We begin again.
So there I was thinking to myself, "where can I go that's not in the schengen zone for a few weeks?"
Then it dawned on me.
Ireland isn't in the schengen zone.
And it's almost Saint Patrick's Day.
Which is how I found myself, hungover and exhausted, on a flight from Istanbul to Dublin on March 15. We will call my time in Istanbul "pregaming" for my Irish holiday.
Nevertheless I survived, and dragged my sad sorry ass through immigration security where I was told to not have too much fun (of course not, sir) and then grabbed a quick bus to my hostel. Where I promptly collapsed to sleep off the remains of the pub crawl and the approximate three hours sleep from the night before.
The next morning I was up reasonably early and was reading in bed when the manager of the hostel let herself into the room and asked to speak with me in the hall. Despite my unconcerned exterior I was mildly panicked trying to guess just what on earth I was in trouble for this time. At that moment, I heard a familiar voice behind me say, "hey kid."
You know when you see your teacher at the grocery store, and it takes you a second to process because they're not in their normal setting? That's precisely how I felt when I turned around to see dad, grinning, with a suitcase in the hall of my hostel. That's right, papa Swan had come to celebrate his birthday in style with his traveling daughter.
After a few stunned seconds reality sunk in and I jumped into a giant bear hug and tried not to burst into (happy) tears.
I was so excited I immediately ran back into my room to change (with a brief interlude to get another key to my room as in my excitement I'd locked myself out) because I was determined that I was not letting this guy out of my sight for any longer than I had to. We then walked the few blocks to his hotel, dropped off his things, and commenced wandering. He had literally come straight from the airport to surprise me. Boy, am I loved.
First stop was the Sweater Shop, as dad wanted to buy an authentic Irish wool sweater. With the help of the lovely lady running the place we picked up a nice blue number and got some lunch recommendations while we were at it.
Next dad gamely tagged along on a mission to find yours truly a green dress for St. Paddy's Day, and after several failed stops we found the perfect one. The only problem being that they were out of it in my size in the green, so the sales girl did some calling around and found the last remaining perfect green dress in my size at another store, which they put aside for me to come grab later that afternoon. Mission (almost) accomplished.
During our shopping adventure I also bought the only piece of jewelry currently in my possession aside from my watch, a very simple silver tree of life necklace. The tree of life in Celtic tradition represents several things, including:
The balance and harmony of nature
The life cycle and rebirth, as the tree sheds its leaves in winter and is "reborn" with new leaves in spring
Wisdom, strength, and a long life
Etc.
I thought it was appropriate, and I pretty much never take it off now.
As a final "getting shit done" bonus we found an optical shop, where I scored a reasonably priced eye exam to replace my "expired" prescription. Dad had brought with him the frames he had ordered for my new sunglasses, which were lacking lenses as it had been just over two years since my last eye exam. What the hell is that policy anyway? Considering my vision has literally not changed in close to ten years and, with the added bonus of my driver's license having been stolen on Christmas so I am not only unwilling but actually unable to drive anywhere, who is it actually harming to use the old script for a new pair of shades? I'm not a little old lady blindly taking out pedestrians in her Buick. I just want sunglasses. This is not a prescription for class one narcotics, people, they're just sunnies. But anyway I got the exam and shockingly my vision was virtually unchanged and we got the lenses ordered. Check.
Finally, time for lunch. With dad's new braces he's had to adapt his diet a bit, so he had soup and tortilla de patatas while I took down a smoked salmon sandwich and fries (or "chips" as they locally referenced as). Also, two pints of Guinness, please. After discovering the homemade mayo they have on hand that is a delicious accompaniment to chips I would return to Baileys more than once in the next couple weeks.
Happy dad, with pint.
After we retrieved the dress (discounted because of a minuscule stain on the back) and grabbed a couple pints I left dad to nap and retuned to pick him up around dinner time, where we walked back down towards Trinity and grabbed a couple more pints and some food. One more pub stop on the way home before turning in and agreeing to meet up the next morning.
The next morning was the anticipated Saint Patrick's Day, which coincidentally is dad's birthday. We grabbed tea and coffee on the way down to the town center, where we found a breakfast place and enjoyed eggs Benedict and a scramble, respectively. By the time we made it to where the parade would be coming through it was early afternoon, and we hung around for about an hour before the parade passed by us. We had a good spot on a slight incline that gave us a decent view of the proceedings.
Happy birthday dad!
Just taking it all in...
Decked out for the holidays.
Dad and daughter take on Dublin. And see those shades? Mine are exactly the same. Photos to come in later postings.
I wonder what time these guys got up to score a front row view?
Sea of green hats.
Dino's in Dublin.
The fake Mohawks were popular.
"Celebrate now" was the theme. Last year's theme was the past, and next year's will be the future.
Guys, this is what you look like when you take selfies. Which is why I get embarrassed and don't do it very often.
This float is so much better when you realize the person operating the head is a guy wearing a tutu.
We actually saw these ladies downtown the night before.
After the parade we ducked into a pub for a pint, then wandered from pub to pub for the majority of the afternoon enjoying Guinness after Guinness and watching the insanity ensue. We even made it over to Temple Bar, which was an absolute madhouse.
Dad making new friends at Temple Bar.
By late afternoon I had reached the critical point of needing food before more beer so we made our way back to Baileys where I ordered albondigas and fish cakes and ate every glorious bite.
One more pub stop after that and we were done in, so we said an early goodnight and went our separate ways. I was ready for bed; that is until I got back to the hostel and all my room mates were up and ready to go and invited me to put on a fake shamrock tattoo and accompany them.
Which is how I wound up at the Irish Craft Beer and Whiskey festival with two Kiwis and an Aussie and we had ciders and ate savory pie and I was introduced to mushy peas, which is an oddly delicious side dish common in Ireland. We then walked back towards the main part of town, stopping along the way for drinks, and eventually the group split and Becky and I wound up someplace just off Temple Bar dancing to live music. On the way home we stopped for much needed fast food and were in bed right around 3:30.
The next morning I reluctantly peeled myself out of bed and made my way to meet up with dad, where we made our way to the Jameson Distillery to see about a tour. They were full up for a couple hours which gave us enough time for breakfast. I inhaled a full Irish breakfast, aka heart attack on a plate, and a pot of tea. We then wandered the gift shop before heading through the tour and were rewarded with a drink at the end. Thus I have discovered the beauty that is Jameson with ginger and lime.
Learning the differences between Scotch Whiskey, American Whiskey, and Jameson. What I gathered from all this is I think Jameson is better.
We wandered aimlessly throughout the afternoon, hitting up a pub I remembered from my first trip back in November and eventually stopping for lunch where I had an amazing dish of "bacon and cabbage" - word to the wise, bacon in America is not at all the same as "bacon" anywhere else. The closest I've come was something called "streaky bacon" in Cork which was much closer to home. So to me is was more like "ham and cabbage" but it came with mashed potatoes and a creamy sauce and I was a happy girl.
Dinner that night we treated ourselves to a bottle of Sauvignon blanc and some thai food, and turned in pretty early as dad had a morning flight. I was sad to say goodbye as spending those three days with him reminded me just how much I miss my family. But he made it home safely in time for one of the Swan family gatherings and I continued on my journey.
I wound up spending a couple more days in Dublin waiting on the shades before deciding to just come back for them later and taking a trip to Galway, which will be my next posting. I wound up retuning to Dublin after that for the final time where I finally got the new sunglasses, yippee! On my last stay in Dublin I had a bit of a run-in with a nasty room mate who, due to overbooking issues at my hostel, was assigned the same bed as me. Rather than be a gentleman about it and talk to reception (which is what I did), he woke me up at 1am and insisted I get out of "his" bed while the other 10 guys in my room conveniently pretended to be asleep. Chivalry is quite possibly dead, folks. Thankfully the highly embarrassed and nice young men at the front desk redeemed it all and found me another room so I wouldn't have to continue to share with the "dickhead" (their words not mine) and the rest of my time was peaceful and involved nice room mates who chatted with me and gave me kit kats. As for the jerk we never had to speak again, but I do kind of hope that karma caught up to him in the form of the chest cold I had been fighting throughout my stay in Galway. I hope he enjoyed snuggling up to the pillow and blankets I had been coughing into before he so rudely kicked me out of them. Some people just suck, what can I say.
So I had a wonderful St. Paddy's with dad in Dublin, and I am a lucky girl to have such an amazing family. If there's one thing I miss above all others it's the Swans back home.
I'll update again soon.
~Swan
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