Honeymoon Blogs pt 2

Thur evening, 9/24
Plane ride was pretty decent. Found it hard to sleep on the
international flight, despite how easy it was to nap on the trip to
atlanta. Landed in dublin at 10am tues on less that two hours of sleep.
Delta plane food kind of sucks.

Customs was easy to get through. "Are you american? Are you staying
long?" and our baggage miraculously showed up at the same time we did.
No complaints there. However, we asked for directions to the castle from
what has been later described by other dublin residents, as the dumbest
woman in all of ireland. We got to take a bus-wide tour of the city, for
free, thanks to the fact that the bus didn't take paper money, and the
driver took pity on some poor lost americans. We wound up at a train
station, and the ticket agent there told us the proper way to get back.

After three or four vague sets of directions. "You take the lane to the
end of the way, and then a left and a right gets you right there." we
actually found ourself at the castle. The hotel staff met us with smiles
that quickly turned into furrowed brows and waved down managers.
Eventually they explained to us that the hotel had been overbooked for
the weekend, and, they did not have room for us on thursday, friday, or
saturday.

However, if we were willing to to move over to their sister hotel for
those nights, they would be willing to upgrade us to the honeymoon suite
for our nights at the castle, complete with a bottle of champagne, and
provide us with dinner. Additionally, they would upgrade our room at the
crowne plaza to a king, and provided us with a cab ride over there, and
a shuttle to the airport. With heavy hearts, we accepted, trying not to
skip as we headed up to hotel room that dwarfed a few of the apartments
that I lived in.

Once up there, reunited with the contact solution for the first time in
three days, I effectively blinded my self, and we took a short nap (that
turned into 4 hours) before heading down to temple bar area in search of
the elusive steak sandwich.

After a bit of wandering and a fair amount of being quite lost, we
stumbled into the recommended pub, the Banker's something or other, only
to be told that their chef had the night off, and that we should try
back another night, but that we could have a pint and some bacon crisps
before we go.

A well meaning couple at the pub pointed us in the direction of
Darwin's, a full fledged steakhouse. It was good, though a bit pricier
than the steak sandwich. Legs tired, we decided to call it a night.

The next morning found us on our way to Howth (rhymes with both) and we
ate at the Bloody Stream. (Named after a battle that left the stream
blood red for quite a while, not for any other reason you might be
thinking) Had a bacon cheese burger there. The irish interpretation of
bacon is interesting, to say the least. It's more like thin ham steak
with a lot of salt.

We wandered to docks, looking at all the restaurants and shops, watched
a fat seal fight with seagulls over the fish that the tourists were
tossing at them. we walked along the edge of the ocean, stood under a
lighthouse or two, and photographed an island in the distance.

That night we took advantage of our complimentary dinner, and it was
quite good. The sheer number of ways that steak can be prepared is
astounding. Topped that off with a night at the hotel's bar, reaffirmed
the knowledge that Irish Guinness is the best beer I've ever had. Found
that the american exports seem to exclusively be budweiser and coors
light. Not sure why we're exporting only the worst beer we have, maybe
we just want to keep the good stuff for ourselves. After all, if people
drink that piss they call Budwiser, I can't imagine how fast they would
down a good bach, like shiner, or any of the texas microbrews.

Caught up to this morning, where we awoke and headed down to O'Connel
street for some shopping. Department stores seem to be a universal maze
that traps the unwary male with his new wife. Having struggled free an
hour or so later, with nothing actually purchased, we made our way to
another pub, where I finally got my long sought steak sandwich, and
another two pints of the good stuff.

A little more shopping, and we began the process of finding our way
home, took the taxi from the castle to the new hotel ( the new room is
nice, in a very businessy sense, but no honeymoon suite) and now I sit
writing this.

Feeling quite caught up, it's now time to search for some more food, and
a pint or two, before calling it a night.