Day 2: New flats were a bad idea.

Well, today was quite adventurous! After waking up (and staying up) at 4:30 a.m., my roommate Rachel and I ate a wonderful breakfast at Ariel House around 7:30 a.m. I didn't try the traditional Irish breakfast, for fear of the "blood sausage." BUT I'm determined to try it before we leave! I got scrambled eggs, grilled bacon, and delicious fruit and toast! YUM!

After that, we convened in the drawing room to get ready for our guided tour of Dublin. On the way to the meeting spot, a homeless man asked me for change and I felt like I was back in Austin for a second. Except he said, "That's alright, sweetheart." And I swear to God, my heart melted because of his accent. Adorbs. Then I remembered he was homeless, and it was just creepy. BUT, homeless people are much nicer in Dublin. Our tour guide was named Garvan, or Garbhan, in traditional Irish.

Yep, that's him! Red headed Garvan. This was right after we did a far-away-high-five because I answered a question correctly about Vikings. He was HILARIOUS! He even sang us a song. :) I have video of it and once again, don't know how to post it! Sad day. The tour lasted a good 3+ hours. We started our tour near City Hall, ventured to Dublin Castle, Trinity College, Temple Bar, O'Connell street, the Irish Parliament building (which the White House was designed after) and we ended at St. Stephens Green. Such amazing history in Ireland!

This is an arch in the center of Trinity College (and Garvan, haha). It's legend that if you're an undergraduate student at Trinity and you walk under the arch that you'll fail your finals and end up dropping out. I think Courtney Love must've done that, because she only attended Trinity College for one year before dropping out! True story. 

After the tour, Garvan took us to a pub called O'Neills. I definitely got the fish and chips, which was delicious!  Garvan even ate and hung out with us some more. We had every intention of going on a pub crawl afterwards, but around 7 p.m., we were exhausted! And the pub crawl started at 7:30 p.m. So, a few girls and I decided to go see Sex and the City 2! But... we walked all the way to the theatre, across Dublin, to find out that it was sold out! Fail. Still a little bitter. We'll try again Monday.  

We ended up picking up a few bottles of wine and coming back to our room to hang out. On the way home, we walked up to a hit and run scene. Apparently a woman was crossing the street when the driver's light turned yellow and he turned left in a hurry and hit her, then drove off. It must had just happened because the woman was still laying on the ground surrounded by the EMT, covered in blood. It was really tragic. We have no idea how she's doing, but I'm thinking (and hoping) she's still alive. And this was only a few hours after Professor Love warned us about obeying the walking signals (he told us to "Choose life!" after we illegally crossed the street LOL) and Garvan told us that NO ONE in Ireland obeys any laws in a collaborated effort to disobey government and that jaywalking doesn't exist here. Apparently everyone in Ireland hates the government in a leftover feeling of resentment toward the British government. 

We probably walked more than 7 miles today. I did manage to wear my Easy Tones for the tour (such a fan!), but I changed into my flats for the failed attempt to see SATC2. Needless to say, they were brand new flats and my baby toe actually BLED. Not just blistered, BLED. Thanks, Target. 

Well, I'm exhausted. Definitely time for sleep. Another big day tomorrow will consist of a welcome brunch at the famous Brazenhead pub, and then a tour of the Guinness, and possibly Jameson factories. Exciting! 

From Ireland with love,

Hillary