Dublin on St. Patrick's Day!

Schankey and I had a great time in Dublin on St. Patrick's Day! The weather was amazing...sunny and no rain!

I left my house on Tuesday morning at 5:35 to catch the 6:05 train. First, let me say that I have three items in my house that tell time: my computer, my cell phone and my blackberry. The time difference between the three is ten minutes so I go with the middle one. I get to the train station at 5:48 and see that the train is not in fact 6:05 like the website said but actually at 5:50. I run to the ticket office: CLOSED. I run to the train and ask the man if I can buy tickets aboard and he says yes but there is a five euro fee. Ouch, but oh well I am not missing Dublin! I take the two hourish train to Milano and then hop aboard a bus that is about 50 minutes to the airport on the outskirts of town. From what I can see of Milano the traffic is crazy in the morning. We arrive at the airport and I check in. I am flying Ryanair which is a discount airline so there are no seat assignments. I figure I can handle Southwest's corral system this will be no problem...until I remember that here in Italy there is no such thing as a line! They call boarding and everyone lumps together to pour into the line. Madness. Then we board a bus to go to the plane. When the bus opens the doors it is insanity and people run to the plane (I love that here they board out of both doors...I feel this would increase on time departures in the US). I get a seat and settle in for the two and a half our flight to Dublin.

Arriving in Dublin I am shocked to see the sun. Everyone always talks about how rainy it is. The cab driver is very nice and is telling me all about the holiday and things in Dublin. I casually ask him how to pronounce the word T-A-R-A and he says "why Tara (not like Sara) of course". I love this country! I arrive at the hotel and meet Schankey and get ready to hit the town. We walk down to the parade but it is so crowded we can barely see anything but things that float over heads. We walk around and have lunch (great seafood bisque soup) and enjoy our first pints. Everyone in Dublin is so nice! We then walk down to Tara Street and of course take pictures. We go into a pub on Tara Street (mainly because I want to be able to say I had a Guinness on Tara Street). We hang out for awhile watching everyone and then head back over to the Temple Bar area with a stop along the way to get our faces painted with Shamrocks. You would think that nothing screams tourist but in fact everyone had their faces painted with something (sometimes in all green). We hang out at this bar for awhile chatting with some nice Irish boys (who become very difficult to understand as the music gets louder) and then head over to Temple Bar. All in all a very fun evening.

Wednesday morning we head to the airport around six thirty as Schankey's flight is around eight thirty. Mine is not until eleven but none of the shops are open so I head to the airport with her. I catch a flight to London and then take a train to Victoria Station for a quick tour of London. Here are some pictures of the day in London. I took a train to the airport and then a quick two hour flight back to Torino. While in line waiting for my flight I met two students (Sara and James) from Nevada who were in Torino studying. We took the bus back into the city and chatted about the places we have visited and their plans after college. Always nice to meet people!

I will post the pictures next...