I got pepperoni and tandoori chicken (I honestly have no idea why) and I feel guilty for not finishing it. I've been doing so good with my budget though! At least €20 under every day. Hopefully I can keep it up. 

Haha, small caveat to my 'Dublin is my kind of city' - these quaint curvy streets make no sense! I was a fool and decided to try for Kilmainham Gaol (I wore my Tom's which felt better but now my ankle hurts again because I am a fool) and I got super lost getting there. I did really well up to Heuston Station - then I followed the little blue tourist signs which suck/make no sense, and I was plunged into lost-land. Somehow I ended up at St. James
Hospital which on the map doesn't seem THAT far, but is totally and confusingly in the middle of nowhere. I got myself found by following bus/luas signs and I ended up taking the luas back, which was fun. Trams as transport make not tons of sense because we had to stop for traffic/etc. But I made it! I took it to BusAras to figure out where to go to catch the bus to the ferry tomorrow. 

I can't imagine working for Sitter's Studio in Dublin - lost like that every appointment!

Sail-Rail Booking
Dublin to Holyhead - Ulysses
8:05 am - Terminal 1
Irish Ferries

Next Hostel: Astor Queensway
45 Queensborough Terrace
​Bayswater, London