La Vie en France: Megan's Trip to Ireland, Part 2

For everyone who hasn't been, Dublin is a fantastic city. The people are super funny and welcoming, there's tons of really interesting history, the museums are free, the downtown area is all within an easy 30 minute walking distance, and they have coffee shops devoted entirely to variations of hot chocolate.

Our first day in Dublin we pretended like we were in America. It was so nice to be around an old friend, we took advantage of it. We bought these crazy elaborate milk shakes (mine had a slice of cheesecake blended into it) and snuck them into a movie. Afterwards we sat in a pub, drank good Irish beer and listened to music.

Our second day, we took the day trip (See Part 1). That night we went out with three American girls we met in our hostel. They'd just come from Amsterdam and had lots of good stories. We spent another evening in a pub, listening to music and meeting people who spoke our language.

Our third day we moved in with someone we'd met in a bar. His name was Marty, and he's getting his phD in marketing. He was super hospitable and let us crash in his place for the last few nights. That day we went to the Chester Beatty library to look at very old books. Chester Beatty (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_Beatty) was an American who made a fortune mining copper and collected rare books. He eventually settled in Dublin, where he built a beautiful museum to exhibit his collection. We toured the religious texts room, where there were manuscripts of the bible from 200 ad! Afterwards we went to the National Museum, spent the evening drinking hot chocolate and walking around a shopping district, and ended the night once again in a pub.

These pictures are of "bog men." There are from around 300 bc and were human sacrifices, thrown into the swamps near Dublin. The bogs there have weird chemicals that tend to preserve organic matter. Archeologists also found edible butter with these bog men!

Our favorite bar, taking during the quiet day hours

Our last day, we took a free walking tour. Students from Trinity College give them daily. Evidently there are free walking tours in most big European cities (http://www.neweuropetours.eu/). We learned a lot about the fight for Irish independence. I hadn't realized how long and bloody the struggle had been. Oh, and we heard a lot about Bono.

That evening we watched our first rugby match. That game makes no sense to me. We met tons of South Africans who had come to watch their national team compete. Despite the fact that Ireland lost the pubs were jolly as ever.

Irish pub culture starts and ends super early; everyone is out by 8 and only a few bars stay open past midnight. There is positively nothing open after 3 am. The crowds are also unusual. People of all ages hang out in the same bars. Everyone is super friendly and there's almost always live music.