I would like to touch on a few things I have noticed here before continuing on with my activities for the day:
1. Crosswalks – when the timers go off, the sound effects they make are similar to that of an old school Galaga machine, and I now have a horrible urge to find an arcade while here and get my game on. The Irish also have the ingenious idea of idiot proof instruction placement on the pavement for all pedestrians to see. This needs to be something America adopts.
2. Their product name brands kick our name brands asses!
3. The birth of Tits or GTFO.
That being said, I am going to have to separate this blog into sections, because I took too many pictures and paid too much attention to the tour guide. Not my normal protocol for going to tourist traps but eh, there was nothing else to do and it kept my mind off my back.
Newgrange
Our first stop was Newgrange, one of the oldest manmade settlements still in existence, predating the pyramids by at least 500 years. To get there we had to drive an hour out of Dublin, so we woke up to take a nap, in essence. We went to the visitors center first, which aside from entertaining myself by finding ornery things I can use to make bad jokes, was nothing really special.
We eventually got to Newgrange after another hour waiting in the visitor center. Unfortunately, they did not allow us to take pictures inside of the building, but we were shown where the light is supposed to be shown through the light box above the entrance door on the winter solstice. In the chamber there was also quite a bit of problems with vandals back in the day, some rather famous. One such is from a priest named T.B. Naylor who defaced the inner chamber Newgrane by carving his name and the year 1894 into the stone. Yes, that’s right; the church vandalized a pagan worship site….oh the irony....
The view around the settlement was breathtaking, so of course we have to exploit it being tourist and all by taking about 20 group photos in the front (courtesy of Dr. Wilbur photography, Ltd.). I also took a short nap on the grass of the hillside at the settlement. Irish grass is amazingly soft and great for just lying on the ground and taking it easy. No wonder most of the Irish like to relax in fields so often.
Monasterboice
Monasterboice is an old abandon monastery no longer in use that only exists now as a graveyard. The only way you can be buried there now is if you happen to have a relative already resting on the grounds. The church has some very tall crosses with very intricate designs. The round tower is still standing where it did 1,000 years ago with its door still pointing towards the most important structure in the monastery at the time, the chapel. These grounds are covered with amazing and elaborate Celtic crosses. If you ever needed inspiration for a cross tattoo design, this is definitely a place to research.
One of the other gimmicks on this trip was to take your boarding time sticker they put on you and place it on a poster at Newgrange. Unfortunately for those who miss that poster, at Monasterboice they found….another place to stick them.
After all of that travel, we drove an hour back to Dublin and since it was my classmate Margaret’s birthday, we all decided to go out with her to celebrate….with booze. We walked all the way from Trinity to Brazenhead (The oldest pub in Ireland) which is a fairly long walk, only to find that they had quit serving food 15 minutes prior to our arrival. We went back to temple bar and ate at a restaurant named Mexico to Rome. They had bacon and egg cheeseburgers which made me very happy, unfortunately, their ability to bartend did not. I got a cocktail called a “Dragon Slayer” which was WAY too weak for the price I paid, and caused fruitiness. I ordered a Jack and Coke next round, only to find out they don’t mix drinks and just hand you a can and glass, basically. While getting massively ripped off by our wait staff, I looked out the window to see my friend Charlie walking by from Lakeland, Florida. I rush outside, tripping over a chair in the process, to catch up with him. The odds are astronomically small when for that to happen, but it did, and it is awesome.
Until next entry!
~Will
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