Asia/Europe Travels 2008: Kuala Lumpur Thailand Laos Vietnam Germany Austria Prague (Czech Republic)
Poland Vilnius (Lithuania) Riga (Latvia) Berlin London (UK) Amsterdam (Holland) Dublin (Ireland) Hamburg

Dublin (Ireland)

Sun 23rd Nov - Dublin

Awaking at about 9.30am I had the free cereal and checked emails. Kristy was online too for the first time since I had been away, so we tried out Skype, and it worked a treat. My new slightly broken headphones came in handy too. At about 11am I gathered my things and went back to the hostel I thought I had booked into the first night. They held my stuff and pointed out all the places on a map I could walk to.

I first wandered though the castle although without paying for a guided tour there was not much to see. Next on the agenda was Trinity College. This place was pretty sweet, and there were lots of cool buildings to meander through. I then went though the main park and gardens which were stunning, and even got to see a moat with a bunch of swans/pigeons and other birds in. From the park I walked through town and saw an Irish band playing some sort of Irish Christmas music with fully dressed Santa elf thingos. Kind of weird mix between Christmas and elves. I then ended up at the Viking exhibition which was really good. It only took about an hour to get through, was very interesting and only cost about 5 euros. Finally it was time to do the number one tourist attraction, the Guinness Factory. This was really interesting, with about 8 levels to explore. I must admit that some of the information seemed to be nothing more than propaganda, still the history of Guinness was well explained and I found the whole place very interesting. At the top you get a pint of Guinness with your ticket, and it tasted really good. Certainly the difference between the stuff we get in Australia could be noticed.

Finally I headed back to the hotel and caught up with more friends. We checked out an Irish pub just down the road at what I think is the actual Temple Bar. It is confusing because the name Temple Bar refers to the suburb not just the bar. The Irish band was really good playing a mix of jigs and reels. They had fiddle, guitar and accordion and the energy they played with got everyone clapping and foot stomping. I suddenly felt I was at a festival again. We had tea at the same place, and this time I tried the local Beef and Guinness pie, which was both filling and tasty.

Mon 24th Nov - Glendalough

Today I decided to do a day trip to Glendalough to see some of the country side. I made it to the tourist office at about 9.30am and met our tour guide Ed. They were low on numbers today as it was Monday and the forecast was for terrible weather. There was another tour group with only one person aboard, so he jumped on our bus and we had about 12 which was a good sized group in the end. After picking up everyone, we headed out of town, past Bill Clinton's cousins bar, into the hills with views back over Dublin. I really enjoyed a the change to city living that we had been experiencing recently.

Ed told us all about the history of the Viking invasion, how the English played a role in shaping Ireland, and the family links various countries have to the place. Many were shipped to Australia to the penal colonies hundreds of years ago, so some of the Irish names are still around today. There were also a lot of Irish descendants in America, so every so often there is someone on Ed's tour getting in touch with their family history. We passed the lake where Mr Guinness has his property, which we were told was recently rented out to Michael Jackson.

We also passed the home where Oscar Wilde grew up. Just over the ridge was the lake where he learnt to sail a boat and swim. Near that was the house of the manager of U2, and not far after that the house of two time Oscar winner. Soon the bus passed through the fields where Braveheart was filmed and parts of Bally Kiss Angel. Interestingly Bally means town in Gaelic, and Kill means church. (i.e. Kill Kenny is the church of Kenny)

There was also the bridge out of a scene in another movie, and later on an old Lead Zinc mine which had been the setting for parts of Reign of Fire. So in short, we felt like we were in the land of the stars. Apparently a lot of film producers, directors and musicians had been attracted to Ireland because of the tax breaks for projects of the 'arts'. Basically anything to do with art and music was considered tax free. Recently this has changed however and only projects up to a certain amount are tax exempt. A lot of producers and musicians have since moved to Holland as a result but still come back home to Ireland.

We had lunch at a little restaurant and I had the reasonably priced soup and then we went to the new church of Kevin. Apparently all the Kevins in the world came from this name origin. We also went to the old church of Kevin, which was in ruins after the Viking invasions. The site had since become a graveyard with hundred of crosses. We saw some of the oldest graves which were covered in grass with a small stone placed where the head of the body was laid marking the location. Later this became bigger and more elaborate until someone decided they could start writing stuff on the stone. This is where the term head stone came from. I could write a book on what we learnt that day, as Ed was a very informative guide.

Lastly we had a look at the loch, or large lake Glendalough was famous for and we had a chance to take some photos of the picturesque setting. Finally we headed back into Dublin as it was getting dark and I returned to my hostel. When I got into my room I noticed that my pack had gone, so went to reception to ask about its whereabouts. They thought it was strange that it would disappear, but asked housekeeping who thankfully had put it aside. Maybe they thought I was due to book out, as I had originally only booked the first night. I met a girl called Rosie from New Zealand who was keen to get some food and drinks with me. After dinner we also met more random people from our hostel room and suddenly we had a group of about 5 of us keen to have a big night out. We checked out Temple Bar again where they had a different band playing and then went to two more bars as each closed down. The last one we were at again had a live band who were absolutely amazing. They played jigs and reels and looked like they were having the time of their lives. Eventually we headed home at about 2am in good spirits.

Tue 25th Nov - Dublin to Hamburg

Having not checked my flight details, I woke up and quickly found the receipt to find that the flight left at 11.30am. It was already 9am so I hurriedly packed my stuff, grabbed some bread and asked how to get to the airport. The shuttle bus was just down the road and left every 20 minutes. I just missed the first bus but the second came within about 5 minutes so I was in luck. It wasn't too far to the airport so I was all checked in and ready for boarding with about an hour to spare. So much for being in a rush. To add to this, our place was delayed 15 minutes due to snow in Hamburg that morning. Still eventually we were airborn and off to Hamburg. The views out the plane window were stunning, especially as we approached Hamburg as the ground was covered in snow. The shuttle bus from the airport to Hamburg central took about an hour and cost 9 euros, one of the downsides to the cheap flight to Hamburg. It was a pleasant trip however as the sun set on the way back. At the central station I found an internet cafe and worked out how to get to the hostel which I knew was not too far away. A short walk away and I was home, with a hot shower and space to spread out. I even had some really nice room mates from Canada.

In the evening I had a look around Hamburg. It looked so different at night all lit up with fairy lights for Christmas. There were little markets in several sections I walked through which reminded me of Oktoberfest in Munich. I had some awful dumplings which made my stomach do somersaults. I kept walking getting lost a few times, and having to work out where I was on the map. At one point I walked through an entire showgrounds with roller coasters and other rides. It was almost like a ghost town though as there were very few people there. No queue's for these rides. I think as it was so cold, everyone was staying in doors tonight. I checked out a few bars and had a beer at one, but returned home as things seemed pretty dead tonight. The walk back was eerie, walking along one of the main streets and only seeing about 5 people the whole way home. You can continue reading on the Hamburg (Germany) page.