St Patrick's Day

'Yah rder yahrhaving  sidebrrrah *yardiyaarrrrr' Man with facepaint in the toilet.

Dublin. What a place. I had the chance to either go to Loughborough Uni or to Trinity Uni in Dublin. After long consideration I opted for the former one, mostly based on the content of my modules. As much as I have come to love the people in Luvbro, I must say it stings a bit to know that I missed out on the chance to take over such a wonderful place as Dublin.

(I deliberately left some pics bigger, to make justice to the content. Scroll to the right for full visual pleasure. It's a bit unpractical for the reader, yes, but one must get the full experience.)

They have excellent beers, the city is just the correct amount of wide and long streets and they have the goaddamn euro!

Anyway. We went there to celebrate the late, great St Patrick who made Ireland Catholic (I guess? What was the deal again?). Planning started a month ago, even though it never got anywhere. Planning ahead is not my thing, I usually just improvise and go with the stream. In the end we only did have two days, but I feel we made the best out of the short time we had.

On st Paddy's I wore facepaint all day, which was received with mixed reactions. Yes, it was a bit uneven, but in my defense, I had 5 minutes to apply it and the green kept getting on the white. Anyways. The tour guide in Jameson told me I looked terrifying in the dark while he tried to explain the process of mixing the barley. He said I reminded him of Slade from Arrow. Sara said I was a Joker. A random man on the street simply put his arm around me and took a selfie with me. And then there was the man in the toilet of O'Finneys (What was the first bar called, guys? I keep forgetting!?). He had similar face-paint and he yelled something indistinguishable at the look of my face, which I replied with equally nonsensical yelling. In the toilet. As we boys do.

The Hotel

I had great expectations for Clifden House and they were exceeded. We had a whole apartment: two stories with a nice living room, kitchen three bedrooms and a double-bed. A good alternative for a hostel. Also, Peter <3 gave the best service! I swear, the man would run to town in the middle of the night to fetch you a fresh bagel, if you asked him.

Howth

Simply breathtaking. 25 minutes outside of Dublin by train, the old town simply is an embodiment of my future as a hermit.

The Old Man and the Sea

I tell you, that will be me, walking up the cliffs of the old town with my Irish Setter, whose name I cheekily will steal from my Dad's dog, my best furry friend, Puskin. Each Sunday, we go for some fish'n'chips and a cool ale. As a side-note, we had the joy to taste some brew by Hope Brewery (The Handsome Jack was one of the better IPA:s I've tasted in a while, check it out https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/hope-beer-handsome-jack/361690/).

Jameson Distillery

Becoming godsized

Yes. We took a tour in the Jameson Distillery. As people might know, I work with alcohol so the trip was purely professional. The tour consisted of a short video introduction, a simulated walk trough the distillery and a whiskey tasting.



We compared Jameson to a Scotch one (I fail to remember which one, but it was a 12 year old, the only kind of 12 year old a man is allowed and expected to desire) and (gulp) Jack Daniels. I impressed myself by finishing the presenters sentence about american bourbon being made of maize and corn.

A Scot, an Irishman and a Yank walk into a bar

'It's distilled three times, which gives Jameson its distinct smooth taste'. I feel like I heard this sentence a lot. The tour was definitely worth the money and time. We were offered complimentary drinks. We could pick between a regular whiskey, but we opted for the drink, which had lime and ginger mixed with the booze.

The St Patrick's Day Parade

Nobody knows, but it was great

You've all seen this on TV and know the drill. Let the picture talk for themselves. I think it was Lucie who commented that I smiled throughout the parade. It's true. I felt like a little child watching the craziness and genuine good spirit.





Ireland seems like a country that has established its own strong identity, that any tourist is happy to adopt. It was nice to see a national parade, where nationalism did not seem like a threatening thing. It was all bout the love for a great people.












'You either wanna take mushrooms or go to St Paddy's. It has the same effect'. So one traveler hilariously pointed out to me. They played Irish bagpipes, they played David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Blackeyed Peas, the Star Wars Theme, and that one kick-ass song the Dropkick Murphy's covered and was featured on tHe Departed (I'm Shipping Up To Boston), and they even played some crazy .. I wanna say techno, which was almost as weird as the Eye the were dancing to in the pic above.

'Your haircut i ooot-deyted!' ('outdated' in stout-fueled Irish) Irishman in Parnell's Clubhouse

Lil Constantin and his two green fairies

A man came over and told me this. Not once but four times. I must say, I admire the Irish for their bluntness and great sense of humor. The man was clearly taking the piss, and I just could not help but laugh. I love the quick wit and cheekiness.

Next stop. Tipsyville

So. This was pretty much a stream-of-consciousness kind of text. I did not sleep last night as we spent it at the airport. I went straight to my lecture once I arrived to Luvbro and I'm writing this with my last power of staying alive.. awake. Still have some paint on my face, as the sideburns are red on one side and green on the other. Whoa. Hopefully You found this a fun read. And hey! If I sold this well, I hope someone got inspired and wants to celebrate the next St Paddy's with me in Dublin, as I'm definitely going!

Good pie!