So, before I get super into St. Paddy's Day, I have to tell you all about my short stint in Belfast.Day 5: SUCH a good day! I started out a little later than normal, and headed off first to tour the Guinness Storehouse, which was really the only touristy thing that I did in Dublin, if you don't count Temple Bar. On route to the Guinness Storehouse, I misread my map and started walking along the river in the exact opposite direction I was supposed to be going. I thought I'd be annoyed at this waste of time, but the river was so peaceful and beautiful, and it was this little mishap that probably made me fall in love with Dublin. Yes, in love, I say. I'd love to return to Dublin in the very near future to study.
I LOVED the Guinness Storehouse. I learned a lot, there weren't many people to annoy me, and there were great tidbits of info everywhere. I'd highly recommend it, even if you don't drink Guinness.
So an interesting tidbit about the Guinness Storehouse. Every year, Guinness pays 45 pounds to the leaser. This is because Arthur Guinness, Guinness's genius founder, signed a 9000-year lease for the site of the Guinness Storehouse. So until the year 10,759, Guinness will continue paying 45 pounds/year to their leaser. Below is a picture of the original lease, signed by Arthur Guinness in 1759:
A few other fun things I found at the Guinness Storehouse:
And moving on to Belfast, haha. After the Storehouse I hopped on a bus to Belfast, which is in Northern Ireland, thus although still part of the fair isle of Ireland, part of the country of the UK. Anyhoo, originally I had big plans for Northern Ireland, but they were upset due to my late start at the Guinness Storehouse, and a miscalculation on my part the following morning.
Staying at my hostel with me were two Brazilians who were both living in Dublin but on vacation to Belfast at the moment. The girl is named Marsela, and the boy Adriano. Then that creepy bald guy is the one who we met randomly and who also just as randomly tried to kiss me. AWKWARD! Oh, and pay no attention to the crimson of my eyes, I've just turned into a vampire over my travels.
Um... why am I driving on the right side of a taxi? ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD?!
Day 6: So, I was SUPPOSED to go to the Giant's Causeway this day. Buuuuuut, I'm horrible at life, so I didn't make it. Actually, it's not really my fault. I got up at around 8:30 AM, and was supposed to leave for the tour at 11:00 AM. Since I was running out of clean clothes, I naively calculated that 2 and a half hours would be plenty of time to do a load of laundry. At 10:30, when the washer was still running, I realized that the tour was a lost cause, which was too bad, because I would've really liked to have seen it. Oh well though. I'll be in Ireland again at some point in my life, so I'll just go then.
Instead, I spent the day wandering around Belfast and looking for cheap going out shoes (my white ones had been ruined the first night in Cork). I got an early bus back to Dublin, had a relaxed dinner, then headed off for the biggest ego trip of my life, which happened at a couchsurfer gathering. By biggest ego trip of my life, I mean that I got a ridiculous amount of compliments. I'll spare you all having to read through them, though =p
Day 7: Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! St. Patrick's Day was fun, and pretty crazy. Well... not for me, but for a lot of other people. For me it was pretty laid back. I woke up late, got annoyed with the hostel I was staying at for it's lack of outlets, and went off to the parade. Which was PRETTY cool, and I've included some pics for your viewing pleasure. I have TONS more though.
I liked the guy with the world on his shoulders...
Here's one of my Irish friends that I met! He turned me into a leprechaun!
This isn't what it looks like, I swear! We were doing the one kiss on each cheek thing after a lovely dance, and one of his friends just happened to take the picture at exactly the wrong moment... lol.
This pic is for my little brother. I was talking to these two Irish fellows, and they asked me something about how my St. Patrick's Day was going, and I told them it was going well. Somehow the conversation turned into how my little brother really wanted me to find a red-haired Irish man named Patrick and take a picture with him. And he was like, "Well my name's Patrick... and I sort of have red hair!" And that was it, we took a picture. I don't remember the name of his friend though...
A couple other things happened on St. Paddy's Day, but none that I'm going to write about. Except for one. I had been talking to another Irish guy (whose name is currently escaping me) and then I was like "I'm going to go meet people now!" And then when I came back to talk with him again towards the end of the night he was so annoyed with me. He was like "I thought we were getting on so well!" I guess that's what you get for being friendly sometimes. Ah well. Then, at the very end of the night, he very cutely asked, though I had no romantic interest in him whatsoever and didn't think I'd been sending any signals that said otherwise, if I was going to let him kiss me. To which I of course said no :) (Although it would've been a good souvenir, haha!)
Thus concludes day 7 of my journey, and my St. Patrick's Day of 2009.
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