Scariest Moment of the Trip so far... or How a pint of guinness can cost you 900 euros...

Post-dated from 9/16/10.



Yesterday was a long travel day. When all was said and done we took three trains, a ferry and a taxi. If only there was an airplane we could have John Candy star in a movie about it. (No more lame jokes, I promise.) Unfortunatly by the time we got to Belfast, the last train for Dublin was long gone so we found a hostel. Our cabbie was rather amusing and trying to sell us on a "Black Taxi Tour" of the murals, which actually would have been pretty interesting if we were planning to spend any time in Belfast. In retrospect it probably would have been way cooler than what we ended up doing today.

This morning we woke up and took advantage of the free breakfast (coffee, tea, a box of cereal, and a loaf of bread that you could make toast out of if you pleased), then caught an early train to Dublin. Originally we had planned to do a few nights here, but the more people we talked to, it seemed that Galway is the place to be. In particular we had an Irish bartender in a pub in Edinburgh who gave us tons of tips but her bottom line was, "go west," and it seemed our Let's Go book agreed. So that was settled. Of course how could we come to Ireland and not see Dublin and the Guinness Brewery, right? We had to pass through Dublin anyway so we stopped off.
The tour was disappointing. First, it was self-guided. For 11 euro, I want someone to whom I can ask questions. It was a big multimedia circus, and not even in the brewery itself, more like a museum/advertising blitz. There were some highlights, though. The original copy of the 9000 year lease signed by Arthur Guinness was on display, as well as some of the old/original machinery used. And of course there was the pint waiting for us at the top, in the Gravity Bar. The views of Dublin were not bad.

We left the brewery and went to the nearest pub for lunch. The Old Harbour was a block away from the Guinness Storehouse, yet surprisingly not mobbed with tourists (too divey for most we guess). We were the only non blue collar old men in the place. Johnny was a bar regular I'm sure and decided to make friends with us. Most of the conversation consisted of he asking "where ye all from," and us explaining Rhode Island, and he saying, "enjoy ye time here," then stealing Andy's hat. I'm not sure whether he kept forgetting that he had already said all this, or if Irishmen just like to repeat themselves.

We decided to catch a 5:45 train to Galway. As we were walking up to the ticket taker, Andy tells me he can't find his ticket. By train ticket, I mean Eurail pass, as in our sole means of transport for the next three months that had just been validated and used for the first time THIS MORNING. That ticket. At long last Andy decides that he must have thrown it out with some other papers in the Guinness Storehouse... which closes at 5 (it is now approximately 5:30). With no other options he decides to run back. For the next half hour I sit and wait at the train station, researching the steps one would have to undergo to replace a pass... until he comes back... with the ticket! The staff must have thought he was crazy, but he went right to the trash can and started digging. The pass is now safely in my money belt and we are happily in Galway.

PS.... sorry for the empty posts everyone (ahem, SCOTT....) We realized that we could type up blog posts in Andy's phone and then copy/paste them into the blog when we had internet access. Except that doesn't work for blogger somehow. When you right click into the text box, there is no paste function to choose, and it you hit control+V.... you get an empty post. We did eventually find a way around it so it shouldn't be an issue any longer.