Trip to Dublin of Ireland

Trip to Dublin of the Republic of Ireland

4th April, 01 (Wed) - Day One

Setting off

I got up from a three-hour sleep at dawn and caught the bus for the Manchester Airport on time.

It's the first time I took the flight since arriving in the UK last September. A bit nervous and excited. Looking forward to a great trip to a different country from England to escape from a bad weather.

The flight was full and a lot of Manchester United fans in red can be found at the airport and on our flight as the first leg of the quarter-final of Champions League between Manutd and Bayern Munich had been taken the night before (but I knew nothing about the result at the time).

In less than half an hour, we arrived at Dublin Airport. The weather at 9:30 a.m. in Dublin was surprisingly sunny. (but... see below) Our first destination was the hostel where we'd be staying for the whole trip. The first impression we got of Irish people was not bad as some people toldu s which bus to take and where to get off. Having dropped off our luggage in the storeroom of the hostel, which was just opposite to the megastore of Manchester United FC in Ireland, we started off our journey.

With lots of guides and maps we had got from the Tourist Information Centre, we first went to a wide range of shopping centres and had our first lunch with Irish sandwiches at the shop which later told us to leave since only those paying eat-in price could stay. Maybe that's the prologue to our experience in Dublin...

After a short walk in St. Stephen's Green, which may not be comparable with Hyde Park of London, we headed for the Trinity College, which is the sole college of the University of Dublin. The university was no different to any other UK universities seemingly. Perhaps it's a bit bigger and more concentrated than mine. I found it strange that there were still lots of students around the campus in early April, the time I thought many students were having their Easter holiday. Maybe it's only us in England who were enjoying ourselves.

It was not difficult for us to find out the location of the Book of Kells with the Trinity College, as one of the recommended tourist attractions, when we saw a small building surrounded by lots of easy-to-be-recognised tourists.

Our next stop took us almost an hour to find it out. We initially aimed at the National Museum, which was said to be located near the Trinity College. However, having asked many people and walked around the college for a few times, we still failed to locate the Museum and we instead entered the National Gallery of Ireland. Anything special about the gallery? Well, I don't remember much about it now...

We hurried into the Dublin Writers Museum before it was closed. James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift and Yeats, whom Irish people are pround of, are the names I got familiar with during my study in the English literature. The entrance fee was perhaps higher than ilts worth (in terms of facilities only). But for a lover of Irish literature, there's still something to see in the Museum with things like framed pictures and the scripts of those writers.

Our dinner was at a fast food shop on O Connell Street, called something like 'Eddie Eatery', which sold mostly US food like deep-fried chicken wings, hot dogs and hamburgers, characteristic of high calories and high cholesterol level. But taste and price were the first priorities for food in our trip.

We spent our first night with a guy from San Francesco and a short-haired girl. We didn't talk to the former and the only clue we could get about him was the newspaper in San Francesco near his bed, dated 15th March. He only talked to the girl who was nice to us.

The next day...

For photos taken during the trip, click here.

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It was last updated on 7th Sept, 2003.

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