Robot Monkey Pants

If you take a baby onto an 8 hour flight, do not expect to win any popularity contests.

If you take a baby onto an 8 hour flight in Business Class… you incur a special kind of wrath.

Here I sit in our room at the Days Hotel Dublin Airport. Tomorrow is a long day of travel (Dublin -> Frankfurt -> NYC -> Chicago) … oh it’ll be a hoot and a half, I can assure you!

We did some more touristy things today, like visit the Guinness Storehouse (kind of like a brewery tour, but not quite) where we once again sampled the Guinness North Star Brew (a special brew found only in Ireland), and enjoyed a pint at the Gravity Bar (an observation lounge atop the facility).

We shopped at Grafton Street, sampled some pints at a micro-brewery (very good stuff), and had some Malaysian for supper, before finally adjourning to the hotel.

I’ll be back to Ireland. Dublin’s great, but next time I’m focusing on the countryside.

Stateside tomorrow night!

Hm, where did I leave off? I’ve sadly lost count of how many Guinness, Smithwicks, Murphy’s, and Kilkenny I’ve had. Suffice it to say, it’s a lot.

We drove from Galway to Dublin on Friday — it was uneventful. We had a brief stop in Athlone to see their castle, but there was no way in. The perils of vacationing outside tourist season.

Dublin, being the city it is, is always full, and even in the middle of November is swarming with visitors. We took it easy on Friday, walking around downtown, checking out pubs, and generally relaxing before retiring to our room.

Today, we entered tourist mode. We went to the Dublin City Gallery, checking out the Francis Bacon studio. Then we went to Temple Bar, a very tourist-heavy area. Prices are high as they nickel and dime you whenever they can, but there are some good finds there.

Gallagher’s Boxty House served up some pretty fine lunch grub, for one. Also, the early afternoon session at Gogerty’s was fun. The music here is different from the west coast in that it focuses more on the flutes and recorders as a lead instrument.

Later in the evening we went back to Gogerty’s for the Musical Pub Crawl, wherein a couple of musicians take a group of people to area pubs, play music, and explain Irish music and instruments. Towards the end of the evening, they make a “noble call” for others to share music from where they’re fun.

Guinness is a wonderful social lubricant, because I somehow found my hand raised and next thing I know I’m belting out a few bars of The Ryans And The Pittmans (aka Rant and Roar) before a pub full of strangers. It was a great evening!

Tomorrow, we’re checking out a couple of museums, and I’ll no doubt try to catch some more sessions in the evening. Monday is the Guinness Storehouse, and some shopping along Grafton Street.

Finally, Tuesday we fly home (sniff). Ahh, but what a week!

Galway is an amazing place. We just had to stay another day, since everything was so great. The B&B, the music, the atmosphere — it’s all so worth the time.

The highlight, without question, is the music at Tig Coili (or, I guess the more appropriate spelling is Tigh Choili, and it’s pronounced chee colee). We got there early for the 5:00 session and sat down right next to where the musicians sit. Totally worth the wait. By the time things got into full swing we had two fiddlers, a bodhran, a guitar, a bouzouki, and a tin whistle.

I recorded one of the tunes on my camera and will post it when I get back.

[And now that we're back, here it is:]

Just before we left, a kid from the Netherlands with a little mandolin sat down and sang a couple of ballads — it was such a great night.

Oh my god. I love Galway. The evening started a bit rough, with me getting us completely lost trying to find some food, drink, and music.

I failed horribly, so we settled for the food while I got my bearings. Being a male, I’m genetically predisposed to avoiding asking for directions. However, iPhone to the rescue — Google maps showed me the way while we enjoyed some great food (and Guinness #4) at Finnegan’s. That name holds special meaning for any of my Canadian chums who grew up with Mr. Dressup, however I did not see any mute dogs there. Ah well.

We made our way to the area with the great pubs. We first heard the most wonderful music coming from Tig Coili, but the place was packed solid. Instead, we hung out at Taafe’s pub awaiting the 9:30 session, while watching England lose to Croatia in a football match (much to the delight of the patrons). All this while enjoying pints #1,2, and 3 of my favorite Irish beer, Kilkenny. Oh my. They should have sent a poet. It was… amazing.

Alas, the band who took the stage weren’t leading a session, instead performing with a couple of guitars and a keyboard for accordion and percussion. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t what I came for, so we headed back to Tig Coili’s.

Guinness #5 and Murphy’s #1 (yum!) preceded some wonderful trad. It was simply marvelous to hear this great music in its home country and in such a great setting… well, I’ll post a movie I took with my camera upon my return, but it won’t do it any justice. It has made me rethink our schedule, and I think we’re likely to spend another night here in Galway, and either one less night in Dublin, or skip Dingle.

Truly, this is why I came here — the music, the culture, the beer, and I’m getting it all here. I can see where so much of Newfoundland’s culture originated. The music, the accent, the attitude — it reminds me so much of home. I feel really at home here.

I found this sign terribly amusing, though I’ve no idea why.

Belfast was a nice stop. We spent the night at The George Guest House, and we were quite happy with it.

We happened to be in town the night they turn on the Chistmas lights at City Hall, so we braved the drizzle along with 100,000 other Belfasters (Belfastikans? Belfasteners?) and gathered to see some local TV celebrities introduce some big pop star named Shane Sonething- or-other (though I’m sure I’m spelling the name wrong) who performed a bunch of songs that sounded just as bad and soulless as any American white boy who wants to make the little girls squeal. And the little Belfastian girls did indeed squeal, so mission accomplished. They turned on the lights, it was all very pretty, and the crowd mostly dispersed.

We found our way to a nice pub, where I had Guinness #3 (yum), Harp #1 (meh), and Smithwicks #2 (yum). Yes, this trip is as much a beer tour for me as it is a regular tour.

After last orders the pub (8:30), we made our way back to the B&B for supper at nearby Thai place (Thai-tanic, ahahahahaha!), but not before seeing a little skirmish between Belfast police and some drunken hooligans. Bottles thrown and everything — it was a bit surreal, especially since one of the officers took a moment away from being a target to give us some helpful directions on how to get back to our part of town.

Today, we drove from Belfast to Galway. I’ve got to say, I’ve adjusted to the driving here quicker than I thought I would, which scares me since I have to drive in North America in a week. It’s fascinating when you think about how complex a process like driving is, yet how little attention we pay to it since it all becomes almost instinctual. It’s not until something in that situation is turned on its ear that you see it.

Staying to the left, getting into the right side of the car, shifting with my left hand — all things I had to consciously think about yesterday, and all of which came almost naturally today.

Tonight, it’s off to the pubs to hopefully experience some of the fine trad scene here in Galway. Then, tomorrow, we spend Thanksgiving in Dingle before heading back to Dublin for the duration of our stay.

Slainte!

Found a pub in Drogheda on the way to Belfast.

Guinness makes a fine breakfast.

First, here’s my Ed Sullivan.

Ahh, cheesy jokes, how I love thee.

Had my first Irish pints in Ireland. Smithwicks is fantastic, Guinness is sublime. Though the hotel restaurant serves the latter too cold, I’m sure we’ll find a proper pub who’ll serve a proper pint today.

Driving on the left hand side of the road is *not* easy — years and years of experience take over if you don’t actively concentrate on it. Shifting with the left hand us also quite weird, though at least our rental (a Fiat Punto) has a very forgiving transmission.

Today, we take to the road, making our way to Belfast. More later.

Truly, it is awesome.

Here I sit in one of the Lufthansa lounges, waiting for the flight to Dublin, 4 hours from now. Five hours in JFK (because I’m hopelessly petrified of missing a connection), and five in Frankfurt. Sigh. I’m the king of the layover. The flights home aren’t nearly as bad. In fact, based on our experience getting from the JetBlue terminal to Lufthansa’s, I’m practically convinced we’re going to miss our flight home from New York.

I’m sure we’d make it if we lived in a sane country, but because our nation is so messed up, I have to figure an hour to get through customs & immigration. We’ll play it by ear — if we don’t make the last JetBlue flight out to ORD, we’ll either improvise something using my United miles, or spend the night in NYC before coming back on the first AM flight.

I’d send along a picture of something, but my phone’s camera has developed a weird spot in the middle that is completly infuriating me. I can’t seem to clean it off, which means it’s inside, and that makes no sense to me whatsoever.

I don’t use my phone’s camera for much at all, but it’s fun to use for photoblogging trips. Meh.

The flight went well, and those lie-flat seats are crucial for a long haul like that. I probably got 3-4 hours of sleep, which is more than I would have gotten in a regular seat, and way more comfortable.

Okay, enough phone typing. Next entry from Dublin!