What better way to celebrate Brad turning a frightful 27, than by spending a crazy night partying in the land of the Emerald isle - Dublin to be precise, or Dubh Linn as the old name would suggest. Who needs an excuse really to head over to what is one of the best cities, and a place we will frequent more than once in the very near future.
Our weekend began at 4.20am on Saturday morning as our alarm had us reaching for the lamp and dragging ourselves out of bed. It was wee Braddy's birthday and so he was met with a pile of gifts - a lovely start to the day!
Our flight was at 8am out of Stanstead (a mission of an airport to get to and as I type this I am on the bus back into London - a journey which will take 1.45 mins!) and we had booked a car to take us to the airport as with all five of us, it worked out to be just a wee bit more expensive than the train and obviously much more convenient. So off we set - Brad, Philly, Jess, Ryan and I on route to mighty Dublin, where we arrived at just after 9am and grabbed a cab to Barnacles hostel which could not have been at a better location.
Our first impressions of Dublin - while its certainly not the most scenic city, the cobbled alleys of Temple Bar and the traditional Irish music drifting out on to the streets, sung by handsome Irish men playing a multitude of instruments, more than made up for the slight lack of pretty buildings. WHAT A CITY! We literally had to drag ourselves to the airport after watching a handsome Scottish and Irish duo playing up a storm at a nearby pub. Us girls were giggling and blushing as they crooned and winked away - did I mention they were really handsome? Combined with the music, their accents and charming cheek they had all the girls in the bar (and most men probably) lusting after them well and truly. Even Brad was powerless to their charms! Jess in particular was very upset to have to leave as she was adament the black-haired, blue-eyed Scotsman was her perfect man! Particularly when he found out that she and Philly were from farms (which he was too), and he smiled his cheeky grin, started strumming his guitar and sung 'the farmer wants a wife!' I actually think I squealed with delight! I realise I have digressed significantly but honestly, this duo had to be seen to be believed!
And it's not just the men who were finer than fine, Irish people in general are just wonderful. Sure we saw a surprisingly high amount of drunk bums roaming the street, but we were also stopped by people asking if we needed directions, and greeted with smiles everywhere we went. Our taxi driver even spent the whole journey chatting, suggesting places for us to visit on our Christmas road trip - he even said the classic, 'good girl yerself' line I'd been dying to hear! The girls are just beautiful too - something which I don't think is widely known. They all have very dark hair, most often black, with porcelain skin and green or blue eyes. We did our walking tour today and our guide, Eileen, was beyond stunning. Combined with her accent and charm, she really was a lethal combination!
Now back to Saturday morning! After dropping our bags off at the hostel and meeting up with the others (Cookie and his two Irish friends from Northern Ireland, Craig and Davey), we went to the world famous Temple Bar for our first pint of Guinness - at 10.50am I might add! I braved the black tar with the boys, but soon opted out after a few pints. You've got to give these things a whirl after all! We then headed off to our tour of the old Jamesons distillery - Ireland's famous whiskey. It was very interesting and included in the ticket price (which we got free anyway thanks to Davey who knows a few people in the industry) was a free drink (Jamesons and Cranberry if you please). In addition a few people got to partake in whiskey tasting, and being Brad's birthday he of course was chosen as a tastee, as was our beloved Jess. They did well and emerged more chipper than ever, just in time for us to head off on our tour of the Guinness factory! We had discounted tickets to this thanks to Davey again, but included in the price was a free drink again so totally worth the euros. We had fun exploring the nooks and crannies before Brad and I stopped off at the Perfect Pint school, where we each graduated top of the class and have the certificates to prove it. There really is an art to pouring Guinness and we my friends, are artists! After consuming our works of art, we headed up the escalators to join the others who were cashing their vouchers in at the Sky bar, which is the highest point in Dublin and has 360 degree views of the city. Cookie had cottoned on to a sly game of targeting the older American tourists who had no desire for the black tar known as Guinness, and as a result we arrived to a table full of drinks. It was a great atmosphere and the bartenders even wished Brad a happy birthday over the microphones, which had people coming up to him all night wishing him a Happy Birthday! Bless.
After a good few hours, we walked back to our hostel seeing some pretty sights on the way. The boys headed straight to Temple bar (a pub, but also the name of the district), while us girls had a few drinks back in our room as we got changed. At 9pm we were on our way out when we bumped smack bang into Cookie coming up the stairs - my friends, this was the end of Cookie in Dublin! After walking the few steps to Temple Bar we picked up some pints and joined the live music madness - beyond wonderful! I couldn't help but think of my beloved family and how much you would have loved it! Here we stayed jumping and sweating, screaming along with the music with all the energy in the world, for the entire night! When the band finished at 2am it was very reluctantly that we went in search of food having not eaten since lunch at midday. Brad, drenched in sweat, was in desperate need of water, which meant I inherited his burger and fries as well as my own - jackpot!
I've never seen as many talented musicians than we did this weekend. Just one person was singing away, whilst playing the irish bagpipes, then stopping for a spin on the guitar or one of three different types of Irish whistles - just amazing. We could have easily stayed up all night screaming out requests and dancing away!
Our hostel, whilst being right in the action, also meant we had a restful sleep as the drunken revelry continued all through the night. A small price to pay though as you don't go to Dublin to sleep!
Today we were up chatting away at 7am, which was followed up with an Irish breakfast a few hours later. We then hit the free walking tour we've come to know and love. As I've mentioned, this didn't disappoint and even though we could only do half the tour (airport calls) we absolutely loved it - our guide was great and we managed to squeeze a bit of much needed culture into our weekend of mayhem.
We then had a spare half hour before we had to head to the airport, so we hit another local bar where we met the aforementioned delightful duo, who leave a loved up smile on our faces even now, several hours later! Sigh!
All in all, an absolutely fabulous weekend and one we will never forget. Over much too soon, but with many memories and funny stories to keep us going until our next visit.
Plus we only have two days work until we head off on our six day road trip through Europe, followed by a four day weekend in Poland. It's a hard life!
Xx
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