Dublin

Surprisingly, I don't have many nice things to say about Dublin. The city wasn't very clean, it wasn't unique in the slightest, and it just generally lacked character and charm. It was a fairly normal city as far as big cities go.

Although, I did have some interesting experiences there. As soon as I checked into the hostel, this 6'3" German girl invited me to join her and her Irish friend for drinks later, so I decided to accompany them. The German girl had a tattoo on her wrist which said, "Love yourself, be kind to others, fuck all else." Quite the reminder.

After walking around the city for a bit, I hopped into a group that was taking a city tour. The guide was pretty funny, and he gave a long, drawn out history about everything we saw. Four hours later, I decided to leave the group. I think the funniest thing I learned was the history of the plaque mounted on the main bridge across the river.

The plaque was mounted about fifteen years ago, and it gave tribute to a priest that "died under suspicious circumstances after his carriage plunged into the Liffey River." The funny part is...this priest didn't exist. It was a prank by some local young people. And the plaque stayed up for TWO YEARS. This is the busiest bridge in Dublin, and thousands cross it every day. Eventually, the city council (after recognizing that they didn't put it up) did some research into historical records and Vatican manuscripts, and they found out that this priest didn't exist. So they announced that they were removing it.

But the locals had grown so attached to the plaque and to the memory of the priest, that they all brought flowers and candles to the bridge and blocked the way of the city council. The council members were unable to reach the plaque, and they eventually gave in to the people and left the plaque up on the bridge.

Anyways, I quickly got sick of the city. My ideal experience of Ireland was to be found elsewhere...namely, the countryside. So I did a bit of research and found that the town of Galway was a good stop to make. And off I went...