Buses, Ferries, and Edinburgh crawling

We had seen a good bit of Befast and so we departed for Edinburgh. It was going to be a long travel day so I got up and ran a quick 5 miles down the River Lagan the opposite direction I had gone the day before, which ended up being far less scenic (pretty much industrial wasteland) than the huge nature reserve I had discovered before. Either way, it got me up and prepared for the 8 hours of travel to come...

When I booked the cross-channel express (bus and train) rather than a short 45 min flight, I had mostly money in mind. However, it ended up being an experience that Ruth and I both enjoyed more than flying. The first part of the trip after a short bus ride to the harbor was a Stena Line ferry across the Engligh Channel to Scotland. This was basically a luxury cruise complete with on board restaurant, free hot drink refills, and most importantly, WiFi. We were able to blog and catch up on Facebook because of this. We also got some nice pictures on the deck as we neared the Scottish mainland. After leaving the ferry we jumped on the second threeish hour bus part of our trip. This part was even better than the last because we got to be entertained, see scenic views, and then rest up. First, we laughed at the antics of a Scottish family consisting of drunken father, toothless mom, one tooth grandfather, and 5 kids who enjoyed saying foul words just to get one their mum's nerves. Just when we were starting to get a bit annoyed by this scene and the noise, they got off at one the first stops and we were left to our iPods and Scottish countryside. We passed pictureque coastside towns, many of which seemed to have more sheep and cows than people. It was incredible to see the history, castles and old buildings, interwoven with the more modern architecture. Ruth slept a ton on this ride and I could have done more had I not been distracted by the window views. As we passed through Glasgow, Ruth and I agreed even before seeing Edinburgh that it was a really good last minute audible from Glasgow. Glasgow just looked far to modern and gigantic to really see and appreciate in 3 days.

Immediately upon arrival to Edinborugh bus stations, Ruth and I were blown away the beauty of the buildings, parks, and castle on the hill. Personally, I had not seen any other city like it save for maybe Florence, Italy. A short walk through the center of the city and we reached our hostel, St. Christopher's, directly above a bar! Of course, the first thing on our mind was food followed by drink so after dropping our stuff in our room upstairs, we shared some nachos in the bar downstairs with Ruth's student discount (we found out that this is a great meal for us to share since Ruth loves the really cheesy top chips and I prefer the less cheesy bottom ones to dip in assorted toppings). Again, we were just in time to get over to the hostel pub crawl that started up the street from us. Upon entering the first bar, the rain started to pour and was unrelenting throughout the night. Gladly this didn't stop us from having a really excellent time. We met some interesting people and made some fun memories. For times sake, I will just mention the highlights (in order of occurrence):
1. Meeting a couple who had just graduated from Chico State and staying at our hostel. We even stumbled back home at the end of the night with the and they gave us a preview of the walking tour along the way.
2. Meeting Adit from India and Anthony from Singapore. Adit thought that a tour group from Indiana was actually from India and got really excited for a minute. Anthony expressed upon us that in Singapore you can be hung or whipped for possessing marijuana (yea, harsh right?).
3. Seeing a scary lead singer woman from a rock band performing in one of the bars and calling me our in a songs as I took a picture.
4. Seeing a midget almost throw down a drunken group of male macho tourists for making fun of him on the dance floor.
5. Attempting to hit on a 25 year old French woman by using my French...fail.
6. Ruth and I both lifting up a barrel in an Irish bar to the dare and chants of "USA!" from a group of Irish guys. Needless to say, the bartender was not a fan of this.
7. Drunkenly cheering on the 2am breast cancer walk on our way home from the crawl.

The Troubles, the Titanic, & the Old Irish men

This was definitely my best night's sleep yet as I got 8 solid hours and was up right at my 7am alarm to get in a run before our only full day in Belfast.
I headed out for my run with some great soggy mist conditions and ran an easy 4 miles down the River Lagan into a beautiful nature preserve before turning around. The greenery was just magnificent! I got back and got Ruth up so that we could make the most of the day. We decided to do a highly recommended Black Taxi tour of the city's murals. We were so lucky that we did this as we received an insiders perspective of Belfast's Troubles from 1967 to 2001 when the peace treaty was signed. Our driver, Shamus, had lived through the entirety of this time and, despite being a Republican Catholic, exposed us to and explained murals on both Republican and Loyalist sides of the Peace Wall. The most powerful moment came when he began pointing to people on a memorial wall that he had known and worked with (6/8 taxi drivers and others including his wife's father). He even shared that his wife had been shot but luckily survived. When I asked him how he lived through this fear of death on a daily basis he responded that he didn't live in fear since it was "just normal for him" until it really ended in 2001. I left the tour with a sense of just how much bloodshed politics and religion, especially when they are linked, can cause even in a relatively small city like Belfast.

Shamus was nice enough to drop us off at our next destination, the Titanic museum, for just a few extra pounds. This museum had just been redone to the nth degree with, clearly, tons of financial backing. The exhibits walked through the beginnings of Belfast industry to the intricate details of building the Titanic, to its eventual collapse and discovery deep underwater. I really enjoyed the stunning use of technology as a learning tool throughout, including surfaces and touch screen visuals (I know...I'm a geek ;)

After spending a solid 3 hours at the Titanic Belfast, Ruth and I meandered back towards the hostel to rest before going out. While back, we finished watching Finding Nemo on the iPad (cute movie) and got recommendations from our main man Greg about good Pubs in the area, which he was more than happy to talk my ear off about. We set off to check out the closer pubs that he recommended.

The first pub was in a back alley and already filled to the brim with what looked like older Irish locals getting hammered at 7pm on a Friday. We took a walk through the pub but saw no tables and felt quite unwelcome/out of place here. Thus, we headed to the next pub, one that was not even on the tourist map but had been highly recommended by Greg. Maddan's didn't look like much from the outside as it sat quietly in a back alley with just one smoking man out front. At first, we couldn't even get in but the smoking man helped us by ringing the buzzer on the door (wow quite a secret place we have here!). Upon entering we found a few locals, a big screen showing the Russia vs Czech Republic Eurocup game, and a really nice atmosphere. We sat down on some stools to have a HARP ale and watch the game but before long we had struck up an animated conversation with two experienced street performers, Mike (from Wales) and Thomas (from Ireland). They were a "real kick in the pants" as they spoke with us about dogs, American sports, and even a bit of American politics. Mike aided us in bashing the Seahawks and their horrific track record while Thomas told a fairly tasteless joke about Obama and Palestinians (we definitely sensed his British loyalist political views). Two drinks down and 2 hours later, Ruth and I were getting tired and hungry despite the entertaining conversation. We bid "Cherrio" to our new friends and head out in search of some food. Unfortunately, none of the pubs or restaurants were open at 9pm (we found they eat and party much earlier here than in Spain or other parts of Europe) so we ended up in the large Americanized mall called Victoria Square. Here we found the good ole TGI Fridays on the top level. We chowed on mozzarella sticks and beef wraps while surfing Facebook on the free WiFi. After dinner we were both tired and, despite the urge to hit more pubs on our last night in Belfast, we elected to go back to sleep. We knew we had a long day of bus & ferry travel to Scotland tomorrow.

Overall, our time in Belfast had been short but we got to do basically all the things we wanted, from the murals to titanic to pubs, and were still able to rest up for raging in Edinburgh.

Hitting the ground running in Dublin...I mean stumbling

To start off, when I imagined what it would be like our first day in Dublin, I never thought Ruth and I would be able to accomplish as much as we did in 24 hours. The main reason that we were able to do so well immediately was that we jumped on opportunities that sounded interesting even if we were a bit tired/jetlagged. I guess this is how life is in general though...

Upon a beautiful arrival into Dublin, after passing over lush green fields with the Coldplay song "Paradise" ringing in my iPod headphones, we made our way through security with the hoards of other American college age tourists. I couldn't help but notice that we looked less like tourists than most because we didn't wear Boston Celtics gear or ALL green attire. We instantly felt welcome when the security officer joked about the length of Ruth's travels this summer. This would be a taste of later warm interactions with the Irish. After grabbing our bags we jumped on a cheap 2 Euro bus to the Temple Bar where our hostel was located. We were lucky enough to get there just in time for a free walking tour of Dublin put on by many of the local hostels. Our tourguide, Eileen, was cute and sharp brunette from the south of Ireland with with a real passion for Irish history and the humor within it. Her wit and stories kept Ruth and I awake and interested, quite a feat, for the entirety of the 3 hours. She told stories about Prison escapes, Irish rebellions against the British, and the occasional reference to Jonathan Swift's baby-eating "Modest Proposal" after passing his birthplace. Our tour was nicely broken up by a stop at the Old Storehouse pub where Ruth and I shared Irish coffee (alcohol and coffee do mix!) and a Guinness pint (first of many). We chatted with two sisters from Penn State and Illinois, Amanda and Callie, along with Will from Indiana. These guys would become our friends that would later join us on the epic pub crawl. The tour ended in St. Stephens Green, a park in the middle of South Dublin, where a 10k walk for cancer was just getting going around 2:30pm. Over the buzz of people entering the park, Eileen told us a heartfelt story about Michael Collins, from her hometown, and how he helped bring about Irish independence. Overall, the tour was quite useful in getting a feel for the the city and it's history in the scheme of Ireland's as a whole.

Next, we dragged ourselves through the 10k crowd to collapse in our hostel for a 2 hour "phat nap" before the night's festivities. I was going to get up and run but elected to take the time for extra sleep and a shower after a lot of walking during the day. This will not become the norm...I promise you that my fellow runner critics! Feeling quite refreshed on this beautiful 60 degree and sunny evening, we made our way to a back alley Cappuccino bar with croissants for Ruth and a chicken sandwich for me. Upon filling up for the forthcoming night of drinking, we made our way to the first pub where we would start our hostel pub crawl...

The names of the pubs we went to and even the types of alcohol consumed are quite irrelevant (and honestly I couldn't tell you from memory ;) but what really stood out were the people we met and the experiences we had last night. First off, our pub tour guide was a real "boss" and made it his mission to get all the tourists in the group pumped up for the next bar. At our final bar, he even socialized with us telling us the hilarious story of how he just witnessed two bitchy American girls complain about a drunk Irishman hitting on them, resulting in him being kicked out of the bar! No wonder we Americans get such a bad reputation. Speaking of American reputation, we had the opportunity to play beer pong in the bottom of an Irish pub in what turned out to be a real American frat party, Irish style. There were even some University of Maryland frat stars to get overly pumped up when they made a cup. Definitely the best friends we made last night were two 28 year old women from Toronto and a brother/sister from Indiana named Matt and Jessie. Jessie was celebrating her 26th birthday and wanted to do it "real big" in Ireland. I can confidently say that she accomplished that with some help from Ruth, who became her Irish dancing buddy in each bar mwe stopped at. By the end of the night it was clear that both were enjoying each others company immensely despite the malmost 8 year age difference. I will say that Ruth also earned some serious stripes as a "wing man" in this particular situation. That being said, I rewarded her with a taxi ride (rather than long walk) and some late-night munchies cheese pizza when she said that she was hungry and about to pass out. Passing out is exactly what we did, especially with the discovery of 2 new roommates in our hostel room when we returned.

Great day, great night, no complaints. If this sets the tone for the rest of the trip, Ruth and I are in for a real treat!