In Dublin's Fair City

I recognise that this posting is very late, but I'm lazy, and busy, and mostly lazy. This post is in fact, a procrastination method against writing my final essay. So here it is: my Dublin trip.

Dublin is supposed to be a very rainy city, so of course, it was sunny and lovely while I was there. There were moments throughout the rain where it would rain, but it wasn't a bother, and never lasted long. 'All four seasons in a day' our tour guide Kiel (pronounce Kyle) said multiple times.

I stayed at the Four Courts Hostel. The lift was broken so I got to walk up three long, winding steps of stairs to the third floor.

We were in a 12 bed room with the most obnoxious North American girls in Dublin. They went out every night and loudly came stumbling in around 3AM, giggling and whispering so loudly they may as well have been talking.
The night before we were due to leave, in fact, they woke me up at 3AM (one of them toting a drunk guy into her bed--thank God they were both so drunk they just passed out). We were supposed to wake up at 5AM to catch the shuttle to the airport, so I just stayed up the two hours until my alarm went off.

The days were fairly busy.
The first day I went on a four hour (free!) walking tour of Dublin. I got to see all the main sites and learned a lot of Ireland's sad (and sometimes embarrassing) history.

My favorite place was probably Trinity College. It had a beautiful campus and the most immensely gorgeous library I've ever seen. (George Lucas liked it so much he had it completely copied for Star Wars episode II)
Library:

Trinity College

Some of the impressive folks that attended Trinity are Bram Stoker (Dracula) and Oscar Wilde (The Importance of Being Earnest)


Also on the tour, we got to see the statue of Molly Malone, from the famous Irish song which I will now post the lyrics to:



In Dublin's Fair City
Where the girls are so pretty
I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone
As she wheel'd her wheel barrow
Through streets broad and narrow
Crying cockles and mussels alive, alive o!

Chorus
Alive, alive o!, alive, alive o!
Crying cockles and mussels alive, alive o!

She was a fishmonger
But sure 'twas no wonder
For so were her father and mother before
And they each wheel'd their barrow
Through streets broad and narrow
Crying cockles and mussels alive, alive o!

Chorus

She died of a fever
And no one could save her
And that was the end of sweet Molly Malone
But her ghost wheels her barrow
Through streets broad and narrow
Crying cockles and mussels alive, alive o!

Chorus

^ Molly ^


There was also just a lot of beautiful buildings.

For dinner I ate a legit Irish pub called O'Neil's. I split a fish and chips platter with Sarah.

Inside O'Neil's

I'm always so immensely surprised when I see Cuban stuff in countries so far from Latin America

Dublin also, apparently, loves President Obama. They were stoked that he came to visit.

Dublin's Answer to Fun Dip:

conclusion: good, but not as good as legit Fun Dip.

My second day I went to the Writer's Museum in Dublin.

My favorite writer 'quote' is the one Oscar Wilde supposedly said to a customs agent: 'I have nothing declare except my genius.'


Over the River

The rest of the day I spent in museums, wandering, having a general good time and buying gifts for family members.
I was really excited to find a flat cap with a shamrock on it, as it was the first thing I have ever in my life seen that I thought my grandfather would like as a gift. I spent a probably foolish amount of money on a mickey mouse shirt for my 2 year old sister from Dublin's Disney store, but I showed it to her when I skyped and her excitement confirmed that it was a worthy purchase.


I had amazing gelato, Snickers the first day, and something magical called Dark Forest the last day, which had some kind of awesome fruit that I do not know of.

I'm not saying I'm insanely in love with Snickers gelato, but I will say that if there was the last cup of Snicker's gelato about to fall off a cliff, and a human child about to fall off another cliff, and I could only save one...I'd have to think about it.



After our escapades in Dublin, it was back to the airport and home to Leeds.

Oddly enough, Leeds really has become home. I love this city, I love the people (who, of course, now that the semester's nearly over have actually begun talking to me) and I LOVE the Cupcakes shop. Lol.
I'll really miss England, I'll be home in less than two months. It seems to be coming too soon.




(I apologise for any grammar/spelling errors, I am really tired and will come back and revise when I next need to procrastinate.)
BREAKING NEWS: my flatmate's friends won't stop knocking on our door at all hours of the day! Won't miss THAT!

Many Men Snore--And Other Things I Learned in Barcelona

My week in Barcelona was something of a beautiful mess.
Gardens, museums, paintings, stained glass windows, sweets, and rain were all absorbed like my very absorbent Converse sneakers--which were only dry for 2 out of my seven days there.
There is a saying: It never rains in Barcelona. But for me, the weather made an exception. It rained every. single. day. (excluding my first and last days there). Wet socks, however, did not keep me from fun. Even beneath the grey drippy sky, Barcelona is a beautiful city, and, as if trying to make amends, the clouds cleared away nearly every afternoon or evening.
The trip began as most trips do: with stress.

Due to some rubbish cab driver in Norwich, Sarah missed her train and the later train was scheduled to arrive at the airport leaving little time to get through security. Sarah, relieving us both, arrived with time to spare.
Arriving in Spain, however, we realised our own foolishness in not having printed a map on how to get from our bus stop to our hostel.
After three confusing phone calls, we arrived at Backpackers BCN Casanova.
The hostel was nice and small, and it came as a surprise that the rooms were mixed gender. The only problems I encountered sharing the room with male strangers were that many hadn't learned personal hygiene, and, a bigger issue: many men snore. I am a light sleeper. Add to that the fact that some guests arrived after one in the morning, nearly every day, banging open the door and fumbling with lockers, and the nights were not quite serene. Thank God I brought ear plugs.



Sarah and I got to enjoy the living room area, where every other night snacks were laid out near the games (I lost at Connect 4, Uno, Checkers, Chess and Dominoes). One night, when Sarah and I had gone after the olives and cheese snacks, we found our space invaded. Not to be dissuaded from the snacks we had come to rely on, we sat down, played War, and eventually got into conversation with a soft-speaking German man and a charismatic, slightly vain Australian bloke. Funny and crazy stories were swapped (getting kidnapped: the fastest mode of travel in Bali). It was a fun way to pass the evening and self-righteously feel culturally superior "Oh yeah, I had cheese and wine while sharing funny stories with this German guy and Australian guy in Barcelona one time."

But the real fun was in the city.
Something some of you may not know--I surely didn't--is that Spanish is not the main language spoken in Barcelona. It's Catalan: a weird mixture of Spanish and French, it seems, with lots of words utilising the letter 'X'. That means that most signs around the city are translated into 3 languages: Catalan, Spanish, and English. Lucky for me, everyone also speaks Spanish, and I got by, although sometimes understanding their Spanish felt equivalent to an American understanding a Scottish person's English.
The main street (which I have walked up and down too many times to count) is called La Rambla. It's the kind of scene I love: vendors, street performers, bright colors and cheap souvenirs spread down the street. There were also men that sold some kind of abominably annoying squeaky toy. By the end of the week, Sarah and I were ready to commit murder. We couldn't imagine any sane parent that could be foolish enough (or have the grace and patience) to buy their children that annoying squeaking monster.
So I bought one for my sister, Natalie. JUST KIDDING PARENTS! =)
On La Rambla




There were also many street performers on La Rambla. All of them were human statues. These impressive folks dress entirely in one color, painting their faces and hair so that they really look like statues, until they decide to move.


Down one of the branching streets is the opening to the St. Josep market, which is home to the most brightly coloured, luscious looking fruit I've ever seen. There are vendors of fruits, fish, meat, nuts, peppers and vegetables to delight anyone.






My first day, my major successes were finding the Catedral Barcelona, getting a lay of the land, and trying for the first time--how had I never had it before?--churros con chocolate!
In fact, let me pause this narrative right now to list some of the AMAZING sweets I devoured in Barca.
-Churros con Chocolate
-Ferrero Rocher gelato
-Chocolate croissant
-Toblerone shake (think McDonald's McFlurry onliny with bits of Toblerone chocolate and caramel drizzled over it!)

I know, I know, that's a lot of unhealthy food In my defense: are you crazy? There's absolutely no defense necessary! When life (and Barcelona shops) offer you Rocher gelato, you don't turn that stuff down!

Similar to the amounts of chocolate, I also shoved in as much beauty as I could. Some of the most gorgeous sights:
La Sagrada Familia's beautiful stained glass windows


The view from Castell (Castillo for you Spanish speakers)


And the gardens near the Olympic Stadium.




There are also a lot of streetlamps, which I felt compelled to photograph.


Some of the cultural spots we hit were the Olympic Museum and Stadium, the Picasso Museum, the Barcelona Arc de Triumph and Casa Batillo.



DINNER
Moving on to meals. Trying to be financially smart (and also being too lazy at the end of walking around all day) 2 of the nights, Sarah and I cooked a frozen pizza in the hostel kitchen It was Spinach pizza, and it was pretty darn good.
The meals we had out, were also, obviously great.
Perhaps the most fun was eating at the Bar Estudiantil while watching the Barcelona football match against AC Milan (don't hold me to that, I don't know team names well and I'm too lazy/tired upon my return to double check it). The burger and fries were good, but the most entertaining part of the meal was watching the reactions of the locals watching the game. Victorious cheers and a foghorn was blown at each goal scored, the men inside sang a little ditty. Our waiter was exceptionally nice and placed our table directly in front of the TV screen in the dining area outside, so we had a perfect view of the game. Stuffed with good food and happy, victorious feelings, we walked back to the hostel.
Another night, being in Spain, Sarah and I went out for Tapas. Actually finding a place that sold appetizing tapas at an affordable price proved more vexing than we had anticipated. I didn't make things easier by saying I flat out refused to eat paella, the delicacy of Spain, as my olfactory memories of it were stomach churning, to say the least.
We finally found a place and I clumsily ordered (the whole menu was written in Catalan and, of course, the man at the register seemed to expect me to know that the word Truita obviously is pronounced 'tortilla') But we ordered and received out Tapas.

Quick Review:
-Patatas in garlic cream sauce and salsa picante=muy rico.
-Croquettas: weird consistency and not even close to as good as the one Yeya (my grandmother) makes
-Ruca Salad: never again.
-Truita/Tortilla/Whatever-the-hell-you-wanna-call-it: much like the breakfast casserole that BZ makes at home. Pretty darn good.

The major hardship when I first arrived was the total breakdown of Old Faithful, BZ's camera that she had let me borrow. It meant, however, that I got to buy my first new camera since I was fourteen years old. It's a Nikon Coolpix, for anyone that cares, and all the pictures posted above are courtesy of my kick-culo new camera.

I may add more another day. But now I am tired, I've been traveling all day, and am ready for a night's rest without any men's snoring to keep me awake.

Barcelona was absolutely fun, I leave for Dublin in a few days, which hopefully will be equally fun.

I leave you with a video of the penguins from the Barcelona Aquarium...mostly cause they're so cute.