This is a really long long long post! I think this is, in fact the longest post I'd ever placed on this blog... Anyway, I just gotten back from a whirlwind 'tour' of Dublin and Manchester where I met up with Samantha and Jaslyn who are on their exchange in University College Dublin, and then after a brief 2 nights (I arrived at midnight on the first night!) in the comfort of Sam's room on her comfy large bed and ultra spacious room with free internet access (better than a hostel huh?!) :
I flew to Manchester on Thursday morning to meet Hayley, whom I knew last summer while working at Sloane. The return trip to MAnchester from Dublin on Ryanair was only 24 Euros with taxes! How can I not visit my fellow 'I HATE KIDS' friend?
So, let's start from Dublin where the next day, Sam and I when to grab some really amazing bagel near her place and poor Jaslyn had to do her exam in UCD and was attacked by a darn crow at her campus ground!
Met up with Jaslyn in her campus and we took the bus to city centre to tour the guiness factory at St. James Gate. Well, Guiness was the only highlight of the Dublin trip, but since my purpose there is to visit these 2 amazing great ladies and to drink lotsa beer, i
did accomplish what I set out in Dublin. Anyway, there really isn't much to see in Dublin especially after one's been to like so many European cities and they all are starting to look the same - old buildings and depending on the how rich the local government is, they are either old and black and dirty like Prague, or spankling clean like Vienna.I'd managed to grab some postcards to mail them back home too.
Anyway, the Guiness factory trip was a blast for all 3 of us! Paid 9.50 Euros for entrance and this includes a free pint of Guiness at their Gravity bar on L7 where one can get a 360 degrees panaromic view of Dublin Skyline in an all glass circular bar at the end of the self guided tour (so technically, you can just pay to go drink and admire the view and skip by all the all-bout-guiness stuff)! With a perfect pint of Guiness that tasted so darn fucking, yes,
fucking, good.
Now the thress of us of course, had tons of fun at the factory where we smelt rosted barley that smell alot like coffee, and pose for lotsa photos.
At the tasting bar in the middle of the tour:
Jaslyn wants everyone to knows there there's always a choice after one drinks, hmmm...what is she trying to hint? Hear that, ROB?? There's always choices! Well, but then I ain't a Saint to advise you or lecture you on that! haha...
Now, this is the reason why I drink:
After we gotten our pint of perfectly settled Guiness from the Bar; look how happy we are!!!!
Now, before all of you conclude that we do nothing but pose and drink, well, we did eat ok! We are not like those supermodels (k, i do accept that fact that we all look a whole lot like them though...haha) that survived on nothing but ciggies and booze and drugs. We went to this great Irish Pub called O'Sheas that serves amazingly large portions and good food, of course, we got another pint of beer for all three of us! We ordered a Tapas platter (it said for 3-4 on menu but I counted and there's 7 pieces of fried chicken wings, meatballs, large portion of nachos, and 3 half sized big gigantic baked potatoes!) Then, we got a Irish mutton stew (my take) and Sam and Jas got a Sliced Beef Ribs with mashed potatoes. So filled after that but we all bright up when the next table had desserts and Jaslyn noticed this old lady nodding her head after tasting her Citrus mousse that we decided to get 1 to share amongst us 3.
Then, we went to this place in Dublin called Tample Bar where there are lotsa clubsa and Bars lined up and we first headed to this bar where they both make me try this drink called Fat Frog, very nice. Then we went to another Irish Bar filled with a more matured (read:
old) crowd but this place has a live Irish traditional band. I had another beer there and managed to steal a Guiness Pint Glass. Haha. Samantha had Baileys there.
Then, we took the bus back to their dorm and stopped by this bar where we met their friends and we all decided to down the Jager(sic) Bomb where there's this shot of Jager-something alcohol and I am supposed to drop the shot into this glass of Redbull and drink in one shot.
Then, Jaslyn told me I have to try this Irish-Bomb which is a shot of Whiskey (or Baileys) into a pint of Guiness. And all in one shot! Here's the full scene:
Thanks Samantha and Jas for such a great and fun 2 nights in Dublin! And they were so sweet to wake up at 7am the next day to bring me to this place for a great breakfast before Jas walked the full 20 minutes with me to the bus stop to catch the air coach, Sam had to go back to study for her exam later on the day.
So, I left Sam and Jas (and they went to Italy the day after) and took Ryanair leaving Dublin at 10.40 and arrived in Manchester at 11.30. As I was supposed to only meet Hayley in the evening for her friend's costumn party, I walked around Arndale square where there's lots and lots of shopping! Manchester is actually a very pretty city! I also visited the Manchester Cathedral and the Urbis Museum where it showcases urban living.
The Urbis Museum and I got to take home this cool sticker from this exhibition called Urban Survillence which denotes how UK has like tons of public cameras with face recognition systems to keep the country save (there are 2 stickers, one I had to stick on this wall, and the other I can stick on my stuff or to keep)
That night, I met up with Hayley and she is now a student studying Psychology at the University of Manchester and she is all dressed up as Super Nanny! It was so funny! Then we got to her friend's place and there are all sorts of character but nothing trumps this guy with a strap on and had on a pair of tighty whities and a rainbow flag as a cape, Captain Gay maybe? haha.
Needless to say, we had a lot to drink there and the next day, I decided to walk the town to the City hall where they too had a Xmas Market and i had some Gruwein in a cup, where after paying 5 pounds, I realised the words actually said Frankfurt Market instead of Manchester! How nice.
And after realising how much time I had spent on this term boozing and being a bad boy, I decided to get some mental stuff from Waterstones where they had 3 for 2 on this year's top sellers. Surprised and very happy that The Time Traveller's Wife is among the titles offered and therefore, I blew 16 pounds (!) on 3 books! They are :
The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby (who wrote about a boy)
Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan (I'm a sucker for Amy Tan's novels ever since I took Joy Luck Club for my GCE O's at age 16)
And you all will be surprised to learn that I managed to finish reading The Time Traveller's Wife within 48 hours (started at 9 pm last night and finished today cos I have so many time to kill in between my flights) The book is amazing! I really do reccomend all to get it, the author managed to make a love story to be so enduring and compelling when she makes the male lead being able to time travel. Hence they 36 year old actually met the female gal when she was 6 and since then, the gal had this affection for this guy whom she'll only meet regularly when she turns 20, after that, they both had to struggle to maintain a normal relationship and it is so amazing how stuffs can mingle. The book seemed so messy at first but by the end of it (and u'll wanna read it cos it's that attractive) all makes sense and comes full circle. And it is such a heart wrenching tale of love that I actually shed a tear at the airport (my flight from Manchester was 1040 and reached Dublin at 12, where connecting flight to Vienna is 3.40!)
