After a busy week of travels and festivities I finally have some time to sit down and go through my pictures and reflect on everything. I was in Dublin from last Friday until Monday where I met my friend Danielle. It was really great having a tour guide through the city because although it's a very easy city to navigate, many of the fun things to do are not obviously stated. This being said I was taken to lots of favorite local restaurants and of course many pubs. It was a great time and my favorite part was talking to and getting to know the locals. The Irish are so friendly and welcoming and I loved chatting with the assortment of people that I met. I even met someone who also loves couch surfing and might surf my couch in Monterey!
Another highlight of the trip was a visit to the Guinness Storehouse. While the history of the beer and brewing process was interesting, my favorite part of the visit was the Gravity Bar at the top of the building. It's the highest point in all of Dublin and has an amazing 360 degree view of the city. There was a big Ireland/Wales rugby match on that day and you could see the stadium all lit up. Europeans are very patriotic when it comes to rugby and almost everyone was wearing either green or red for Ireland and Wales, respectively.
(This is the harp that the Guinness logo is based off of and it's called the O'Neil harp :))
After the Guinness trip that night we went with a few of Danielle's Irish friends to a comedy club called The International. It's a pretty famous place in Dublin and a lot of well know comics have gotten their start there. It was a three act show with a great MC and we were laughing all night. After that we were lucky enough to go to a club where a member from Passion Pit, one of my favorite bands, was doing a DJ set. Danielle's friend knew someone who worked there and so we were granted access to the VIP room where we were within breathing distance of the band members, it was awesome and definitely something I'll never forget.
Another highlight was a trip out to a neighboring village of Dublin called Howth. It's right along the water and has incredible views of the Dublin bay from the top of the town. We ate delicious fish and chips (the best in Dublin according to Danielle) and enjoyed a relaxing day by the water. It was nice to get out of the hustle and bustle of the city and see a little bit of nature.
All in all it was a nice trip and interesting because Dublin wasn't much like I imagined it to be. While the people have a lot of personality and character I don't think that that's reflected in the appearance of the city. While there are a lot of old brick buildings, everything is low-lying and quite plain. It was nice because the city was not overwhelming in the least bit, but you really have to go inside places to find the charm. It being the weekend before St. Patrick's day there was a lot of fun energy in the nightlife which I really enjoyed.
Other then that the weather in Aix has FINALLY turned beautiful and we've all been soaking up the sun and loving it. We went on a tour of a chateau today that produces olive oil and wine and got tastes of both. Afterwards we walked through the olive groves in beautiful 70 degree weather... life is good. Tomorrow we're off on a weekend trip to Camargue which is French cowboy land! It's right along the ocean and we're going horseback riding through the marshes of a natural wildlife preserve. Rain is on the forecast but we're crossing our fingers for an error in weather predicting...more updates soon! Bon week-end!
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