09 June 2007

Action Packed Dublin Saturday

Day 4 in Dublin and another beautiful sunny day ! There was rain forecast for Friday or Saturday but apparently someone was mistaken.

Kelly and I headed out in late morning due to another late night. We walked to the west side of the city, staying south of the river. We walked through lots of the old city and ended up at ChristChurch Cathedral.




The ChristChurch area is where the originally Viking settlement of Dublin was and there are many museums, ruins and......


Photo opportunities ! Look at me I'm a Knight !


Hello m'lady !


The picture above is a bus stop made to look like a Viking ship...cool huh

The Viking history of Dublin is very interesting. The settlement here was apparently regarded as one of the more important Viking archaeological sites in the world due to its size and how much was preserved. The crooked Irish government of the 70's and their crooked development cronies ruined everything by concreting over a large part of the site. The locals refer to the half ass, ugly buildings that got thrown up as the "bunkers"...heres one


Its amazing what people will do for money...they paved over an ancient viking settlement...the heart of old Dublin...its very sad. So Kelly and I went to a much cheerier place


Nirvana !

A very touristy museum / gift shop called the Guinness Storehouse is a must see for most people visiting Dublin. We were in and out in 10 minutes, we'll go back on a day other than a Saturday when there are busloads of people getting dropped off at the gate.

We actually snuck past the very long ticket line and hopped on the elevator to the Atrium bar on the 7th floor. It has a 360 view of Dublin, all glass walls. They serve fresh Guinness pumped straight up from the brewery, but alas we didnt have tickets so the bartender wouldnt serve us...sigh.


So we walked along the Liffey River back to our area of town , SoDa (South of Dame Street).We popped in to our corner pub, J. Grogans Castle lounge, for a pint.

One pint turned into two..which turned into a whiskey, another pint and then my favorite discovery so far... Toasties !

The Pub was pretty empty of that time of day (4pm) so we decided to stay awhile and eat there as well. The barkeep, Sean, informed us they don't serve food....just toasties...


Holy delicious gift from heaven ! (especially after a few pints). For 3 Euros, Sean will whip you up a ham, cheese, tomato, onion grilled cheese sandwich ! Perfect !

After 2 hours at the Pub, it was getting crowded so we decided to move on. We took our last pints with us outside to people watch and think about our next move. Well, as luck would have it, two seats opened up on the patio so we sat down. We met two lovely chaps from Kilkenny and chatted with them for two more hours and several more pints ! I'd like to point out that my wife who doesnt drink beer, downed a pint of Guinness and 3 pints of Irish Cider !

By 8pm we were famished again so we walked down the street a bit to a Lebanese restaurant we had read about in one of our guidebooks. Its called the Cedar Tree, no doubt after the tree on the Flag of Lebanon.

What a great place ! Its in the basement of an old building on Andrew St and it feels like you're stepping into....Lebanon ? Everyone was super friendly and the service was great. We ordered a an appetizer of Baba Ghanoush (eggplant salad paste served with pita toast) and Falafel (Fried balls of fava beans or chick peas), a half bottle of wine and a main course of Shawarma (Chopped steak with onions , tomatoes and tahini sauce served with spicy potatoes...kind of like a Gyro without the Pita, but better)

Dinner was wonderful...then the music started and out comes the after-dinner stripper. Now I know that Bellydancing is an art blah blah blah, but for some reason it makes me uncomfortable. A beautiful half naked woman shaking her crotch at me while I'm sitting at dinner ? Do I look? Look away?



This happened to us at a Moroccan resturaunt in London a few years back too. Luckily both times we were pretty much finished by the time the bellydancing act was getting into full swing. In London the bellydancer started pulling guys out of their chairs and wrapping a shawl around them.... awkward. Do I have to stuff singles in her panties ?

Needless to say, after an action packed day like that, Kelly and I went home and for the first time went to bed before midnight.

Tomorrow ? Who knows !

-Chris

6 comments:

Chris said...

For the record - I was utterly fascinated by the belly dancer ad would have liked to stay and try a Lebanese coffee (beer and coffee in one day?!?! What's next? Gum?)but I couldn't bear to watch Chris squirm anymore.

Colleen said...

LOL. Kelly you are so funny!
What a great entry Chris. Thank you again so much for sharing your adventure w/ us all.

Anonymous said...

1. "what's next? gum?" LOL
2. where did you get the ILLUSTRATION of a toastie? LOL
3. this is all good stuff, keep it comin'.
4. xoxoxoxen

Anonymous said...

You guys are so funny, you really had me LOLing about the belly dancer, so did you look? or look away? I agree with you that is awkward, especially the one that pulled people from chairs and wrapped their shalls around them. Keep checkin out the digs and enjoying yourselves. At this point do you really see you guys settleing down into a regular life there? Everyhting is so new and different it would be for me, a FOREVER VACATION... Sounds devine!!!!!

-Kristine

Becky said...

TOASTIES = an Ireland Frontega Chicken? Perhaps? You'll sniff those things out anywhere won't ya kel!!! I'm getting flash backs to Florence food....

Try to stay out of the strip clubs you pervs!!! jk jk

Anonymous said...

I bet that toasty would taste even better high! Hope you jokers are having fun. Hi Chris and Kelly how are you that's in my special voice. The blog is great, be safe have fun. Use your manners your in another Country, and look both ways before crossing the street. "It's a jungle out there" take care your old United States neghibors. Best wishes to u both Brian Jonathan Wojtowicz @ Toni Dashko IRISH EYES ARE SMILIN