Ireland

14.03.08-20.03.08 / Dublin & Cork
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Hey, finally a new entry. Also under request of my two frequent and critical readers.

The decision to do this trip was more spontanious rather than thoughtful. But why should I let the oportunity to spen St. Patricks Day in Ireland/Dublin pass.

The Trip started sometime about 3am in the morning...... the RyanAir flight was at 6.35.... but there was some travelling confusion under my travel mates and the insited to go there early...which in the end was a good decision.
I never did the online check-in before.... but it was ok.... I had my ticket printed out and knew that there are some problems with these at EMA.... but I got the boarding card at the counter.
I forgot to show my gel/paste/fluid zipper seperatly at security check, but it doesnt seem to matter.
However, one of the other had to leave loads of stuff behind due to >100ml.....
Anyway... we arrived the gate quite late, but the boarding hasent started yet. So we had a position at the end of the que, but due to entering the 737-800 throught the rear entrance we got a close-to-exit row.
The flight was good, and short..about 1h. We arrived at Dublin Airport close to schedule.
However; due to the reason that my travel mates dont posess an European passport they had to que in a different row...... and as alot of non-europeans arrived....many Americans.... I had to wait quite a bit.
The Airport is not far from Dublin, as its the "real" Dublin Airpot and not an abondon military base somewhere close to where Ryanair often use to flight to. ( I remember the Göteborg City Airport)
The public transport is quite cheap in Ireland compared to UK but also to Homeland. However, that seems to be all... some stuff even seems to be more expensive than in UK. Ok it was Dublin, and Ireland is surely an island where some stuff has to be carried to.. but... a pint of guinness in a pub €4.30... a bottle 500ml erdinger at tesco €2.58... thats crazy.
I guess no-one told the Irish that the Euro is very strong at the moment against the Pound, Dollar and anything else...

Serene, Vivian and me

Our hotel for the first days was a bit outside Dublin as we booked quite late, but 40 min by train which was included in our 3-days ticket was reasonable.
The hotel was nice, and ok. yeah it was an hotel.

Citadis-Tram, Alstom produced in Salzgitter, Germany

On the 15th we take part in the treasure hunt. You had to find several places in Dublin answer a question and get a stamp there. That was a part of the festival. It was very nice, and fun. You got to all interesting objects in Dublin. Besides the rain... it was perfect.. but the rain wasnt like Nottingham-light-rain... it was more like German-standart-rain.... and it was the whole day!
At the end we didnt manage to get to all the point we should and we also couldnt hand in our sheet... to late.
On the 16th we walked around our hotel area... from Bray to Greystone... and from there by train to Dublin again.


On the 17th ( St. Paddys Day)... even more tourist on the streets and finally alot of green and/or Irish flag-colours. The parade was trough the main roads.. and the fast-fod restaurants had security to prevent not-costumers to use their toilets.
The parad started with some police and military, also police horses... and sme "important" guy in a carriage pulled by horses ( maybe major or president or..). The rest was 40% carnival like stuff, some with themes...a dn 60% American high school bands. Some bands have actualle been quite nice, some lala and some wasnt playing while passing.
Actually I was disappointed be the parade, the most green was wearn by the army, there wasnt a single cobold, leprechaun or whatever...and less Irish feeling...and finished after 2h.
I would recoment going, go to Brunswik carnival instead.
After the parade I went to the Guinness Storehouse. Guinness is also brewed in Dublin ( of course) besides 50 other countrys in the world, not in Germany. The Storehouse is located on the brewery premises and its about the history of guiness.... it tells ow beer s made and by what...
u could try some guiness... there also exist a Guinness Foreign Extra, not available in Germany.
I also could pull my own pint under instruction. An here is the thing I learnet... nitrogen is added to the beer while pulling from the tap to make the crown. And in this plastic ball u have in a can is also nitrogen which is released by opining the can.

my perfect-pint-pulling certificat and me

We took then the lates aircoach bus from Dublin to Cork. At the middle of the 4.xx h journey was a stop at a gas station. Shortly after our arrival the Cork-Dublin Aircoach arrived too. The drivers changed busses and the journey continued.

Our first night in Cork was a bit rough and cold, but we survived.
Cork is the 2nd biggest city in Ireland after, Dublin. Its a nice City...also less tourists.... but we also saw one American high school band again...and I am pretty sure it was the one I saw in the Guiness storage house...
On the 19th we visited the James Whiskey destillerie in Midelton near Cork. The tour was ok, maybe a bit fast... actually Whiskey brewering is quite similar to beer brewing... at least until they start to destil the stuff. Irish destil 3 times and dry the malt over smokeless heat, Scoth Wisky is destilled 2 times and dryed over smoky heat ( Scoth Wisky but Irish Wiskey, the spelling); American is just destilled once.
At the end of the tour, few volunteers were picked to taste several different Wiskeys.... and guess who was choosen too.....
First we tasted 3 different Irish Wiskeys.... after that we compared the Jameson (Irish) with Johnnie Walker (Scotish) and Jack Daniels (American). I could taste and smell the smoke of the Scotish and the American was quite sweet, honestly the Irish one was really the best...... so I got a certificat that I am qualified as an Irish Wiskey taster.
But quite frankly.... I rather stay with beer!

That is the famous Irish stew

The 20th basically the day of going back to Nottingham..... and that feelt quite strange, then normaly I was going back home, where home was in Germany ( mostly Peine).... so that felt a bit weird.
Anyway the bus ticket from Cork to Shanon Airport was as expensive as the total flight cost from SNN to EMA........ they didnt want to except the student card....
At the Airport everything went good..... flight was 10 min delay...thats ok... hat seat in front... aisle one with no-one next to me.... was good....

Ireland is quite simlar to Britain but has also a continental Europe touch.... e.g. they also use EURO. The Irish- way was quite difficult for me. First of all I could barely understant them speaking and the they me. They seems to be quite helpful...u ever were asked by people if u need help...however I got the feeling that just happen if u apear to be helpless. Sometime they seems to be rude or not helpful at all. Sometimes u get several different information... and then dont know anything...a dn whats correct.
But we also could use internet for free in librarys.... and we also used the library of the Cork Uni... we also tried to print our flight tickets.... first they said u can prit for free... and the paper apears at that printers.... several trys and several more askings we havent got any sucess.... finaly one women offerd us to print from her information desk....... they help u... if u a lost!

Anyway I have seen Ireland now... it is ok, but none of my favourite countrys.