Dublin cured my homesick, Day 1
We landed Dublin Airport from Copenhagen a little after noon and then the disillusion of Dublin being cheap started to surface. (Okay, I realise it’s completely non-sense to think Dublin would be cheap at all.) We first purchased our 3 day bus rambler ticket for only 11 euros which included travelling back and forth the airport. (Hey, at least that’s cheap when you compare that to the train fare that you have to pay for one-way from Kastrup to Lund!)
Double decker bus from the airport to town!
After sending our backpacks to our hostel, we started our adventure in Dublin. Since we had three days in just Dublin, we decided to take it slow and just to have a walk ourselves within the city without going to any touristy places and with a minimal guidance from the map. Kaho and I were both quite busy before the trip, so we didn’t actually do any research about Dublin. We just decided to go and booked the tickets and go! And we didn’t really have a lot of expectations for Dublin. The first impression that Kaho had for Dublin was that the city was quite run down, also that the people look like they have to bear a lot of burden and that they are a lot less posh than Swedes. (Seriously, who wouldn’t be?! Swedes are just a high maintenance bunch in average.) I however couldn’t exactly agree with Kaho about people looking stressed. People who live in city in general carry more burden than people who live in the countryside anyway.
We had so much fun just running around the town. We bounced through the O’Connell Street, every bridges on River Liffey and every tiny alleys that looked intriguing to us. We checked out every single store on Grafton Street, we said hello to James Joyce, took a picture with an Irish man in kilt and ‘flirted’ with the old man with the cart opposite the Trinity College. Admired the dazzling colours of Temple Bar and the ridiculous height of the Spire. We also relaxed at St. Stephen’s Green and tried to peek through the walls and windows of all the Georgian houses.
Most importantly, Dublin reminded me a lot of Melbourne and cured my homesick for Melb! Firstly, it has River Liffey which divedes Dublin into south and north side, and it has a lot of bridges above it… just like Melb. Then, Grafton Street is just like Bourke Street, except it is better, and without the tram. And yes, Dublin also has tram! Next, the button that you pushed to cross the road in Dublin is identical to Melb’s! Most importantly, I understood whatever that was going on around me – and I could eavesdrop! (HAHA! It’s another world here!)
Long-missed pumpkin souppppppppp at a café close to our hostel
Same as Melbourne’s!
Ha’penny Bridge – One of the million bridges on River Liffey
Grafton Street – you should be able to recognise this if you had watched Once
Temple Bar – WOOOHOOO!
Deco in TOPSHOP @ Grafton Street
After a long long search, we finally ended our long long day at a all-you-can-eat diner for 7 euro and went back to our Not-so-Shining Hostel… we checked ourselves into a dorm which we shared the room and an ensuite bathroom with 10 other people and its shower is not giving out any hot water!!!