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Stop #1 - London,
England
Stop #3 - Amsterdam, Netherlands
Stop #4 - Brussels,
Belgium
Our flight via
Ryanair to Dublin, Ireland was a
very early one that departed at 6:30am at London, Stansted airport.
Amit and I woke up at about 2:30am and took the
National Express
bus from Liverspool Station to Stansted. The fare was
GBP10/person/way and the ride was about 1 hour.
As soon as we arrived in Dublin, I noticed a
second language other than English at the airport signs. I asked the
immigration officer about the second language and apparently, Ireland had
a second official language, the
Irish Gaelic.
As soon as we got out of the arrivals area, there were
buses at the airport en route to downtown Dublin. Fare was EUR
3/person/way and it dropped us at Trinity College stop which was a 5 minute
walk from Temple Bar where our hotel was located. We stayed at
Blooms Hotel which was at the center of
Temple Bar. At first, I thought Temple Bar was a "pub" or a "bar" but
it was actually an area in Dublin where all the parties happened. It
was comparable to the French Quarters in New Orleans where people partied
all night long.
As soon as we dropped off our luggage at our
hotel room, we went to our first stop,
Kilmainham
Gaol - an old prison like
Alcatraz. From the Kilmainham, we went to the
Guinness
Storehouse. Entrance was EUR 13.00/head but we decided not to go
inside and just had some beers. On our way back to the
city center, we noticed the old houses in Dublin were small. We were
trying to figure out whether there was an extended basement to accommodate a
family.
We passed by
St. Patrick's
Cathedral and at the Dublinia
where they showed some history of the Vikings.
Dublin was a small city and we were 75% done
with our walk around the city. By 2:00 pm, we
had lunch and I had a local Irish dish, sausage and mashed potatoes with
some gravy on it. Since Guinness beer was overflowing in Dublin, Amit
and I decided to try a local Irish beer, Smithwick's. It was also a good
brew and lighter than Guinness.
After lunch, we went to
Trinity College. I did not know why it
was a must-see in Dublin but personally, there was nothing spectacular
about the educational institution. We strolled around the city center
and ended up at Grafton
Street which was simply a street of shops. It was like an outlet
store but on a street layout.
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