So, how was Dublin?
Cold, with variety. And that was just the weather: wind, rain, snow, thunder & lightning, and hail all within the same 20 minute period! Mostly just wind and rain, though. God I love to whine about the weather. To be fair, it was just as cold in Edinburgh over the weekend -- hooray for cold snaps. Someone bring back global warming. In all seriousness, though, I really enjoyed Dublin and wish I'd had a full week to spend exploring the city. It's got a great mix of new and (old of several varieties) and actually feels quite a bit more European and multi-cutural than Edinburgh.
Anyway, what did I do aside from shiver and dodge from coffee bar to pub to shop?
Saturday, of course, was St. Patty's Day and the city was packed full -- of tourists. Well, there were a fair few Irish out as well, but it seems like every other person on the street was American. (Then again we're fairly conspicuous.) A quick flight from Edinburgh, and we were there by midday with enough time to settle into our accommodation, get lunch, and wander around a bit before finding a pub in which to watch the rugby.
We didn't get spots in time to see the parade passing through town, but a fantastic and exciting final 6 Nations match in which Ireland trounced Italy in a crowded and extied pub was enough on its own. Back to the hotel for a quick kip/watching the Scotland v. France game before heading out for the long night. In honor of this national holiday all the pubs were open till 2.30am. We spent some time in a pub in the city centre before heading into the Temple Bar district for more excitement. Let's just say you know it's a good pub when you stick to the floor. Not wanting to tire ourselves out for the weekend, we called it an early night and headed back around 1.30am. Here's Temple Bar by day:
Sunday we were relatively early and out for some shopping on Grafton Street (Dublin's equivalent of Princes/Rose Streets) before lunch and meeting up with the rest of the group. After collecting everyone we struck out for the Guinness Storehouse on the other side of town -- I mean, how are you going to go to Dublin and NOT see the most famous (though commercial) source of Irish pride? A very long walk later, through the wind, rain, snow, lightning, thunder, and hail, we arrived cold and dripping to wait in several lines before finally getting in.
No matter -- it was nice to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening in the museum and out of the weather. At the top of the museum there's a bar with a 360 degree view of the city, and it's absolutely lovely. A warm bus back to the city centre, tapas for a leisurely dinner, and a popular large pub, then an earlier night so we could see even more today (Monday).
Today, Monday (well, it sort of still is), we got up and out a little earlier so we could see the city before we had to leave for the airport. Realizing we probably needed a week to see all the most important sights, we opted instead for a double-decker bus tour of Dublin. Yes, a bit corny and touristy (in addition to being quite cold upstairs), it was a nice way to get to see a bunch of things that were just a little too far away for a morning's visit. But we did go by the canal! (This one's for you, Dad)
And now I'm back in Edinburgh. And tomorrow/today/Tuesday I leave for Leeds. 2.45pm. Rugby! Right, so story is, Wednesday is the quarterfinal BUSA match between us and (big rivals from last year) Leeds Met. Uni. We're spending Tuesday night so we don't have to drive down Wednesday morning, as Leeds is (I'm told) about a 6 hour drive from Edinburgh. (Better not be -- my iPod battery can't last that long anymore!) I'm not starting in the match because of my ankle, but I will be on the bench/running up and down the sidelines yelling like a maniac and wearing my super-fan cape.
Story of my ankle: in a match about 4 weeks ago I was running up to a ruck and like a daft idiot, stepped on my foot wrong and twisted my ankle up. I went to the physio, who diagnosed it as either a bad sprain or that the ligament had pulled a bit of one onf my ankle bones off. Ow. She gave me some exercies and a compression bandage for it (to keep the swelling down) and cleared me to go back to running and training last week. It's up to me as to when I'm confident enough about my ankle to go back to playing, but being on the bench for Wednesday sounds grand. It's not a full 80 minutes, which would frankly make me nervous for my ankle, but good for maybe getting a few minutes out there and supporting the team. And aside from all the rugby and traveling, I've got a busy week ahead. Better yet, it's the last week of classes!
P.S. I realized I am REALLY GOOD at taking blurry pictures.
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