Dublin Tourists

The past two days I've been a little picture-happy. I went for a walk last night by myself to take some evening shots and to test out my new camera. I thought Thursday nights in Dublin City were crazy - you should see Saturday's! Everyone is out and all dolled up for a night on the town. The action doesn't stop at 2:00am like it does at home. Matt has been woken up from the sounds of the streets at 3:00, 4:00, even 5:00am! Luckily, I sleep like a rock. Here are a few scenes from last night's stroll...

Double decker bus on the move

Traffic in front of the City Hall

Christ Church - Dublin's oldest building

I did wake up to the sound of church bells this morning. Christ Church is a few footsteps from our hostel. Nothing like an hour of bells chiming early Sunday morning! I actually really like hearing it - it's not an annoying chime, but kind of relaxing in a way.

Today me, Matt, and our Moroccan friend Marwane were major Dublin tourists. Marwane's last day in Ireland is Monday - he's going back to Germany where he works - so he's trying see as much as possible before his departure. I'm not going to tell you how crazy Marwane is, only because he's probably going to read this. But he sure is a fun guy to hang out and site-see with! He's taught us about his Muslim culture, he likes to compare women of different cultures (apparently Canadians are now #1 in his books), he likes to make fun of me, and I like to make fun of him! He told me my green pajama pants with apples on them are "catastrophic" and asked "who sold those to you?!" Needless to say, I'm wearing my black track pants to bed tonight. He says some funny things too, like "what's the difference between lawn and grass?" and "he gave her a baby" when he really meant "he got her pregnant." He also corrects Matt on his English, which is interesting when English is his 5th language!

Our first stop was St. Patrick's Cathedral - the largest church in Ireland. By the time we got there, church was in service and we couldn't get in. Being that everything is pretty easy to walk to in the City of Dublin, like tourists, we pulled out our map and decided to walk from the Cathedral to the Kilmainham Gaol (jail). 2.5 miles and one big hill later, we arrived. We had a guided tour of the jail and were told lots of history that I wish I could remember. It was pretty sad and creepy, but also made for some neat photo opportunities. We had been walking and hadn't eaten all day, so we stopped at the store where Marwane made the grossest sandwich with tuna, eggs, chili sauce, and this white fluffy stuff which none of us knew what it was. We took the tram back to the City Center and visited Trinity College to view the Book of Kells. We couldn't take pictures of the book, but the intricacy and artistry was amazing - something you really have to see in person to appreciate. The Trinity College Long Room was really cool too - it holds over 200,000 of the library's oldest books.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Kilmainham Gaol

Jail corridor with cells on either side

Matt in confinement - where he belongs!

You better believe it! And it tastes nothing like home!


Trinity College courtyard


Marwane breaking the rules, only because he doesn't know what a "lawn" is!


Pretending to be Trinity College students


Can you see us?


Marwane, Matt and I on O'Connell Street

After our tourist trek, the three of us made dinner together back at the hostel, then we watched a horrible "horror" (more like laughable) movie with some other hostel dwellers (one who recognized my WLU hoodie!) It's almost 2:00am, and I'm about to hit the sack. I'm not sure what we're up to tomorrow, but Matt told me earlier that we have a busy day ahead. I wonder what he has planned...