Goodbye Dublin

My last day in Dublin was nothing short of eventful. It included a few pubs, fish and chips, and sushi. But, I wanted to do something a little different. At first I thought of going to salsa again... But I ended up at another place, the Laughter Lounge.

The Laughter Lounge is one of Dublin's best comedy venues. It reminds me a lot of the standup places in LA. There was a famous comic from the UK performing and then about 5 other local comics.

I sat on the side, somewhat visible to stage, but not right up front. Most everyone at the event was local (something I find very interesting to experience). When the tables started to fill up, two nice guys asked if they could sit at my extra chairs.

When the show started, it immediately became clear that there's a lot of audience "participation" in the show. The emcee would tease various audience members relentlessly (but in a funny light hearted way). At one point, he asked if there were any foreigners in the audience. One woman in the back raised her hand, Katia. Thank goodness I hadn't been outed. The emcee went on to discuss how charming Irishmen try to be and how often foreign women fall for it.

I felt like I had dodged a big bullet until the two men at my table were coming back from a smoke break outside. Without thinking about it, the two walked right in front of the emcee while he was doing a bit. It was clearly an easier path than wading through the 300 people in the audience, but the emcee was very offended. Suddenly, we were no longer safe from the lime light.

First, he insulted the poor guys. I would explain this in more detail, but its a bit much strong language for my blog. Anyway, then he asked my name. Despite giving my first name (and nothing more) he noticed my accent. He asked where I'm traveling from. I told him from the US and that I live in Memphis. He was very impressed that I live in someplace a little different than the typical big cities such as New York.

Then he asked which of the two guys I have the misfortune of "dating." When I replied "neither," he asked how I know them. I said that they just sat at my table and I just met them. This set him off on another tirade about the two guys being huge jerks. (They were actually really sweet.)

He started to tell me not to let their Irish charm fool me. He said its only because I'm foreign and that they each have STDs and then he predicted which disease each one has.

He then asked why I was in Ireland-- for work or travel. I said travel and he expressed relief that I'm not stealing jobs from Europeans. Then he asked what I do. He was very impressed with Internet marketing and asked what industry I work in. When I said banking, he brought up Ireland's negative relationship with banks. He joked that it's like I kill unicorns... The last baby unicorn in fact... And that I eat it for dinner.

Keep in mind that this was in front of about 300 people. I don't know how well it comes across in my writing, but it was really hilarious. I enjoyed every minute and am so happy to share. I'm not sure however if the poor guys at my table would agree. He relentlessly teased them all night and even got another audience member to smack one of them on the head. Poor guys!

I found a video of the comedian, Keith Farnan, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IS7jFNwnjs

Getting with the program

The past few days have been great, but I've been a bit off time wise. One thing I've learned for sure here is that you must eat on time if you want good food. Otherwise, you may be stuck with something less desirable. Many pubs only serve food during specific hours. This has been a bit confusing to me. Also, most shops here close at 6 PM. I tried to go into a dressing room at a store here and was told simply that the dressing room was closed (in my mind it was just out of order). As I started to look for an alternate dressing room, the annoyed clerk explained that the store was closing. It definitely makes me feel spoiled in Memphis, where I can get lunch at 3 PM and shop until 9 PM.

Despite a few hiccups related to timing, yesterday was a very fun day. I started off by going to take the Jameson whiskey distillery tour. It was interesting in that there was a live person explaining the distilling process. I was a bit disappointed though. Of the 40 or so people on my tour, the guide only picked 8 people to do a full tasting. Being from Tennessee, it seemed certain that i should be selected for this task. The volunteers were able to compare Jameson to Jack Daniels to Johnny Walker (while the rest of us ogled at them). At the end, the 8 participants received a diploma on being trained whiskey tasters. The whole thing was such a cool concept, but I think they should really rethink the 8 part. Everyone should get a tasting. If you come to Dublin and can go only with Jameson or Guinness, do the Guinness tour. Everyone gets to try everything there.

After the tour, I took a long walk. I stopped by Kavanegh's pub in search of food. I sat at the bar for a long while without being served. While I was waiting, I read through the tips on Foursquare and found that only men were supposed to be sitting at the bar at this old fashioned place. Eventually, someone came to tell me that they were no longer serving food. With that, I headed around the corner to a sandwich shop / cafe called The Mad Hatter.

After lunch, I checked out the Celtic Whiskey Shop. I was so impressed at the huge volume of different whiskeys they have there. There's even a big representation from Tennessee and Kentucky. They also had wines from all over the world. The only surprise was that they had no wine from California or anywhere in the US.

I also passed by a number of chocolate shops and candy shops. People really seem to love their sweets here. Below is another hot chocolate from today and an unusual drink I saw in a candy store. I made a quick stop at some point for a Guinness at the original Temple Bar. They had a live band that was playing Irish music-- until they switched to Johnny Cash. It never fails that I can hear music that sounds like home wherever I go.

For dinner, I went to an amazing fried chicken place called CrackBIRD. Apparently, the place started as a pop up restaurant, and has now bloomed into the real deal. I had chicken tenders and these little fried potatoes with a dip made with creamed feta. One of the things I've really loved about Ireland is their use of cheeses.

After dinner, I attended a salsa lesson put on by Salsa Dublin. It was a fairly large event with multiple levels of classes. It was all locals, but interestingly they were from all different countries. It reminded me a lot of the international crowd in Memphis (in fact a lot of things about Dublin have reminded me of Memphis). The class was fun and I had the chance to meet a few new friendly people.

I'm going to head out soon in search of a real Irish breakfast. Hopefully, I will finally be with the program today. I'm hungry.

A city after my heart

I have really fallen in love with Dublin. Although my flight out was yesterday, I opted to stay 4 additional nights. It's easy to get around, it's cheap, the people are super nice, and there's a big tech scene here. Who knew?

Nick left after St. Patrick's Day, so his Cambridge friend Sofia and I hung out yesterday. We walked miles around the city to see many sights including the jail (Kilmainham Gaol), the Irish Museum of Modern Art (they had another Picasso), St. Patrick's Cathedral, and Dublin Castle. We also had a number of amazing meals with hot chocolate and sushi. It was a very eventful day to say the least.

Today was a little less smooth. My original hotel had no rooms tonight and since I wasn't plAnning to stay, I moved to another hotel a 1/2 mile away. This seems close until you figure in the snow and the 45 lbs. of backpacks I was carrying. By the time I completed the move, my hip felt like it was on fire.

I've been trying to take it easy today so that I can rest up. For lunch, I went to a nice pub where I ate an amazing goat cheese / tomato / roasted red pepper soup. For dinner, I went to a tiny wine and pizza bar where the owner (who I suspect was my exact age) gave me tons of tips on the local bar scene. Tuesday is apparently the night to go out here.

Also today, I did a little shopping. I finally found a pair of boots. My shoes have been getting wet. It made me disappointed that I didn't bring my own boots, but the upside is that I now have a cool pair of boots... And an official pair of skinny jeans.

Last, I stopped by what I heard is a famous clothier to the stars (think Lansky's) call Copeland and brothers. I heard that I just had to check out this high end men's tailor. Sure enough, I got to meet the famous tailer, Louis Copeland, himself. Apparently his daughter lived for a short time In Nashville and he's visited Tennessee. He was so nice and we ended with him giving me his business card just in case I need something. I'm traveling alone again for a few days and this was another reminder of the positive things that happen when you're alone. People are so nice!

I don't think I've mentioned it yet... last year, I did quite a bit of genealogy research and found that most likely part of my family is Irish. A few times, people have thought I was Irish. That paired with the beer, all the goat cheese, and the friendly people inspired me to stay a little extra.

Well, I should go to sleep. Hopefully I will wake up rested. There's another big day tomorrow!

Happy St Patrick' Day!

I'm writing this post a bit late. Maybe it's a sign that St. Patrick's Day yesterday was great! Below is a quick post to recap the day.

I started off the day by going to the Guinness factory tour here in Dublin. I meet my brother Nick, his friend Sofia from Cambridge, and Kevin and Anna Ritz from Memphis. We took the tour together and it was a great time. We even went through the beer pouring school.

Afterward, we went to the St. Patrick's Day parade. It was much more manageable than the parade in NYC. I would recommend it.

Once the parade was finished, we want bar hopping for most of the day. We met up with a number of Nick's Cambridge classmates and somehow a number of folks from the Google Dublin office.

Here are a few photos from the great day we had. The first is the beautiful view from my hotel.

If you're going through hell, keep on going...

I debated between this blog title and "putting one foot in front of the other." I smile as I write this post as it was a great and yet crazy day. Very eventful.

This morning, Lisa and I headed into London for sightseeing. We checked out Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, The London Eye, and Buckingham Palace. It was a whirlwind of sights that was perfect. The one awkward thing-- due to my afternoon flight out, I carried the giant backpack everywhere. Fortunately Lisa carried the small one for me!

(We also saw the MemphisTravel.com taxi! Years ago, I used to do work on the website, so it was amazing to see the cab in London.)

As the day grew later, we jumped on the tube to head toward the Heathrow Airport. Since its the weekend, many trains weren't running in their typical patterns. After a few changes, we decided a taxi was in order due to time constraints.

On the way to the airport, I phoned a friend who asked surprised, "why are you still in London?!" This friend helped me book my ticket a few weeks ago. My itinerary said the flight was on British Airways out of Heathrow at 5:25 PM, so I was confused at first. My friend then let me know that although the British Airways flight was considered, it wasn't the one that was booked in the end. I had been scheduled on an AIR FRANCE flight out of London City Airport (not Heathrow) at ELEVEN AM! Holy cow, I thought. Not only did I miss my flight, but I'm heading to the completely wrong airport.

To solve my dilemma, I went to the Air France counter at Heathrow and explained that I had missed my flight and asked for help. The representative was very confused. Apparently Air France doesn't have flights to Dublin from there. My only options were to fly through Paris, or to get to the London City Airport and to fly from there-- both tomorrow. And both would be brand new tickets. That just wouldn't work as tomorrow is St Patrick's Day in Dublin. I had to get here sooner.

In the end, I got onto a later British Airways flight and I'm now in Dublin! My brother Nick met me at my hotel for dinner. Everything worked out and I had a nice day. In fact, I'm considering extending my time here. Today reminded me that sometimes you just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other... One step at a time... And hopefully, eventually, things will work out.