Getting great out of good
The grass is always greener. When your traveling in Ireland, it pretty much literally is. However, despite the landscape, it’s worth mentioning that Travel has its own very real demands on ones mental strength.
Sometimes if your traveling with people, the sheer amount of time spent having to make minute to minute decisions that involve not only your time and experience but also your wallet, it make even the most perfect groups dynamics a tad tense. With our second day to explore the city, exhausted, half our crew sick, we were in just such a place. I mention this because I think it’s worth while saying that along side every picture of glamour and fun, there is a back story that for the large part in travel blogs, goes unmentioned. Whether it was the hours of research before you even left to find the right place to stay or the best deal on airfare, or in the moment right there on your dream vacation, sometimes things aren't perfect. I believe it’s the expectation of perfection that can ruin a good thing.
So it’s Saturday morning, we are in Dublin, and tiredness has gotten the best of us. Which way do you lean into? Do you fight? Do you give into the stress and let the day be taken from you? No! You find grace for each other, take a power nap, get some coffee and seize the day!
Upon such seizing, my favorite personal moment was seeing this little piece of everyday life in Dublin, which was also an pleasant foreshadowing for the day, hint hint.
With a bit of recon work, right down the street I find a little coffee shop called Catherine's Cafe & Bakery (they were doing a bit of renovations, not sure if a name had been settled on) but locals seemed to be going in, so I followed suit. Another little gem, I brought the troops and we restored some much needed energy with a good Irish breakfast. I had a very filling chicken pie and flat white, go figure right?
Now to explore!
Ireland has a rich and rather violent history of religious affairs. The right to soil between Protestants and Catholics along with some very severe circumstances i.e potato famine, are a fairly solid proof that the Irish are a resistant bunch. Their church’s, those still standing, are quite spectacular given the circumstances of the people that built them.
Along with a wandering through and around some of Dublin’s sacreds, we took some time wandering the streets to soak in whatever the next left turn would hold for us.
The Penny Bridge is another favorite of mine, complete with the promises of many an ambitious couple, locking away their love to one another with witness by the white cast iron walkaway and the river flowing underneath.
Another such left turn took us meet Toby the horse. And for a brief ride down Thomas street complete with a van of Irish men sitting in traffic, singing us songs as we past by.
Of course, No trip to Ireland is complete without a trip to a castle
In this case the Dublin Castle which is still used today to hold dignitaries most formal soirées.
And to fit the wash, rinse, and repeat evening of successful adventure, we of course ended up in a pub with some Cottage Pie ( side note: Shepard’s Pie very hard to actually find in most places here) asbestos tongue recommended!
Every challenge is a testament to how much getting out there and exploring is paid in full. Having fun takes some work, but it’s worth it.
Da Da Da Dublin
In all my wanderings abroad, it’s amazing what a little Wifi can accomplish. On a day tour, on a plane for eight hours, you go were you go and you take pictures where you are taken. But when you have actively to explore a city and no extra euro to spend on fancy international data plans, Wifi is a tool and a blessing.
I like to map out where I go to get lost. Bare with me here. I like being lost, taking it in, wandering down the side street. You never know what you may see or experience. However, I “Google Map” out my day and take screen shots of roads on the way to places that get great reviews by both locals and tourists. So it takes me the time everyone else spends on their hair to do a little digging.
We started our day at the first reasonable hour of our entire trip, 9 AM. With my trusty screenshots in hand we make our way over towards the trinity college area of Dublin for a spot of breakfast.
And by spot, I mean a full Irish Breakfast.
Next we wander through to the Powerscourt shopping center, a building that is riddled with beauty, and selling some of Dublin’s higher end merchandise. I take away some pictures and some small finds to pack in the ever-mounting suitcase of too many finds.
Grafton Street
Sure it may just be a street with stores, but something about it feels alive and buzzing. We roll around from corner to corner powered by a sugary whirlwind of dough, a very popular trade of choice in Dublin as we found our way to get our fix in nearly every day.
More shopping with a three story Disney store included because everyone needs a little Disney
One of my favorite feels from the city was the sheer number of talented musicians, here is one such lass.
This is what I mean by alive! Just walking around, I picked up on many a local carrying around their instrument cases. Which only made sense in the evening when all the local bars lit up with the sounds of live music and authentic sounds of city life.
Stumbling through the beautiful St. Stephens Green and the campus of Trinity College, we worked up quite an appetite we did in fact make our way to such a place of music and fun for a bite of stew and a pint to call it a night on a fully stewed stomach
Oh Captain, My Captain
My captain, (Tim) my captain
If I thought “catching up” on sleep was a possibility before Ireland, it almost seems laughable now starting the second leg of our journey. Its 6 am (1 am for you savvy followers) and I’m the last awake and the first ready, praising my foresight of picking up a starbucks from the little corner market under our flat the night previous. As I worship the five sips of coffee it holds for me, the rest of the crew makes the final touches in their grooming. The crew now includes a Steve and a Lara, of which this adventure was originated, as today is a day for a proposal. But to get there, a fifteen-minute walk into the Trinity College area is included aswell as a three hour bus tour. A Three Hour tourrrrrrr, Gilligan was not included.
We meet up with Lara’s sister, Courtney who is an amazing wedding photographer who jumped over just for two days for this event. We take the back of the bus and get some shuteye, opening them to the Western bank of Ireland at the Cliffs of Moher. We have an hour and half, to find a place for Steve to drop a knee and soak in all the salty air our lungs can hold.
Going past a few safety barriers, we find the spot and Steve makes the move. Although they may have had literal cold feet with the freezing mountain wind, there was no hesitation to be found and the proposal is a wild success with many a cheer from happy on-lookers.
Of course we took some pictures too
So we naturally mixed some exploring with a bit of joyful memory making from peak to peak along the torrid sea side cliffs. These where probably my favorite photos from the trip, fitting that it was also one of my favorite days even being rushed along by our faithful Tim.
Although this was the Cliffs of Moher tour, the majority of the day was spent traveling and getting to see more of Ireland. Including lunch at a little village in Doolin. Little Dooliner Beer, little chip, little fish, goes a long way. We were off again!
We rolled past the The Burren, which is part of the County Clare. It is known for its almost lunar like landscape from large sedimentary rocks, mostly composed of limestone.
We have fifteen minutes here. I know, that is less than a hiccup for any photographer. And I considered hiding between ridges; I was hailed back to the bus. Shoot.
I will be back, I will drive my own car, and I will play on rocks.
Lastly, we drive on up to Galway, continuing Lucia’s obsession of recreating as many Ed Sheeran songs as she can.
This quaint town was full of life and another place I wish I had at least night to take in. This also provided an cultural experience for my fellow travelers as this was the first public bathroom they used and found themselves turning their pockets in for the change in order to pass through the turnstile entrance. Disney?
With only an hour here, we have enough time to walk from one end to the next and make our way back to the bus. For the first time all day, we do not receive the cold stares as we make our way to the back as we were not the last on the bus. Heading back to Dublin, our tour guide (Tim) and driver did a bang up job of giving us some historical understanding of Ireland from the Potato famine to the famed Obama gas station. That is no joke; it is truly a memorial to the Presidents visit to the country when he was seeing where some of his ancestors had once lived.
Pulling back into the city, although the 14 hour day naturally would march oneself straight to bed, we put on our party boots and marched back out into the city to celebrate everlasting love and all that mushy stuff. We kicked back a few Guinness’s (they really tastes different here) and listened to a few bands at Trinity bar and then over to the famous Temple Bar.
What a day.
Hop Skip Jump
3 am feels more and more natural everyday and this morning, we literally jump out of bed to a little harmless spilling type accident that I so fortunately thought to wake us to. No harm, no foul and certainly now an even earlier start to our day.
Having spent the hour it takes to work out packing up the previous night, we get our feet to the ground and work our way over to a London Starbucks. Yes, it tastes the same. No, it costs more. But this Starbucks was served in a small mall like area that housing an almost Figment like dry docked ship, in the middle of the courtyard. Even with coffee in me, it stayed put, so no fear, I was not still dreaming.
Fueled up, we make our way down the riverside, soaking up the fog and cool air. We make our way over to the London Tower Bridge
If you are like me and grew up hearing the London Bridge song, learning that this bridge is in fact the TOWER bridge, is an important distinction to walk about in one’s accurate childhood landscape. The London Bridge, much less gusto. Sadly we did not get enough time to do the tour, but we had plenty to fully enjoy walking about, counting double decker buses, and loading up on some much needed souvenir supplies.
One thing I've also enjoyed while wandering around, locks. Sure, some have very cute stories of promises made to love one forever and forever contribute to the alkaline content of the rivers below by throwing away the keys. Many though, like bike locks, seem to hold great propose but looks very different in subtile ways everywhere I've been. I particularly enjoy creating stories as I walk of the sentiments or placeholders the locks I stumble across hold in their keeping.
We said goodbye to London in a whirlwind of trying to get the right kind of train ticket to get over to the Gatwick Airport once again. Shucks Oyster card. As for leaving Gatwick, the airport was actually very efficient, utilizing stations for getting through security and minimal lines.
We flew Ryanair, which is an excellent cost save to hop around Europe and I was impressed by how easy it was to send a bag on without as much fuss over weight as we had received on Norwegian air getting over in the first place. Plus they even had a nice hour delay which bought us enough time to try out Nado’s, another new favorite I’ll miss back in the states.
After informing Dublin Customs that we are “on holiday”, we made our way into the city via the airport bus system that I would also give high marks to which included Wifi and stops in both English and Gallic. We even made some friends who were starting this process of moving from Spain in hopes of a better life in Ireland. After helping them with what I hope was reliable directions, we found our way to our Airbnb in the Liberties District. From our first steps on the cobblestone, we could already tell, we were walking on a place full of history.
Since the next day promises to be FULL of adventure, we chowed down on some pizza and enjoyed the sounds of Dublin’s street lullabies.
Stepping Out
Stepping out
Coffee is life and Pret’s are as to London as Starbucks is to America.
However, a Macchiato does not follow the same equation, as Lucia had the pleasure of finding out. I got my forth Flat White of the trip and we sat in a wee park enjoying the morning air before we shuffled down to the underground. Despite several transfers and line hops, I will say that this tube network seemed far less daunting then some of my previous treks. Partly from experience, lack of urine smell, and from the obvious benefit of understanding the very pleasant automated voice across the intercom letting us know that ALL LINES CLEAR. Even with the recent terrorist attacks, traveling about anywhere really didn’t provoke large amount of anxiety. This benefited us greatly as today we found our way through platform 9 ¾ to the Wizarding Studio of Warner Brothers.
For those of you that are neither avid Harry Potter fans or Disney nuts, I’ll warn you now, you can skip ahead to tomorrow.
Off the “real train” onto a double-decker bus that was fully shrink-wrapped to look like the night bus ready to transport all our wayward wizarding selves to the Warner Brother studio lot. With tickets in hand and audio guides in place, we entered several holding rooms that get you reminded just how fantastic the world-wide phenomenon of the series really was (as if we were already loyal fans). With a magical screen unveiling, the gates to Hogwarts appears and we step into the great hall. From here, I’ll let you roam about some of my favorite pieces of the walking tour from Dumbledore’s office to Butterbeer.
Our 5 hours on set were rich minutes, and we easily could of spent another several had we borrowed Hermione’s time turner (last bad reference).
Alas, we were off to a surprise treat I had in store for Lucia. Many a track-passed-tree later we arrive...
Back in London!
This is perhaps the only exception to my own note about traveling in the Underground. When jetting around down under around the evening rush hours in the heart of London, you are certainly not the only travelers savvy enough to utilize the convenience of the pipes. So this was perhaps the one time I felt real anxiety getting about. Not because I feared someone snagged our valuable Potter souvenirs, just general crowd anxiety and the sudden awareness of the lack of negative space in such a setting.
Thankfully, severe excitement propelled us forward and just in time to Prince Edward’s theater for a West End performance of Aladdin!
Two important notes for this experience
First off on the performance itself, having the privilege of having seen many a Disney on stage, I give this performance the highest marks. Jasmine was, at times, hard to understand during her speaking role but paired vocally quite well with Aladdin, who had an incredible range and stage presence. Genie did not disappoint either. Though often used as the focal point of comedy in Aladdin renditions, this Genie not only had the witty social commentary of West End caliber, but also had the pipes and the acting ability to be truly captivating. Set design also receives high marks in my book, specifically the “cave” interior. All in all well worth attention.
Secondly, if you ever have the pleasure of seeing a show in the Prince Edward Theater, Lodge seats= an introverts dream seat. You are about Mezzanine level however forward in front of the second tier. Great perspective, you are able to catch some of the orchestra with out being all the way on the side like typical box seats. I would actually plan a trip to this theater to see about any well-rated show just to be able to sit here again. No joke.
So we conclude our full day of seemingly less foreign adventure in a foreign land, with a stop in the Fuller House which is at the lobby level in the Mad Hatter Hotel.
At ten thirty, it is as you see here
Completely empty!
The bartender (night guard of the hotel) assures me that during their peak season, this is a lively place to be indeed. So as we sip of drinks, we imagine a boisterous crowd, praise the quiet that we actually have, and prepare ourselves for our last half-day in London.