I might reply, "Because my friend, it is awesome." So after some quick photo opportunities we continued across the bridge and into the south side of Dublin. The south side of Dublin is home to some famous universities, some cool parks, and a couple of famous pubs. It is home to Trinity University which was the first university in Ireland established by the British government. It is super expensive so you know it has to be good...right? Anyway the parks are famous for having all sorts of wildlife in them as well as being home to many statues of famous people, and things. Temple Pub is right on the south side of the Liffey and is apparently one of, if not the oldest pubs in Dublin. There are t-shirts and touristy memorabilia all over the place around it so it must have been a big deal. We didn't go in because it was 9 am at the time, and not even Ireland is that hardcore. We passed by the statue of Molly Malone which a well is known folk song and legend in Ireland. Unfortunately we did not know it was her statue and we didn't take pictures with it. Sad day.
Any way we continued on our journey to the park to get on a tour we had scheduled. We proceeded to get turned around in the back streets but we eventually got to the park 20 minutes ahead of schedule. We walked around the park and took some pictures of some 'modern art' that was around the park which more or less looked like hunks of metal with no particular purpose in life. At 10:30 AM we headed to the north end of the park to get on our tour. This was not any old regular run of the mill bus tour of Dublin, oh no. This was a full fledge Viking Splash Tour!
The instant I knew this was going to be awesome was when the D.U.K.W. rolled up and it was painted a lovely yellow color with a Viking head along the side. For the sake of background knowledge, a D.U.K.W. (pronounced, duck) is a war vehicle that was used in world war two that could both drive and act as a boat in water. They were produced in Michigan and were used in the battle of Normandy extensively. So back to the bright yellow one in front of me. We proceed to get on the duck and buckle up. It was there we found Viking helmets that we would be wearing for the duration of the trip. Needless to say I was pretty excited for my helmet. The driver then gave us a bit of a history lesson involving how the Vikings settled Dublin and were mean to the Celts, ect, ect. Basically this little lesson gave us the liberty to yell at any of the 'Celt' passersby on the streets of Dublin. He would say, "Left, one, two, THREE!" And we would all use our mighty Viking roar to scare them senseless. It was great fun. 'Celts' on phones and those reading maps were personal favorites of the driver and I do believe we did give one women a huge scare after she looked up to us yelling at her and she dropped her phone. We got to see the main sights of Dublin, the cathedral, the castle, the parliament, the Guinness factory, and all other really cool sights all while our guide was giving us lots of information about them. He was really into his job and was having a ton of fun and you could easily tell that.
After the tour of the city by road we took the show into the water. We pulled up along a dock and the crew there put on the flotation devices (water wings for cars?) and we drove right into the water. Maneuvering our way around the dock/loch thing was fun but slow. Passing some really old boats as well as the proposed sight for the enormous U2 building that the band wants to put together. Unfortunately it has not been worked on because the band still cannot find what they are looking for. But it was a beautiful day and we did get some vertigo from looking up that high. So they continue with or without the building at the local station right next to the water where all of their records have been produced. (Sorry I couldn't resist) Passing the new opera building there was another fantastic display of 'modern art', 15 big red poles stuck in the ground. Apparently they were supposed to represent the 'urban jungle' of the local area. The locals think it just looks funny and they want their 5 million euro back. That concluded our tour and we headed back to the park for the departure point once again. Over all it was one of the most fantastic tours I have been on and would recommend it to anyone who has a day or two to see Dublin.
After the tour we walked to St. Patrick's Cathedral in the heart of Dublin. We got to walk around the inside of the cathedral and it was amazing to see all of the glass work as well as the huge origin and cool looking seats for important people, like myself. After a little stop at the cathedral we walked to the castle of Dublin, known to many as Dublin Castle. You are allowed to tour it as long as you have a tour guide so we had to wait for a bit to get a tour guide so we continued to walk around the area and see the sights of old time Dublin. The tour itself was very good and the man giving it knew quite a bit about the history of Dublin/Ireland leadership. We got to walk around the bedrooms and other fancy dinner areas as well as go into the throne room where I am absolutely positive that the throne there will look exactly like that when I get a house. Beautiful paintings on the ceilings displayed the amount of money that was needed to make these rooms look fantastic and the money was well spent. After the interior niceness of the castle we got to go outside and go down a bit too where the original Viking castle had some of its walls excavated and we got to see some of the moat that once surrounded Dublin Castle. It was very neat to see and I can say that I have been in an authentic 15 century castle.
The tour ended and we walked to what could be considered one of the most important facilities in Dublin and in Ireland in general, the Guinness factory. I knew it was going to be a great time because I did watch some people stumble out of the building and head, swerving, to the taxis; and it was 3 o'clock. So we entered and got a bit of a brief introduction to the place and got to see Arthur Guinness' signature on the lease that he signed for 9000 years at £45 per month.
The tour started with seeing the things that crafted the beer, water, barley, and the hops. I got to smell all of them and watch as they get crafted into the brew. After seeing how the beer was produced we then got to go up and see some of the bottling parts of the operation. The mountains of kegs rolled by a little window and they were heading to be filled with 'the black stuff'. The next section was all of the publication and marketing they have done for the Guinness label. Then it was up to the Gravity bar when you have a 360 degree view of Dublin city with a pint of Guinness. It was great to see the entire city even though the day was not that good. After our pint we headed back down to the bottom and went to the little Guinness store to get some cool collectibles.
After the long day we went back to the main area of Dublin again and walked around the town. We walked along the river Liffey for a bit and just had a great relaxing evening in Dublin. We went back to Pattys Palace for the last night and got up to get on the 5 am shuttle to the airport to get back to Glasgow so we could catch the 930am train back to Stirling. The flight was uneventful and was really the same as the other Ryanair flights we were on. Once back in Stirling, and after a nice long shower and a nap, I attempted to create a thanksgiving turkey. It was successful but the gravy turned out a tad funny looking but it tasted ok. Why did I try to make a turkey? Well it’s good you ask. Being American and all, our little group thought it would be a fantastic idea to put on a little thanksgiving dinner for some of our friends. So naturally the thing has exploded to encompass 20 odd people so I needed to practice making a turkey because I have never done it before. I am in a tad bit of trouble I would say. Anyway that’s my story, more updates on the Isle of Skye soon but I should really go study for my econometrics test.
Until next time, this is Nick, signing off.
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