Yay! Got Something Gallagher!

The Dublin Bus

Second day in Dublin yesterday and it was terrific! We were able to get some quality sleep the night before -thank God! Hopped on the Dublin Bus using our Dublin Bus Pass at 12.30 pm; It’s very convenient as the bus stop’s located on the street right outside our hotel complex. It takes about 45 minutes to get to the city center. A bit out of the way I know, but the hotel is located by the Irish Sea and the view is gorgeous. Can't complain more for the money either.

Speaking of our hotel, by the way, the rate we got didn’t include breakfast so I’ve been getting breakfast from Marks & Spencer’s food hall. Marks & Spencer is a premium department store in the EU (we came across their stores in Paris and London as far as  I can recall), which also has grocery section. They have a good variety of ready-to-eat packed meals that taste just FABULOUS. I grabbed ’three beans in vinaigrette dressing’ and also some (bow-tie) pasta dish with spinach and pine kernels coated in in pesto dressing the other night and gulped them for yesterday morning’s breakfast. They’re so good that I wish Marks & Spencer would expand to the States!

Aren’t you curious with the title? Bet you are…slightly..:D

Took this near the Guinness Storehouse on James St. Went on their tour with Glen & Kate. Guinness is that national beer the Irish' proud of!

Well,.. I got super excited upon finding this really cool souvenir store called Carroll’s at the Center of Dublin. Went there twice today (at two different locations downtown) and got a few junk. Souvenirs are not exactly cheap there (spent 53 Euros, which is about equal to 75 USD XD) but most of the stuff are really cute! I particularly like the Wacky Woollies (they’re stupid-looking sheeps) items. Errr.., so what then with Carrol’s ? Did I meet one of the Gallaghers there or what? I wish haha! The matter of fact was actually I found a bunch of pins with Irish surnames written on it, and Gallagher was one of them! Got the blimmin’ thing and it made my day! Silly, isn’t it? You probably think that I got excited over nothing XD.

One of the highlights of the day would probably be the Wax Museum. The damn museum is educational, Mate; I mean, compared the one in NYC -which is full of blimmin‘ Hollywood stars. I’d also say it’s more national as it mostly depicts events in the Irish history (I like to think there's some interest in having it done this way), things like the Great Famine and also a few of the many risings and rebellions that broke during the British ruling over the land. Man, looking back into history of such really makes me feel grateful that I was born when world’s a much better and safer place. I really really am one lucky fellow!

Carroll's my favorite :)

Took this stunning view of Dublinia (left) & Christ Cathedral (right) fr the upper deck of Dublin tour bus.

Anyway, the most scary thing about the Wax Museum was this thing called ‘horror chamber’, where one of the wax figures (Serial killer Buffalo Bill from ‘Silence of the Lambs‘) started to move as we approached the dude. I literally ran off! Google up about this Buffalo Bill guy. Such a weirdo.

Love this pasta dish from Marks'

Ahhh…another great thing that happened today was that a friend of mine Kate flew from London to spent her 24 hrs in Dublin and meet up with me and Glen. We strolled along Dublin City, had dinner at Wagamama (some Asian fusion restaurant, dishes are ranging from 11 to 18 Euros each and they taste alright). Wrapped up the day having hot drinks at a coffee shop called ‘Accent’. I find hot chocolate here in Dublin pretty decent! They’re even better than Starbucks. We had an afternoon cup of hot drink at another shop called Costa and my hot chocolate was superb. Nice thing about Dublin, by the way, is that I don’t see too many big franchises here Well, saw a couple of Burger Kings, McDonalds, and Starbucks, But there were only about two of them each around the Center of Dublin. They’re not mushrooming the way they are in the US. I can see a good chance for local businesses to survive better here in Ireland, as they do in other Western European countries like France and Netherlands.

Getting my hot chocolate at the moment at Costa and will be waving Kate a good bye in a bit. She's planning to return to the States (already!) this August -she was just there last year in July.

Hope your day is going awesome like mine. Cheers!