Shippin off to Dublin...

Apologies for the lack of keeping up with the blog, as you might have seen, I sat down to start writing this post about 4 days ago and then I decided it was more important to catch up on the reading of other friends blogs and I got nothing else done.
ANYWAYS.... I went to Dublin, Ireland last weekend and I loved it! Me and two of my roommates, Jen and Mairead, left on Thursday night after class, and actually stayed until Monday evening due to an error with booking tickets, but we were staying with Mairead's grandparents who live there so it wasnt a big deal. They were amazing, we called them Bobby and Nanny (sorry Nanny) and they were very cute and Irish. The first night we got in on the late side and Bobby picked us up and gave us a little accidental tour, due to some detors caused by construction, of the city. I am happy to say that the steriotype of irish people will live on in my mind because the tour consisted of Bobby pointing out his favorites bars and pubs and of course his favorite place to golf. it was also Bobby's birthday! So what else do you do on an 80 year old Irish man's birthday? You stay up until 2 am talking to college aged girls and have a few drinks. Nanny was drinking SoCo "with just a little water, because it is too sweet", and Bobby was drinking whiskey. I found it hilarious that these two old Irish people could probably drink us college girls under the table, and Bobby kept trying to sneak more wine into my glass when I wasn't looking but it was actually a blast. It was all ideal until it turned into heaven when I hopped into bed to find a hot water bottle (old school style, the rubber kind that you only see in cartoons now) warming up my bed. I fell asleep with it on my feet and it was the perfect end to a great evening.
The next day we woke up nice and early and had a little toast for breakfast and headed into town via the public transportation known as The Luis. It was this adorable little monorail car that basically travels in two directions across the city, but their happened to be a stop right outside the complex where Nanny and Bobby live so it was very convenient. The first day we met up with my friends Ryan and Mike, who we ended up spending the entire weekend with, at Pheonix Park so that we could try to get to the Dublin Zoo. After a little difficulty we found each other and started walking around this beautiful and very large park. We finally get to the zoo, which is in the center of the park, and we find out that it cost 17 euro (about 23 US dollars) to go in. So we decided we are too poor for that kind of entry fee and we decided our money would be much better spent on a tour of the Guinness Factory.
The Guinness Factory was a blast, I got to see how beer is made, although I already knew because Ryan happens to brew his own beer at home, and I learned all about Guinness. I was a little saddened to find out that the beer is actually no longer made in that perticular factory and some is not even made in Ireland, but it was all still very exciting and interesting. We were given a little taste about half way through our tour and then at the end you get to enjoy a complimentary pint in the 360 Bar at the top of the Guinness Factory, which is an amazing view of the city in a smallish glass room. After my meal and a half of Guinness we decided it was a good time to go home because the family was coming over for Bobby's birthday and we had promised an appearance. The boys actually ended up joining and we made a night out of it. Bobby kept shoving drinks down our throats and Nanny kept feeding us, so I was a pretty content girl.
The next day we got up bright and early for a tour of the Dublin Castle, which we also managed to drag the boys on. This tour was much more reasonably priced at around 3.50 euros each. It was BEAUTIFUL and is actually still a working government building. The original castle actually burned down a long time ago and they replaced it with more of a palace instead, as a place for the Queen of England to come and stay and visit on her very rare trips to Ireland. But they also host people like Hillary Clinton and some other famous people and have large stately dinners there. After that we thought it would be a good idea to try to find St Patricks Cathedral. You would think that this would be something easily found in a city with no sky scrapers, but it actually took us a few tries and by the time we got there it was closed. So we went back to Mike's apartment so they could get ready to go out for the night, after of course stopped by to see Bobby and have a few drinks. (Bobby kept telling us to "bring the lads around for a drink". I think he enjoyed having them around a lot. We ended up staying there most of the night actually instead of going out but it was "great crack" (irish for fun?). Im still not sure how to use that exactly but I know that people say they have "great crack" in Ireland and it means they had a good time.
The following day we woke up to go on a free 3 hour walking tour of the city, but not before breakfast, which was AMAZING. We had an authentic Irish breakfast with this stuff called "rashers" which is basically just thick undercooked bacon, but you put in on bread with butter and some black and white pudding (I wont tell you what that is if you dont already know) But I loved it, and If I wouldnt gain 500 pounds or have a heart attack from it, I would eat it everyday! The walking tour was actually very funny and informative , since it is done by local actors, and they work off tips alone. We didnt realy go to see very much exactly, but I learned a great deal about the city itself. On our way home my roommate Jen and I saw a cute jewlrey shop and decided to stop in to have a look for some claddagh rings. I found a beautiful one for 30 euros and bought it, and I am very very happy about my authentic claddagh from Ireland! :)
On Sunday night it was the Superbowl back home, but it actually didnt start here until 11pm. We found an American style bar near Mikes apartment that said it was staying open as long as it took and serving hot dogs. I skipped on the meat, but it was like being home again even without it. Everyone in the bar was wearing American football Jerseys, even for teams that had no business being on peoples backs in another country. The group of Irish guys who sat next to us during the whole game consisted of a chargers fan, bears fan, a saints fan (he was ok), and a browns fan. It was very random, but I thought it was adorable. I even found a patriots fan at that bar but he wasnt very interested in me being from Boston....
We got back home around 6am and woke up the next day at 230pm, just in time for our flight at 6. hahahha.
It was a very fun weekend, and I have been invited back by Bobby and Nanny after school gets out, which I very well might take them up on!