Ireland Part 2

So Day Two in Ireland seems like an appropriate place to begin with Part 2. There was so much packed into Day Two that it might be all I can get to in Part 2, but I'll do my best. So after Fashion and I managed to seep sluggishly from our beds after our Super Sleep we got ready for breakfast in the hotel and then we would gather for the our first day on our "Taste of Ireland Tour." Breakfast in Ireland was probably my least favorite part of every day. If it hadn't been for the coffee and croissant I would have been incredibly grumpy until lunch. The Irish version of bacon is terrifying for someone who has issues with certain kinds of meat. The eggs weren't terrible, but they weren't good either and the cereal at our first few hotels was lack luster at best. Eventually we stumbled across some decent pastries and such, but the breakfast at the Stillorgan Park Hotel was not one of those places. Lets just say I ate a lot of carbs and avoided the blood sausage with even my eyes.
After breakfast we checked in with Patrick, our tour guide, received our name tags and then learned of the daily protocol - assigned seating every day so that everyone got a chance to sit up front. On the days where we changed hotels we were told to leave our suitcases outside the door and we would get it back in our room at the next hotel - Awesome Service! For some reason we had a different guide through Dublin, but Patrick (Pat from here on out) still drove for the day. Occasionally we would stop at a location with similar tour buses. In those cases we were to look for the bus with Larry the Leprechaun in the front window. That would be our bus:
Our tour around Dublin was similar to that of the Hop-on-Hop-off bus from the day before, but much more interesting and in much more detail. We also didn't have to tolerate the "please take yer headphones and yer parsonal baylongin's with ya" every time the bus stopped. That'll drive a gal mad! We traveled through the Georgian part of town which I was absolutely obsessed with - every building had a different colored door. One more interesting than the next. Our tour guide suggested this was so the Irish could find they're way home from the pub - just look for the pink door. There weren't many opportunities during our trip to take pictures during times of good lighting, but we made-do. Here are some shots from the Georgian part of town and the Doors of Dublin:

The drive through town pointing out areas we had visited the day before was an absolute blur. There was Oscar Wilde's home and Mary Malone as well as various churches and buildings all in a whirlwind, but then we stopped at Dublin castle. This is still an important location... would be like visiting the White House... only it's used for ceremonial purposes... no one actually lives there. It was absolutely stunning. I loved that every room was a different color and adorned with Waterford crystal chandeliers and hand woven rugs. It was truly a vision. I tried to capture what I found to be interesting...

I have so many more pictures and I'll be sure to put them all up on Snapfish when I do post them if you'd like to see them, but for the sake of the blog, I'm only posting my favorites of each location. Following Dublin Castle there was more driving around and funny like jokes from the guide... who's name escapes me. I tried to catch some interesting shots of the "goings-on" of Dublin through the bus window, so I missed some of the tour information, but got some interesting things... like these two boys walking their ponies down the street:

Tired of walking - Rent a bike! If I didn't think I would have killed someone, I would have tried it..

Every time I see something referring to prison I feel compelled to take a picture of it for Lindsay (my friend who works with convicted felons.)
The more humbling portion of the trip was to a sculpture near the water based on the famine. To see the emaciated statues of women, fathers carrying children and even their pets was so disturbing and honest. It was hard to not be deeply saddened by them.

Following the Dublin tour we had a couple hours to rest up and get ready for dinner at the Merry Ploughboy Pub. On the way back to the hotel our guide pointed out the shopping mall in Stillorgan where Fashion and I noticed was the ever elusive A.T.M! We paid very close attention to where it was and decided that during our time off before dinner we would walk there. Turns out it was very close to the hotel - left to the light and then it was just around the corner. It only took us an hour of walking through the neighborhoods to realize that we turned left at the wrong light. An unfortunate mistake that we seemed to make several more times... we finally did make it to the ATM and we also stumbled upon this place and I made Fashion pose for a picture:
Chilled to the bone and ready for dinner we freshened up (money in our pockets) and headed to the lobby to meet the group on the bus. At the Merry Ploughboy you receive dinner, a complimentary beverage and then a traditional Irish Coffee at the end. There is a show of traditional Irish songs done by the house band "the Merry Ploughboys" and then a show of traditional Irish dancing.
Dinner was grand, as they say in Ireland, as was the free beer. I was a little apprehensive of the Irish Coffee because I'm not much of a whiskey drinker, but all the talk of sugar and whipped cream sold me. Here is Fashion with her's:
The band was great! I think all the southerners were shocked to see a banjo...

Fashion and I were tickled to see the pint holder on the mic stand

The Irish dancers were insanely talented, but the eerie plastered smile on of the girl's faces started to seriously freak me out.
They brought people up from the audience to dance and the band brought up those who broke the rules. How might one break the rules? There was a song that required clapping, but only through the chorus! If you stopped late - you broke the rules. If you stopped early - you broke the rules! I knew that this would put me in the clear. Even while video taping with one hand, I was able to mind the clapping sequence by slapping my leg. I didn't miss a bit - totally not breaking the rules... or so I thought. It was then brought to my attention that knee slapping = breaking the rules. Damn! That's when my reverse strip tease career began. Fashion attempted to record the whole thing, but never actually hit the record button. This is probably to my benefit. One person from our group (Brittany) actually did manage to record the event... thankfully she sat far away. Still you can see the whole thing on youtube if you would like... CLICK HERE.


One of the women on our bus told me a few days later that she had no idea I was on the bus with her... she thought I had been planted in the audience by the band and was actually part of the show. I thought that was hilarious. That closed out Day Two. I became a YouTube sensation and everyone now knew me by my proper title "The Shy Girl."

I accidentally included this picture in my editing so I'm including it. This is a Fairy Tree. To qualify as a Fairy Tree it must be a certain kind of tree, must stand alone in a field and can't be within a certain distance of other trees. To cut down a Fairy Tree would mean a horrible fate not only for you, but for anyone related to you. No one in Ireland would ever dare cut down a Fairy Tree - this is one example of such a tree.

To Be Continued...