Thursday, July 28, 2005

It's fockin' pissin'...

English translation...it's rainning...A LOT! I woke up this morning to rain...and it hasn't let up since. But being from the Bay Area...rain is nothing new to me, so I decided to brave the weather...even though I'm feeling a bit under the weather myself...and get meself a pinty of Guinness at the source.

I made the trek to Trinity College along the way and saw the ancient Book of Kells....very cool. It's 4 books of the New Testiment written over 1000 years ago my four monks who wrote it on dried calfskin and elaboratly decorated it using various inks and colors. The college was really cool as well...saw thier bell tower...which the refer to as...the Trinity Campanile!!! Thier ugliest building on campus is know as a concrete photocopier and is actually called the Berkeley Library. (It's pronounced BARK-lee not BERK-lee) Outside of this library they also had a futuristic looking sculpture of a mechanical looking ball...sound familiar? Like the recently erected sculpture at Berkeley on Oxford and Center?! Well that's becasue it was done by the same artist and my tour guide actually mentioned the one at Cal (after confusing us with stanfurd initially) and said there is also a similar stature at the Vatican. I found all the similarites quite amuzing...but the best part...if you're a undergraduate scholar at the college (ie, you're on a scholarship)...you get free Guinness every evening in the Dining Commons! If I knew this four years ago...I may not have gone to Uni in the states!

I then headed to St. Patrick's Cathedral, but only spent a short time there becasue I realized it was getting late and the Guinness Storehouse closes at 5pm...so I headed over there. The self guided tour was awesome! You don't actually get to go through the factory...the Storehouse is more set up like an exhibition in which they take you through the whole process and history of Guinness! Did you know hops was actually used in Ancient Eygpt to treat liver disease and that yeast is actually very nutirous and good for you! To that I say, "A pint of Guinness please!" The tour was topped at the fifth floor bar with - what else - a free pint of Guinness, as well as stunning veiws of a very wet Dublin.

It's awesome traveling by myself, becasue I basically get to do anyting I was, but I feel like somethings are more memorable in the company of others. I thought I'd make friends with fellow travelers at the hostel, but as it turns out, many of them are actually in Dublin looking for jobs and are living at the hostel on a more permenant basis. Since Ireland is part of the EU anyone from another EU contry can work here and since Ireland speaks english you often find people from Italy, France, etc here to work and learn english. Right now I'm the only one in my 14 bed room that speaks english and is from the states. With my ventures west tomorrow to Galway maybe I'll have a different experience.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll feel better (a sore throat in bothering me) and I'll get some sunshine!

2 Comments:

At 6:38 PM, July 28, 2005, Blogger Ben said...

I say get some Jameson for that sore throat!!

Hey Katie, just caught up on your blog (and posted some comments) and I have to say that I am very jealous that you are in Ireland and heading to Scotland- I've never been to either of those places. I would proffer several fun Irish lads from Dublin for you to hang out with, but I think they are still in SE Asia (hard to leave those beaches).

As for Guinness temps, I think it depends on whether you are having it "extra cold" or not- that seems to be the big thing over there. But for plain 'ol Guinness I'll go with choice B (5-8 C). That sounds about proper.

 
At 12:10 PM, July 30, 2005, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dear Kate, hope you are better!! When and if you have internet access please let Granny know you're o.k. or call!! She left you a message on cell on 7/30. You must be on Aron isle or on your way to Scotland. Love, Papa

 

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