Irish log

I R I S H L O G
(18.-23. August, 2007.)


Well, it all started couple of years ago when Maja and I wanted to visit
Turkey, somehow we didn't, but since then we're dreaming about far countries we'd like to visit together.
Finally our friend Danko, after his short visit to Ireland, decided to move there for couple of months..that's how Maja and I finally ended up in a land of beer, chocolate (if you've entered their stores, you'd know what am I talking about, oh, they sell a lot of sweet food), loud conversations, green grass..

WELCOME PARTY
Our primar destination was Dublin, first day was reserved for the welcome party, people all over the world came to it!!!
It's not a joke, there were girls from China and Malesia, guy from Poland, and the balkan crowd from Croatia:)

So, croatian girls tried to make pancakes but we found that milk and flour
aren't like those at home..

Pancakes tasted like an old bread, but still, girls from C&M loved it cause they never tried it before (thank God for that, othervise one of us would turn out as a bad cook..or all three)

WICKLOW & BRAY

It was a cold day in Dublin, happy team-five went for a trip!!!
We wore long shirts and jackets (In the meanwhile, croatian beaches wer full of people, in swimsuits of course!), and went on a tour to Wicklow, small town situated on east coast of Ireland, souther than Dublin. First minutes in a train took our breath when we saw fields of green grass, Irish hills, sea ( we were pretty excited when we saw the sea, though we actually live on the sea in Croatia, but nevermind, jolly spirit was welcome)..
First minutes in Wicklow were quite enthusiastic, as we saw the sea, immediately wanted to take a photo by the sea, but we stood just a bit too close..

Photo by the sea...

After few seconds..

Sea caught our feet:)

Hm..problems?










After beach adventure we continued the tour arround Wicklow...

Before going home (home!) to Dublin,
we stopped for walk & lunch in Bray,
smallville near Dublin, touristic resort with long promenade
that follows the beach..

HOW DID WE SURVIVE ON OUR WAY FROM HOWTH TO DUBLIN???

Waiting for the train, sign on the digital board showed that our train stopped in Howth Junction and that it'll be late for couple of minutes, the train finnaly came and started his ride to Howth..untill it stopped again, for unknown reason to us – in HOWTH JUNCTION!!!! So we waited for about twenty minutes till another train came and finally took us to Howth.

Howth is fishing and yachting port and popular suburban resort on the north side of Howth Head where you can meet Howth's most interesting habitants – SEALS!!!

Howth was more resting destination for us, that Howth Junction
got us tired, but attempt of communication with seal, as well. ..









Night was close, it was time to go to Dublin, again waiting for the train, how strange, it's gonna be late again - some jam in HOWTH JUNCTION!!! Soon after the train came and we went to Dublin, we had a normal stop in Howth Junction, just to let passengers out of the train, there was no jam in Howth Junction any more..I'm looking outside the window, when all the sudden a woman, she was standing outside, waves to me and points the train.
At first I didn't know what it is she pointing me, till..


FEAR!!!.. get up, run out the train,.................................. get away from the train..huh, ....................................... we got scared, ......................................it all happened in a few seconds....................
......... ..............saw a FIRE,............... woke the girls, ............. run out of the train...

Later on turned out that some punks cogged the fire.........AND IT ALL HAPPENED IN HOWTH JUNCTION!!!!!

DUBLIN

Two days, of our journey in Ireland, were reserved to see this amazing capital city, tour arround Dublin had it's stop stations.

First stop station, beautiful green park - ST.STEPHEN'S GREEN 1663.

As hard-working students we took a look of TRINITY COLLEGE founded in 1592, which is the oldest university in Ireland, enourmous place, at present there are over 12,000 students and 1,200 staff members working on the College campus.
Heritage attractions available to visitors includes Book of Kells (famous old manuscript) housed in the Old Library building..


OLD JAMESON DISTILLERY - aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, lovely stop station!!!
Here, for 8€ (for a student), you can get a 40 minute tour with a tourist guide,
you can get a certificate for a professional taster, like I did!!!!






GUINNESS STOREHOUSE – more aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, entering the house you can see digital boards, some are showing history, some comercials, it is self-guided tour..barley, hops, beer!!! At the top of the house, or at the 7th floor you reach the gravity bar where you get your pint of Guinness!!!

Statue of MOLLY MALONE..I forgot to mention that there are a lot of street performers in Dublin, every couple of meters you can see either screaming Japanese, or 5 girls trying to perform harmonic songs, man dressed in skelet suit..They all have one thing in common – these exibitive plays are their way to earn money. The one that I find the best in buisness is an old man by the statue of Molly Malone (statue is on Grafton street – SHOPPING STREET), he chats with tourists, dresses them like players and than takes pictures of 'em, after he's been so entertaining every tourist leaves few coins..euros, not cents.












...and Molly Malone has it's own story, as you can see on a photo there is a hard-working woman with cart wheel and baskets on it, but her outfit is not really modest, she was a beautiful fishmonger who plied her trade on the streets of Dublin, but died young, of a fever..there is one add to this tale which describes Molly as part-time prostitute by night.
However I admire Molly, she had to choose a tool that’ll help her to survive in rough world, unfortunately destiny chose different path for her..
Song about Molly Malone became unofficial anthem of Dublin city, it’s sung by fans at soccer and hurling matches.

NIGHT LIFE IN DUBLIN

Is it necesarry to write anything, or should I just add few photos?! Well night life in Dublin is the best, not because of pubs and lot of people, but when you get 40 years old, in Croatia, you don't go out at night because you're too old for that, it's foolish mentality..and in Ireland, people go out in their 40-ies, 50-ies,..70-ies!!!!! They dance, they sing, and the most of all they ENJOY IN LIFE.
Temple bar is most famous street where you can go out, we used to go to Temple bar, but before we'd stop for a pint Budweiser or Smithwick's in The Celt, great pub, with live music every night..there is one drink I tried called baby Guinness, its a shooter made of Jeggermeister, Baileys and Guinness and it has great taste!!!! And yess we met a lot of people, especially the night when Iva, Maja and I wore pink shirts!!!

If you ever get a chance to visit this amazing country, I suggest you do that, trust me, there are fine lads living there!!!