Weekend update-Dublin edition

Ruh-roh. I may have cheated on London a little bit this weekend. Thanks to the advice of my neighbor, I took a short flight to Dublin for an overnight visit. I had heard that Dublin was quite charming and easy to manage in a short amount of time. Well, while it is true that Dublin was easy to manage in a short amount of time, I didn't expect to love it quite as much as I did.

Dublin is kinda like Oz. You can't believe that the people are that nice (and witty), that the city is that clean (they were street sweeping the sidewalks. On Saturday!!) or that it is that easy to manage. There is no worries about being obviously not from the area. The locals take great pleasure in pointing out the way, especially if it is right down the street. I should have known I was in for a good time when I saw the Irish passport stamp was huge and bright green. I am still recovering from the fact you can't really see my Paris stamp.

It took us a little longer to maneuver from the airport than it probably should have. I'll take a time-out here to talk a little bit about map scale. In Paris, I was under the impression that my hotel was right near Notre Dame (thanks to the hotel website.) In real life, I was probably closer to Germany. Dublin, I thought we were well out of the city limits (thanks to the map and the hotel website.) In real life we were 10 minutes away and well within taxi ability. But either way. We successfully navigated the public transportation (for those of you counting, I can now navigate three countries public transportation system better than New York City. And one of those is Paris, where I don't speak French.) And then found our way to the Guinness Factory, which is probably the one must-do I had in mind. It was so much fun!! There is a local brewery by our house on the Cape, and it was interesting to see that the beer is brewed the same way! Guinness does a great job of showing the process, and at the end you get a free pint! We chose to go to the Gravity Bar on the top level, with amazing views of Dublin. However, most of the other people on the tour also chose to go to the Gravity Bar, so it was a little crowded.

Saturday was spent wandering around the streets of Dublin, getting in some shopping, and having the most amazing lunch ever!! It included pickled bananas!! Who would have thunk it?!?! While it may not sound super glamorous, it was exactly what I wanted to happen in Dublin. It was great to wander without a schedule or any real expectations. While many of my trip companions were ready to move to Dublin, I am still holding out for living in London. But Dublin comes a close second.