Europe 2012 - Day 1

Alan and I are sitting in a pub outside of our Dublin hotel and decided we would recap our day and post to a blog.  Not only to remember our trip, but to share with our family and friends.  We will just call this day 1, however we have been up for 33 hours...with questionable sleep on the plane and a 2 hour power nap at noon.

We departed from O'Hare at 6:45pm, and landed in Dublin, Ireland at 8am local time.  My original plan was to take 2 Tylenol PM and snooze the entire trip.  Boy, I was wrong.  I'd like to believe that Alan and I have a high tolerance for children in public places.  But today tested me!  There were 5 screaming, and I mean screaming, children in the rows in front of us for our 8 hour flight.  I immediately regretted my coworker's, Alissa, strong suggestion to purchase ear plugs.  To add to the screaming kids, the flight attendant not only spilled on Alan once, but she successfully dumped both our drinks on him.  As a sign of forgiveness, we received 2 cans of Pringles which we can use for our upcoming road trip.  Ha, score.  However, the free in-flight TV made up for it.  In fact, I found my first Europe flight to be fairly easy, even with the long flight time.  The 2 mini bottles of Absolut helped too ;-)  They served us beef stew for dinner and little croissant sammies for breakfast.

We easily collected our luggage and headed down to the coach bus for Dublin.  Easier than we anticipated. At 10am, we had arrived.  Luckily we were still on schedule.  I mention the schedule because Alan has a minute-by-minute plan for Dublin.  Sun up, to sun down.  Apparently, he didn't get my memo that I wanted to relax a little on vacation.  Our room wasn't ready, but we freshened up anyway to head out to explore.

First stop was St. Stephen's Green Park.  Actually, first stop was a double latte, but after that it was St. Stephen's.  It is a huge park in the middle of the city with winding sidewalks and pretty ponds.  We strolled throughout snapping pics for quite awhile and even saw a marching band go through.  Next, the National Museum of Ireland.  We immediately recognized the Christianity influence within the Irish culture here.  There were a lot of exhibits featuring gold artifacts.  No leprechauns, bummer.  Then we at ate a nice cafe on the way back to our hotel, Nineteen Green.  To be honest, I went into this trip anticipating only eating pub food.  Ireland isn't known for its' culinary influence other than shepherds pie and fish & chips.  However, I have already been proven wrong.  I ate the most delicious potato & leek soup, paired with a mixed greens vinaigrette side salad.  Delicious looking Italian & Indian restaurants are everywhere here too.  After stuffing our faces, we headed back to the hotel and CRASHED for 2 hours.

[St Stephen's Green]

Alan had to drag me out of bed.  But in order to stay 'on schedule' sleeping was not an option.  Cold water on my face, a little hairspray, and I was a new woman.  We got on our rain gear.  Yes, I actually committed to a vacation that didn't include palm trees & margaritas.  Shocking, I know.  We headed to Trinity College to stroll around campus.  Unfortunately, the old Library was already closed so we will have to hit that tomorrow.  Next, we went to Grafton Street.  We compared it to the Magnificent Mile in chi town (albeit smaller).  The street was filled with talented musicians.  I say talented, because they didn't play construction barrels or paint buckets.  It started to rain...again...so we scurried into O'Neil's for the traditional Irish fare we had been waiting for.  It was a unique setup, as you order your food cafeteria style, then go find a seat in the bar.  The food is delicious and the pub is actually nice.  Alan got Lamb Shank, carrots, and potatoes.  I ordered shepherd's pie.  Then they filled my plate with mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes, cauliflower, and cabbage.  It was so much food I could hardly carry it.  We cheered to Ireland with our first Guinness of the trip.  We people watched, laughed, and played a good round of Blokus.  Alan won.  Yes, we will keep track of who wins the most on this vacation.

[Grafton Street]

[Musicians on Grafton Street]

[Trinity College]

Back out into the street we went.  The rain stopped, but I am convinced I will spend the majority of this trip in my Sperry's and warm pashmina scarf that Alan's mom got me.  A Temple Bar bar crawl was next.  Temple Bar is one of the districts downtown.  The first bar we stopped at, Oliver St John's Gogarty, was my very perfect Irish bar.  We walked into a lively traditional Irish band.  Patrons were singing along, and some were dancing.  We found 2 bar stools right by the band, and soaked up the atmosphere.  Wooden tables, humorous wooden signs hanging from the ceiling, and cobblestone floors.  Exactly what I wanted. We eventually went across the street, next on the almighty schedule, the Dubliner.  Alan continued to order Guinness, but I switched to Irish Coffee.  They actually grind fresh coffee beans at the pub.  The band at this pub was an American cover band.  Hmmm.  I'll take it because I love live music.  After that we went to Ha'Penny Bridge.  I am still not certain why this is a tourist attraction.  But nonetheless, Alan took a picture of me on the bridge!

[Oliver St John's Gogarty]

So here we sit, at our last stop of the night, The Bleeding Horse.  Sipping my Shiraz, by a fireplace, recapping the first day of our first Europe adventure.  Everyone is watching a Dart tournament on TV.  So funny how sports interests differ by culture.  Anyway, tomorrow brings another adventure, and I can't wait...