Last of Dublin

Yesterday was basically perfect. First I walked more around town and had some local produce for lunch, and then Andy called me up and invited me to go wall rock climbing or whatever it's called. I think he called it bouldering? I wasn't really keen on the idea, but I thought, "We'll, the worst that could happen is I seriously injure myself." That, and I might have a lot of fun, so I went! 

It was so much fun! I've never climbed before and by the end of the two hours we were at this facility I was climbing at level 4! (That's actually not that great, but I'm proud of myself for not falling off the top of any walls). 

When we were done we walked through the grounds at the national museum of art which were gorgeous and remind me of pictures of Versailles that I've seen. I got my first real scone (cherry vanilla mmmm). After that I had to go back home to take a nap because jet lag sucks and won't ever stop. 

Later that night we went to a really fancy bar.

I felt severely underdressed. Everyone here is so well dressed it hurts. Oy! Thiago mentioned I looked less American than most people that come here, and then proceeded to say, "Sometimes I see Americans dressed in these tidied clothes and I don't understand... Is just like, WHAT were you THINKING?" You know that game, "gay or European?" Yeah, that's not even a joke. It's so true here. 

Anyway after two pints at the first bar we headed to another one where there was a drag show going on. It was like we walked into a different country altogether. Suddenly there's no space for anything but yourself and your pint and a queen is up on stage singing her heart out while two Brazilian guys dance madly on either side of her (and actually, they were twins, which was weird). 

Finally around 3am I decided it was best to go home so we headed back to Thiago's where I slept like a drunk log. This morning was not pleasant.

So today, I've decided to go to Dingle and some other place in county Kerry on the west coast. The national bus system, Bus Eireann (pronounced ah-rin), is running specials from now until October where you can get to any major city in Ireland for five euro. So today I'm taking a bus to Cork first and then to Tralee, about 30km out of Dingle. 

It took me an hour of walking and asking random people on the street to find the bus station, but I made it! Now I'm sitting on a bus with wifi writing this post and enjoying the friggin beautiful Irish countryside. Let me tell you now-- all the pictures you've seen, all the things you've heard, come nowhere near to doing it justice. It's just gorgeous. Everything is so green, and there's trees everywhere, with rolling hills, and the sun is shining down on everything and it's just ridiculous. 

If you ever decide to travel by public transport, even buses, take into account that they don't have bathrooms on them like us. I'm stuck on this three hour bus ride with a water bottle in my stomach. Ohhhhhh dear.