I start getting used to the narrow roads here in Ireland! Sometimes I still wonder how bus drivers in Dublin are able to overlap his buses with another one coming from the opposite direction of the road. How do two buses fit in such a narrow width? Amazing!
 |
| A narrow road in Portmarnock, Dublin 13 |
We spent our last full day in Dublin yesterday before heading to Cork by train. Here I am now on the damn train doing a write-up. This two and a half hour ride on the Irishrail only costs 10 Euros, by the way, which is super cheap compared to those on the Eurorail. We made the reservation for this trip online on their web www.irishrail.ie. If you reserve online, a confirmation number will be sent to your email along with a receipt. Upon arriving at your point of departure, use one of the machines at the station to print your pre-booked ticket by punching in the confirmation number. Almost too easy to do, wouldn't you say?
Yesterday we started our day visiting the National Gallery (free admission), getting hot drinks at Costa, then headed to Nando's to get our peri-peri chicken lunch. Yeah, it's the same Nando's that they have in South Africa and the UK! Spent about 22 Euros for lunch, which wasn't bad. Nice thing about prices here is that tax is already included so you don't have to worry about adding it up to come up with a final number.
 |
| Me hanging out w/ a friend at Dublin Zoo :D |
Another thing I am starting to get used to here is the J-walking people frequently do in the city. You also see a lot of these in countries in the Southeast Asia (Indonesia including), but actually J-walking is not quite a culture in most places in the States. Hmmm.. I think in the US things are a little bit too neat, so that's probably why they don't really do it that much. LOL. Heck I don't know really. Guess I am just trying to sound like a smart-ass here. LOL.
Anyhow, the way I view things in the States is that they are reproductions of things in the Europe. As a result, there are not much of a character left there. Of course this is just my own opinion and is subject to faults! However, I can come up with an example. there are places in the US where you can find towns created to resemble those in the Europe.. such as this Bavarian (German) town located in Leavenworth, WA. This type of place looks too perfect because it's artificial. Not sure if you know what I mean but I hope you do, if not now then one day. As I look around the Portmarnock neighborhood while riding bus number. 32 on the way to downtown today, I realized how interesting the neighborhood here is. They certainly don't look artificial. Well, they're the real thing, obviously.
 |
| Some crocodile at the damn zoo |
We got a chance to make use our Dublin Pass yesterday by visiting the zoo! Not as cool as the one in Berlin -cuz there's no panda haha. They actually have a few pandas, but the red ones. They're smaller than the Chinese black and white pandas and are not as cute. They're okay though. We arrived at the zoo (rode the green tour bus and got off at the stop just accross the street from the Duke of Wellington monument) only an hour before closing so we didn't get to see the entire place. Not enough time! That's probably why I came with a conclusion of it being not as cool as the one in Berlin, where we got to see Chinese pandas and Canut the famous bear.
 |
| Saw this cool light-structure on my way to Henry St |
Oh hey, speaking of the (1st) Duke of Wellington.. If you haven't come accross his name, this noble man happened to be the one who defeated Napoleon Bonaparte at the battle of Leipzig, Anyway, I always thought that he's a Brit -prior to visiting Ireland- since Great Britain seems to take a great pride in him for having defeated Napoleon. I visited his statue while strolling along the Hyde Park in London back in Spring 2010. A brave man he is.
Gahhh.. the post is too long, eh? I guess I am gonna wrap it up now. By the way, our train is approaching Cork! I just finished my lunch and am thinking about the Chinese food we had last night. We went to this Chinese buffet on Henry St. They only charge 6.99 Euros per person. Hell of a deal.
Cheerio!
Comments
Post a Comment