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The trip is off to a great start. The flight over was delayed by 2 hours, after we spent three hours on the runway waiting for thunderstorms to pass. Although the delay was a drag, I did get to meet my seat mate, Andrew, who just finished his 1st year of law school at Hofstra and was on his way to Dublin for a 2 month summer internship. Additionally, the Delta stewardess, who was feeling quite liberal with the plane's "complementary" wine service, also made a otherwise potetially terrible flight much more entertaining.
I lost Andrew after he got held up in Immigration (apparently the word "internship" doesn't have quite the same connotations in Ireland...), but then amazingly bumped into him in the city center right after I got off the airport bus, so we were able to exchange emails. And by then it was noon and officially Guinness time, so we celebrated our arrival in Dublin.
After our celebrations, I spent a few hours wandering the city while trying to fight off jet lag and lack of sleep. I really haven't absorbed the city after a day of mentally foggy wandering, although Dublin seems like a ton of fun. I'm staying right on the edge of the trendy Temple Bar area, which kind of reminds me of a Dublin version of Bourbon Street. Thus, it's very touristy and packed with "stag and hen" parties and bar crawls. But the pub exteriors are charming and the pubs have great live Irish music. I also wandered over to the Guinness storehouse, which was cool but a little disappointing. The place felt more like a Universal Studios ride than a historical landmark. The tour didn't include any actual brewing sites or facilities; the ridiculously large store and the top-floor bar were the two most noteable sites. The store was insane, and sold everything from Guinness t-shirts to Guinness fruitcakes, luxury toffee, gel pens, Christmas ornaments, and lucky stones. But the bar did have some amazing views, and one pint of Guinness was included in the admission price. So why not hang for a while and enjoy the view.
I'm pretty beat and hoping tomorrow will be a little more lively!
More photos are available here: https://picasaweb.google.com/105899454615652413823/Dublin
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