First night in Dublin

I was feeling very social as I arrived in Dublin.  I had spent the morning with Carly and Ben, I had plans to meet up with my friend Meredith from Fort Bragg (who I met in the Galway hostel) that night, I would get to see Ben and Carly the next day and then I would meet up with my Italian host sister on Sunday.

I spotted my buddy Daveed Diggs as I pulled my suitcase toward my new hostel (This is a Hamilton reference).

I arrived at my hostel with a full bladder.  When I was told that my room was on the 3rd floor (that’s European 3rd not US meaning the bottom floor is 0) and there was no lift, I had to make a pit stop on my way there.  Looking down from the top:

Up in my room I was delighted to find I had been assigned a bottom bunk (though it was the creeky kind) with 2 power points right by my bed.  Except the power points didn’t work.  There was a power strip across the room providing a charge for the 10 people staying in there.  I logged on to the wifi which would randomly go off and on.  After half an hour I’d uploaded one picture.  No blog writing this weekend!  I hit the streets to go meet Meredith.

I found the Molly Malone statue where we were to meet, acknowledged her exposed breasts and made a mental note to google her.

I appreciated my surroundings as I read my book, a murder mystery set in Dublin.

The guitarist started playing the theme to Game of Thrones and I was swinging in my happy place.  By the time Meredith arrived, I had a strong craving for a burger.  I found one covered in onion rings and sautéed mushrooms.  And yes, those are grilled veggies on the side.

Meredith had just gotten back from Belfast where she had done the same day trip to the rope bridge and Giant’s Causeway with the same tour guide that I had.  We compared notes, turned into a pub only to realize it was the same place she had gone when she first arrived in Ireland.  It was a serendipitous bookend, as she was going home the next morning.