Jan 02 2010

Day 4: New Year’s Day and onward to Deutschland

Today started off with a bit of waiting. While waiting for the bus, we killed some time around noon in the little diner-style restaurant adjacent to the hotel. The bus schedule was the same as the Sunday schedule since it was New Year’s Day. This meant that they came only once every thirty (pronounced “tirty,” as in rhyming with “dirty”) minutes instead of every ten. Anyway, due to the inclement weather in the area, the buses didn’t run at all. We ended up taking a taxi to the airport instead.

The bad weather in Dublin caused all the flights to be delayed throughout the day, but by the time we arrived, the weather had cleared up (and it was beautiful outside). Our flight was only delayed by an hour, and that is because the plane (or airbus) was delayed in Scotland on its way to us. Anyway, Dublin International Airport operates really smoothly and efficiently. They also have a mall inside, but alas, I did no shopping.

We arrived in Düsseldorf at around 21:30 local time. I then had to locate a phone to call for the shuttle to the car rental place. All the phones in the airport are pink and sport that big, beautiful “T” on them for T-Mobile (which is owned by Deutsche Telekom). Everything went smoothly with the car. It is an awesome Fiat Panda, and it’s bright orange. The nice things are that it is a manual, it runs diesel fuel (which costs less per litre), and it gets excellent fuel economy. It also has a GPS unit with the maps for Europe preloaded.

The hotel (Hotel Artus) is absolutely incredible! It is in what seems to be a home, and it has a cultural feel and cosiness that chain hotels don’t. It is truthfully more like a bed and breakfast. We were greeted by the owner right when we walked into the building, and he was dressed quite formally. The room is very nice, and the light switches are too cool. They are big squares that tilt up and down to turn the lights on or off, respectively. Oh yeah, and there is free wifi. 😀

The only unfortunate part of the day today was that we arrived in Germany so late that the only place open was McDonalds. 🙁 One interesting thing about the McDonalds though, is that it is on the bottom floor of the biggest, most luxurious BMW dealer I have ever seen.

Jan 01 2010

Day 3: New Year’s Eve

The day started out with a trip on Dublin Bus to the City Centre. From there, we took a bus tour of the city, visiting about twenty points of interest, including Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, and the Guiness warehouse. It was quite cold outside, and there were patches of rain, sleet, and snow. During one of the stops on the tour, we went into this little coffee shop and had some tea and hot chocolate. I had wildberry tea with a little cream and sugar; it was excellent! We didn’t have the opportunity to get off at many of the stops on the tour because it got dark quickly. Seeing the City from the bus was a great experience nonetheless.

On the way back to the hotel, we hopped on the wrong bus. I was under the impression that we needed to take the 41, (and we did), but apparently the 41c is not the same. We ended up having to get off that bus and wait for the 41 to come back to pick us up.

I hadn’t been able to take any photographs because the battery cover for my camera wasn’t on. I usually have the battery grip installed, but the camera wouldn’t fit in the bag with the grip on it. However, I couldn’t find the battery cover before I left home. Once back at the hotel, I realised where I left the cover. There is a little slot on the battery grip for the cover. On the Canon website, there is a little blurb that essentially states that the slot is there so one will not forget the location of or misplace the battery cover. Uh-huh.

Not thinking that it was New Year’s Eve and that most restaurants would be closed, we were relegated to eating at this Chinese place in Swords. It was mediocre, and stupidly expensive, but it filled the hole. One thing worth mentioning is that I ordered a Thai roll for a starter, and that it was not like any roll I’d ever had. Instead of having the usual myriad vegetables wrapped up in wanton paper and fried, it was a gigantic prawn crammed into the wanton paper. It was not enjoyable.

With dinner out of the way, the real fun started. We went up the street to a pub called The Cock Room, but it was very busy so we continued walking. We ended up at this pub–not sure of the name–and had a few drinks to bring in the new decade. They had the strongest margaritas known to man, and the nastiest tequila imaginable. I also had a few sips of a Guinness before I decided that there was just no way. We met some interesting fellas there, who told us lots of things about life in Ireland. After that pub closed at around 01:30, we went with them down the street with them to a club. We didn’t end up leaving that club until around 04:30, and we decided we would walk back to the hotel. It wasn’t that bad of a walk, and the streets were bad so there weren’t many cabs available anyway. Again with the crazy Irish weather, the sky opened up and rained vanilla Dippin’ Dots on us. It was this strange psuedo-snow that I had never seen before. Got to sleep around 06:30, and thus ended New Year’s Eve and started 01 January 2010.

Dec 30 2009

Day 2: Oh the weather outside is…

We safely arrived at Dublin International Airport at 09:05 local time. Fortunately, we asked a man at the tourist desk what the best method of travel would be to get to the hotel. He told us a taxi would cost about €12-15, but that the bus would only be about €2 per person. We hopped on a bus. However, it cost us €5 euros total because we didn’t have any smaller denominations.

Then disaster struck…not really, but it could have been tragic. I left my laptop and book up on the shelf above the seats. The receptionist at the hotel found the number for the bus company, and the lady there said she would “ring me back” shortly. The bus driver found my netbook and said he would be back at that stop in about 20 minutes. Standing outside waiting for the bus to return, I readily realised how awful the weather was. It wasn’t all that cold (approximately 5 degrees), but coupled with evil sleet/rain and the 2670 kmh gale-force winds (slight exaggeration) it made for a not-so-nice waiting experience. The umbrella served absolutely no purpose as the wind mangled it like a crash-test dummy being slammed into a wall in a shopping cart.

After a brief nap, we chose to go to the neighbouring town called Swords Village. A man outside the hotel was kind enough to let us share his taxi, as he was headed to the same place. We then asked a couple of the locals about a decent place to eat. A pub called The Star came recommended, so we stopped in. I had a pasta with “pesto sauce,” which was really a cream sauce with onions and mushrooms (no pesto whatsoever). It was pretty tasty. For desert, I had a slice of apple pie with cream. This apple pie had crust more like bread pudding, and it was delicious.

The last fun bit of the night was when I attempted to get a cab back to the hotel. I lightly tapped on the window of the taxi, and asked the driver if I could get a ride. While on the way back, he informed me that asking for a “ride” is very much a proposition, and that I should next time ask for a “lift.” I’m reminded of my many adventures speaking Russian and saying inappropriate things unknowingly. 😉