planes, trains & automobiles

Day 33 (Day 3) - we started Tuesday with a pot of tea and a homemade muffin and scone.

then we did a quick run through the city...

we hit the National History Museum,

the National Museum of Archeology (cause mom wanted to see the bog people),

checked out the GPO and Penney's,

shopped for tacky souvenirs at Carroll's,

and took pictures with Molly Malone.

after allll of that running around and a quick pit stop at Calzone Cafe,

we got on a bus...to get on a train... to go to Westport.

we stayed in the Waterside B&B.

it's located right on the harbor of Clew Bay, which is called The Quay (pronounced "the key"), and had an incredible view.

after settling into our B&B, we had an incredible dinner of fresh mussels, tortellini and goat cheese tart -

we were soo hungry that we forgot to take pictures of the food!

but we did walk around the harbor and take an evening picture of Croagh Patrick - the mountain that we were to climb the next day....

"we need one of these in Clear Lake"

Day 32 (Day 2) - on Monday, we didn't get out of bed until noon (thank you, jet lag!)

we started the day with some bangers & mash!

mom liked it, so that was a success.

after lunch, i took mom to Dublin Castle.

then we played in the castle gardens...

and visited Chester Beatty Library

someone that was working one of the exhibits at the library told my mother that she had a Texas accent

(which is false)

mom was very excited ha

after the library, we booked it to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells before the exhibit closed for the day.

we made it just in time, but we didn't quite make it to St. Patrick's Cathedral in time...

so we just took pictures and enjoyed it from the outside.

for the rest of the day, we wandered around Dublin, checking out the city.

for dinner, i took mom to the Arlington Hotel to see the show that we watched at our farewell dinner.

we split the fish&chips. hands down best chips i've had in Dublin.

the show was entertaining (even for the second time)

Irish coffee anyone?

it was my very last night in Dublin, so we went to The Porter House for one more Strawberry Beer and some live music...

Andrew Mann sang Brown-Eyed Girl to mom - even though the rest of the band refused to play it :)

when the music was over, i took mom back to the hotel and then met up with Andrew.

we went to Lillies for a drink. on the way in, we saw SLASH from Guns&Roses. incredible.

it wasn't Bono, but i guess celebs really do hang out at that place haha

it was a loooong day of sight-seeing and a great last night in Dublin City.

mother-daughter pub crawl

Day 31 (Day 1 for mom) - Mom's plane touched down in Ireland at 6:55 am.

i rolled out of bed and cabbed it to Dublin Citi Hotel, just outside of Temple Bar, to meet up with her.

we couldn't check in yet/go back to sleep, so we dropped our bags and i took mom for a walk around Dublin.

it was kind of a nice introduction to City Centre for her because it was early Sunday morning, and the place was a ghost town.

after seeing a lot of the sights, we stopped at lemon for a breakfast crepe.

mom was only half awake, but i dragged her to Jameson to tour the old distillery (partially because that was the only thing open on Sunday morning)

i learned how Jameson whiskey, the best whiskey in the world, is made.

i've learned about it before in the Scotch Whiskey Heritage Museum, but as they told us several times throughout the tour, there is nothing quite like Jameson.

i volunteered to be a taster (it was a really hard job)

we compared Jack Daniels, Jameson and Scotch

i really did like the Jameson the best. it's really smooth. (which is because they distill it 3 times - i'm an expert now)

to her credit, mom only fell asleep once during the tour. BUT she was exhausted, so we headed back to the hotel.

we checked in and got settled. while she napped, i went out and picked up some take away for us.

i had my favorite Indian food one more time - i'll miss you, Indian Curry Club - and grabbed some lamb stew from nude for mom.

some sleep and some food, then i took her back out into the city. i took her to the Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church (where Garbhán had taken us on the tour) and then to hang out in St. Stephen's Green for a while.

after a loooong day, it was time for the MOTHER DAUGHTER PUB CRAWL!

Hillary, Robin, Tracie and i all had our mothers in town to travel after the trip, so we decided to bring them out to party haha

even Mr.&Mrs. B.Love came out with us!

the crew in the Temple Bar---------------->

we made it to three bars...

we had Guinness at Temple Bar,

we went upstairs at Gogarty's for some traditional Irish music and some Jameson & Coke,

and then to The Porter House for Strawberry Beer and live music.

here is a clip of the famous Andrew Mann singing Galway Girl

we left The Porter House when the music was over and headed to Citi Bar (the bar on the ground floor of the hotel mom and i were staying in)

we stayed there until they literally closed the bar and kicked us out.

we all had so much fun. it was one of my favorite nights in Dublin for sure :)

i love air conditioning

Day 30 - on Saturday morning, i packed up my room in Roebuck Hall.

goodbye, crazy little community. goodbye, Ikea catalogue.

Hillary and i went and dropped our things at our new temporary home, The Ashling Hotel, before hitting the Temple Bar Food Market (or the Farmer's Market).

we met up with those remaining from our group. i had a crepe, a blueberry scone and a smoothie. last Saturday morning in Dublin, so i had to make it count :)

after stuffing our faces, we walked around Dublin for a while, just enjoying the city.

i will miss you, random Grafton Street performers.

we stumbled upon another Saturday street market where we made friends with a craic dealer.

thought seriously about buying these shirts, but they were 25 euro.

this guy was pretty cool though. he plays in an Irish band that had toured in the US. he's played in some sweet places on 6th street!

and he gave us some recommendations for where we should hang out that night.

anyway, Hillary and i were tired still so we went back to the hotel, cranked the air conditioning and passed out. best nap i've had in four weeks.

then took the best shower i've had in four weeks. (i will not miss you, Roebuck Hall toilet/sink/shower combination bathroom)

once clean and rested, Hill and i met with with B.Love & friends and the rest of the girls still in town at Sinnotts to watch the USA world cup game.

good thing there was beer, cause the game sucked. i don't want to talk about it.

before going out to drown our sorrows, we went with Cindy to get some of her stuff from Robin's Nest - the hottest new hostel in Ireland.

it was Gay Pride Parade/Celebration weekend in Dublin (i think it was a worldwide celebration, actually) so the streets were nuts!

we walked around George's Street for a while, had a few pints at Globe bar (off the craic dealer's recommendation) and then called it a night.

it was something unpredictable, but in the end it was right...

....we DEFINITELY had the time of our lives.

Day 29 – Friday was the last day of Ireland Maymester 2010.

people say this a lot, but I really can not believe how quickly this past month went by. lyrics from every cheesy “goodbye” or “ending” song ran through my head all day

(‘Closing Time’ was a close 2nd for the title of this blog post)

deep breath – okay. Friday morning we woke up early, finished the project and sent it off to B.Love. talk about a weight off of your chest, so glad to have it finished.

after some half-hearted packing, we went to The Sugar Club to watch Brazil v. Portugal.

every Brazilian in Ireland was at the Sugar Club. it made the game that much more exciting – plus, there was really good Brazilian food that someone was selling. yum.

naturally, some light day drinking ensued, which had to be followed by a nap.

that night we had our Goodbye Dinner (didn’t we JUST have the welcome dinner??)

the whole group went out to the Arlington Hotel on Dame Street. we had a 3 course meal, listened to an Irish folk band and watched traditional Irish dancing.

the dancers were brilliant. a few of them tour with Riverdance.

the musicians were hilarious. they sang some great Irish drinking songs and took requests from the audience.

our table had quite a few requests, all dedicated to B.Love, of course.

the band couldn’t get enough of our antics. they picked on B.Love quite a bit and essentially we became a part of the show (that tended to happen to us when we were out in our group of 14 loud Texas girls + Sly)

and i know you want to see pictures of the food, so...

goat cheese salad with sundried tomatoes and apples and nuts...

(i'm really going to miss having goat cheese on everything)

The Arlington Hotel's famous Guinness Stew (at least that's what it was called on the menu, ha)

and chocolate mousse for dessert.

the salad was by far the best part! ha

after dinner, the show and some after-show music at the bar with the band, the group moved to The Porterhouse for a pint (w/B.Love!).

 those with early flights left from there...and the group dwindled down slowly.

some of us went to Fitzsimons - where Steph and i had silly tequila shots.

slice of lemon and a packet of salt? i guess that works.

then more people went home...

the plan was to go all night, but after 3 days straight of project work, we were super tired.

back to Roebuck Hall for the last time...

couldn’t have asked for a better ending to the incredible journey that was this program.

the whole experience was one of the best of my life. I’ll never forget the time I spent in this incredible city or the strangers that became my friends.

I learned so much about PR, about this country, about these people and about myself.

a part of my heart will always belong to Dublin City <3

how much do you love freedom?

Day 27 & 28 – on Wednesday and Thursday we worked on our final project. ALL day.

nothing very exciting to report there. these days consisted of compiling our paper (thank you, Google Docs), listening to music, eating junk food and doing laundry.

BUT on Wed night, we may have taken just a little break to go to Dicey's

Love these girls…

after several 2.50 euro Jagerbombs and lots of dancing, Hillary and I went to get some pizza with Brian (her Irish boy :) )

isn’t he cute? lol

that brief night of fun was essential to project productivity.

the land of saints and scholars...

Day 26 - Tuesday was just the right mix of school work and play.

we met B.Love at Powerscourt to hammer out some final project details and talk about our current status.

i’ve never known anyone better at giving completely nondescript answers to very direct questions (which was all by design, of course, as he teaches us to “think like professionals”)

after our meeting, some of our group grabbed take-away lunch and ate in St. Stephen’s Green.

i FINALLY found the Indian food I’ve been searching for. it was (not super expensive) Koma curry and it was delicious!

after lunch, we went back to get changed for our 3rd office visit, to take place that afternoon. we met with Wilson Hartnell PR, a section of Ogilvy.

it’s a very large, successful company and was one of the pioneers of the PR business in Ireland.

one of the executives sat down with us, told us about his career and talked with us about the current state of media and the PR business in Ireland.

it was interesting, though this guy could rival our Galway tour bus driver for the ability to speak in a monotone voice with out taking a breath for hours.

after the visit, we dispersed for a quick dinner. Hillary, Tracie and I went to the Gourmet Burger Kitchen. speaking of which, Irish beef is SO good.

to top off the day, B.Love squeezed just a bit more history and culture into our trip. we met up with everyone's favorite tour guide, Garbhán.

the coffee shop that we started the tour in, The Bald Barista, was fantastic!

<--written at the top of my Mocha in chocolate!

first stop of the tour was the Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church to see the statue of Our Lady of Dublin held in a shrine there since 1915.

the whole story behind the statue is pretty incredible. little tidbit – at one point, the back of it was carved out and it was used as a pig trough on a farm to keep it safe from the British.

after leaving that church we headed towards St. Patrick’s Cathedral, stopping to look at little things on the way. for instance, check out this residential building.

<- Garbhán haha

it has scenes from Gulliver’s Travels carved into it

close up ----------->

upon arrival at St. Patrick's, we admired the incredible cathedral, walked around the gardens (where St. Patrick baptized the Irish), listened to the afternoon bells, and settled into the grass so that Garbhán could tell us old Irish stories.

lounging in the gardens ->

the stories were really interesting and entertaining. they continued when we moved over to Christ Church Cathedral. want to hear a story/song?

the rest of the tour was filled with more stops and more stories.

POP QUIZ – how many people/bands can you name from the Wall of Fame in Temple Bar??

(don't cheat!)

once we were finished with the academic part of the day, Garbhán joined us for a pint….or two…at a pub off of O’Connell Street.

they have their own house beers. each of us got a tray that had a sample of all 5 of them.

maybe not fun for the bartender, but certainly fun for us.

after a day/night like this, it only makes sense for Garbhán to come back to the dorm and watch movies with us. that’s not weird, right? haha

just another brilliant night at Roebuck Hall.