The country of whiskey and love

As promised, below you'll find Duane and Becky's guest post re: our weekend trip to Dublin and our first few hours in Oxford. Ready, go:

Dear Journal,
I'm shy. I don't know what to say. Please don't judge me.
Love,
Becky



Dear Europe,
Whatup from your crackers from the west.
Love,
Duane


For real now...

Today we made it to Oxford after our three nights at Avalon house with Gandhi's picture in the window (Becky: IT'S NOT GANDHI.... amanda concurs) and the creepy barbed wire convent across the street. Sounds weird, wasn't.

Our first day in Dublin, we received Tyra Mail number one for Dublin's top model (if you don't get it, start watching the CW stat) and hopped on the first bus to the hostel. We explored the neighborhood and had first dinner at Yamamori noodles, got delicious sushi and chicken and random beef and potatoes in a bento box.

(Becky and her bento. Also note the weird painting in the background)

Then we went back to the hostel and passed out for an hour and a half. Feeling re-energized, we headed out to the pubs, where we had our first Guinness of the trip and watched a rugby game at Hogan's pub. Truth be told, we were more interested in the hotness of the rugby players than the game itself.

(First beers of the trip at Hogan's!)

From there we went to Exchequer gastropub, where we consumed a MASSIVE and delicious cheese/meat platter (Duane: mmmmm), Becky had a blueberry beer thing, and Duane had a chocolate pomegranate cocktail and pistachio and olive oil cake with mystery berries. Afterward we went to the third pub of the night (we forget the name so you know the pub crawl was effective), where Amanda got pretty happy over some Bulmer's.
(Meat, cheese, and grapes at the gastropub)

Day two: Woke up in the morning feeling like P.Diddy. Bus tour day! Had our free breakfast next to not-Gandhi. Breakfast was starch and more starch, weird cereal, dry toast, and oatmeal. But free. First stop on the tour was Christ Church Cathedral and Dublinia, though we didn't go in either of them. Pretty nonetheless. Next up was St. Patrick's cathedral, which was good for a photoshoot outside (Duane crept around the park benches with his camera and got stuck on a children's slide), and we headed inside and explored the GORGEOUS building. Duane says he'd go to church more often if they were all that pretty.

(Outside of St. Patrick's with gorgeous sun and blue skies)

After our visit to the cathedral, we hopped back on the bus tour with a live guide, who was absolutely mad and great. We swerved down the streets around the Guinness factory (saw a creeper head in the window, picture to follow), drove through Phoenix park, passed the Jameson factory, headed down McConnell street and then got off at Trinity college. Tried desperately to warm up over lunch at the Brazen Head Inn, Ireland's oldest pub, established in 1198. Had FRIED BRIE-- go eat it now--(no picture to follow because we were too busy devouring it) and irish lamb stew with potatoes and mashed potatoes on top.

(Where the brie used to be)

(Meat, potatoes, and more potatoes)

Jumped back on the tour bus to the Guinness factory, where we learned how they brew it (blah blah barley blah hops blah water) and tried to choke down a pint of the stuff at the top. Mander broke hers into two half pints in the hopes it would help. It didn't. Becky challenged her to finish her second half before Duane, which resulted in a Guinness-chugging contest....revolting for all involved. Then elevator told us we were too fat. Thanks for a great time, Guinness. Slainte.

(Not a huge fan in the tasting room)

Post-guinness, it was nap time again. Woke up and went to a long, leisurely dinner at Jaipur, a Michelin-rated Indian restaurant in our neighborhood. Our night really started, though, when we went to the Dragon, the (in our humble opinion) hoppin-est gay bar in Dublin, if not the world (watch out, Necto. not that you were ever really in the running). There were men in neon green hot pants dancing, the decor was amazing, and glee was on tv. So to sum up, we found nirvana...but not in the lemondrop shots or the bartender's ignorance about how to make a strawberry daiquiri. Also: no Guinness, thank god.

(Duane creeping at the Dragon)

Day three (Sunday): After our night at the gay bar, we went to services at St. Patrick's cathedral, which was for all of us a highlight of the trip. We loved the choir (especially the cute, fidgety little boys), the candles, the relevance of the sermon (it's nice to hear about evil & peace and not, you know, gay bashing), but we did not love the kneelers. Ouch.

After church it was time for some shopping. We saw the (creeper) street performers on Grafton Street, picked up some souvenirs, Duane got mocked by a street comedian for being so obviously an American tourist (even with his Irish hat), and then had a subpar lunch at Abrakebabra. Then we went to Dublin castle, where we toured the palace and then went underground to see the remains of the powder tower and the bridge and moat and stagnant river Poddle (not poodle). The water is black and green, which somehow influenced an irish title duf lin (or something) which later turned into the anglicized Dublin. Fun fact.

(With a giant leprechaun creeping in the background)

Dinner was at an Italian restaurant called La Caprice. Ate lots of pasta and another (not as good) cheese platter (there were saltines?). Bought chocolate and vomitrocious jelly babies to take back to the hostel. Had an evening of ipod karaoke and mander passed out during the music but did wake up to sing backstreet boys. Quit playin' games with my hearrrrt...

(Another cheese platter, this time from La Caprice)

This morning had our last breakfast (extra toast, extra oatmeal) next to not-Gandhi, realized that our cereal bore an uncanny resemblence to tuna fish (thought thankfully not in taste), and peace out of Avalon house. We're not sure if we checked out, but we did drop our keys in a box on the counter.

(We made sure to take a picture of the mary poppins-esque sign on the bathroom door of the hostel before checking out. Questions: Why would you bring an umbrella into the bathroom? Is mary wearing clogs? What's happened to Bert's feet?)

bus-->airport ("lunch" of cider, tea, chocolate and baileys shots at the gate)-->plane (adorable creeper baby in front of us, but overall too many screaming children. we think they were communicating with each other, plotting our demise)--> heathrow (with nonexistant customs or passport check. did we sneak in unknowingly?)-->bus--> oxford. Dinner at Yo! Sushi, where Becky and Mander ate unspeakable amounts of sushi (10 plates each. in our defense, most plates only had two pieces on them and we hadn't eaten since starch-o-rama), went to the grocery store, and came back here. Are currently waiting for : bed from Kellogg, laundry to finish. Tonight we'll watch Chocolat, in keeping with the theme of our trip (there is no movie called cheese platter).

(On the way from Dublin to Heathrow)

Tomorrow we're off to Bath and Stonehenge for a day of touristy fun and creeping. Hoping the weather holds out, as we have not really seen rain yet, which is insane. We think it might be that we showed up at church on Sunday and this is like a gift with purchase. We'll take it.

Parting thoughts: can there be cadbury machines in the US? And giant kit kats. Duane says everyone is more fashionable, and everything in UK/Ireland is generally better. But the gaydar is having a rough time...he's hoping it means everyone is gay.

That's all. Team tahiti is OWT. Bye bye byeeeee.