Look what fun things we found!

One thing I like to do when I travel is take pictures of the unusual signs, stores, or things I encounter. Here are pictures of the funniest things I saw in Dublin and could get my camera out fast enough to take a picture of (in no particular order).





This was taken in a bathroom at a restaurant. I don't think that a perfume vending machine is a horrible idea. But I was surprised to discover that this machine was selling opium scented perfume in addition to Obsession and Giorgio.










The second picture doesn't need much explanation. I suppose this is a good place to buy gin.














Lap dancing is certainly what I think of when I think of having dinner and singing karaoke.















And my personal favorite, the Happy Hippy Dublin store, whose merchandise included bongs and party pills.









Wow! Until I posted these pictures, I had no idea that this post would be so PG-13.

Our Dublin hostel - A nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there

To save money, we decided to stay in a hostel while in Dublin. It wasn't unbearable (in my opinion), but I don't think I'll ever do it again. The best analogy I can think of to staying at a hostel is eating dinner at Denney's: you're usually full when you leave, but while you're eating, you can't help thinking of all the times you've had better food.

Although I've certainly stayed in worse places, here is a list of some of the more colorful features of our hostel:

1) Presumably to save water, the showers had push down buttons comparable to what you sometimes find in sinks at restrooms. So, to keep the water constantly flowing, you had to hold the button in with one hand and shower with the other.

2) There was no elevator, so we had to drag our suitcases up 3 flights of stairs. OK, so most people who stay at hostels don't have lots of luggage. Our luggage wasn't too heavy, but let's just say I was thankful that I'd been lifting weight the past 2 months.

3) There was a 60 year old man walking to the men's showers in his tighty whiteys. This one is for Nicole, who apparently got an eyeful. I, lucikly did not see him. Instead, I got to talk with the hot Scottish guys who were invited me to go to the pub with them.

Coke Light

Those of you who know me well know that I love Diet Coke and Pepsi. Originally, I had planned to use my trip as an opportunity to go cold turkey and cast off the bonds of diet soda oppression. My liberation lasted until the flight attendant asked me what I wanted to drink on the flight from Salt Lake to Chicago. I ended up buying the pre-paid, all-you-can-drink soda package on my cruise. Therefore, I felt the need to get my money's worth, and believe me, I did. I guess you know you're addicted when you arrive at dinner and the waiter on your cruise already has 6 Diet Cokes sitting out, waiting for you to drink.

In any event, enjoy these pictures, which chronicle my European love-affair with Coke Light (that's what they call it there). In some of the pictures, it might be hard to spot, but I promise you, it's there.

I love Dublin, but everything closes at 5PM - April 17

Our first day in Dublin was exciting but shorter than we had originally planned. Because our flight was delayed, we arrived in the afternoon rather than the morning. By the time we got to our hostel, checked in, showered, and walked to where we wanted to be, most everything we wanted to see was closed. So, while we couldn't go inside, we were able to see the outsides of three exciting places. And the nice thing about castles and cathedrals is that the outsides are pretty spectacular as well.

Say what you will about our hostel (see my next post), but it was in a good location. It was a short walk through the city center to Dublin Castle, Christ Church Cathedral, and St Patrick's Cathedral and park. Our inability to enter these sited has limited my ability to tell you much about their histories, so you'll just have to content yourselves with the pictures I could take before my camera batteries died.


The picture on the right, as well as the one above, was taken at Dublin Castle. It had a nice inner courtyard, which was where I took the video posted below.



Christ Church Cathedral was our next stop (right). It was quite beautiful: very old looking with beautiful windows. I think my favorite stop was St Patrick's Cathedral and park. The park was amazingly beautiful, with lots of tulips.



After all that walking, we were pretty wiped out, so we next found a place to eat. I have to admit that my very favorite thing about the day was walking around the city. That's one thing that I really love to do when I'm in a new place. I don't necessarily have to be going anywhere, but I love just walking around, looking at things and people, and getting the feel of a city. I wish I could describe how Dublin felt, but I've never been very good at that. I guess one adjective I'd use for Dublin is cold. That first night was freezing, and neither Nicole nor I had brought a coat. So after dinner we each bought one and then did a little souvenir shopping at the Irish version of Hawaii's ABC stores: cheap souvenirs at stores situated about every 20 feet (I can't remember the name of the stores).

All in all, it was a good day.

Getting there is half the fun - April 16

I've come to the conclusion that whoever said this never spent 6 hours in the Chicago airport.



On April 16th, my friend Nicole and I began our trip to Europe with a flight from Salt Lake City to Chicago. It was rather uneventful, except that we had to rush from a different terminal over to the international terminal when we arrived in Chicago. We had to check in with Aer Lingus when we got there, so I was a little worried about making the flight. However, we soon that our flight was delayed by 5 hours. I guess I didn't need to worry after all.

In retrospect, we probably should have hopped on the public transportation and explored Chicago a bit. I don't really know my way around Chicago, so the idea of exploring the city in a short amount of time made me nervous. As we were going through security, the TSA workers kept telling us that there was nothing to do on the other side. Somehow, I didn't quite believe them. I've been to enough international terminals to know that there is usually someone on the other side of the metal detector waiting to sell you either cigarettes, alcohol or perfume. If this had been the case in O'Hare, imagine the fun Nicole and I could've had.

As it turns out, the TSA people weren't lying. Luckily, I had my laptop and Nicole had hours of Arrested Developement. Watching the zany adventures of the Bluth family kept me occupied for a while, but I soon got bored. I think the only thing that kept me pleasant was a friendly TSA worker kept us entertained whenever we happened to run into him and the snacks that Aer Lingus put out for us. In the end, I suppose it made me that much more excited to get to Dublin, and I am thankful that that was the only flight delay we experienced.