Madison, Framingham invade Dublin

The myth is true: Guinness actually does flow through the streets of Dublin. You can get on your knees and slurp it up along the riverbeds.

Not really, but the Guinness in Dublin tastes much better than the Guinness in the States because they know how to take care of it properly. It honestly tastes more like a milkshake than a beer. And it’s everywhere; again, no myth.

The weekend went entirely as planned. There were close to 20 of us staying at Flannagan’s house (my friend from Madison, for those of you who don’t know). Yeah, it was a bit crowded, but well-worth the trip. Kids came from their cities abroad, plus Madison (spring break) to stay at Casa de Flano – which was a lovely house, just not built for 20 college kids; but we made do, with very minimal damage.

Thursday Tyler, Max and I got there and met the five that arrived early. We checked into Hotel Flanster, then went straight to the local pub to relive Flano’s childhood. Seven rounds of Guinness made for some interesting conversations that night. Welcome to Dublin.

Friday the rest of the Delta Upsilon crew came from Chicago, upping to total to about 20. Nick Kynoch flew in from Boston and after a genius Facebook wall post by me, a few emails from Mom and a Skype convo with his dad, I found Nick just blocks from Flano’s, no cell phone usage needed. Honestly, it was a miracle.

A group of us then went on a bus tour of the city, highlighted by a tour of the Guinness factory, which I’m told is the biggest brewery in the world. It was pretty cool. The Gravity Bar on the 7^th floor had a sweet, 360-degree view of the city and the surrounding mountains. Not much to see around the outskirts of Dublin, to tell you the truth, but it was cool, nonetheless.

(Not-so-quick aside: Dublin is on the east coast of Ireland and although it is rarely sunny and warm – although we had an unexpected amount of sunshine during our stay – it does have a beach-town feel to it. Believe it or not, there are a fair amount of palm trees and Nick kept saying it had a Nantucket feel to it, which I agreed.

Very quick aside: Little kids speaking in Irish accents are hilarious. British kids, too.)

Friday night we went to the Temple Bar area and went to a bar where they were playing traditional Irish songs. It was dripping with Americans wanting to celebrate Paddy’s Day – many of whom I knew – but there were plenty of real Dubliners there, too. Probably one of the most fun nights in recent (though sometimes foggy) memory.

Saturday, Ireland played Scotland in the Six Nations Cup, made up of those two, plus England, France, Wales and Italy. So we went back to Kiely’s Pub to watch the Irish beat the Scots in comeback fashion. They’re now 4-0, pending next week’s match against Wales, who is 3-1. Because of goal differential, Ireland has the Cup all but locked up but a perfect 5-0 tournament (they call it a Grand Slam) is a big deal, so of course this weekend will be interesting. Plenty of Guinnesses (Guinni, perhaps?) during the 5:30 match quickly transitioned into another eventful night in town. Nick ended up trying to put his license and his student ID in the ATM machine. Enough said.

Sunday, it was Framingham’s turn to invade Dublin. Nick and I met Tessa, Missy, Erica and Bridget – who were visiting Sam – at their nearby hotel. It was still Paddy’s Day weekend and they were chomping at the bit, so we took them into town as if we knew where the hell we were going. But we managed to do all right, grab some fish and chips, some more Guinness mixed with a handful of Jamison and gingers (had to keep it local). Another fun night in town; still plenty of people festively celebrating Patrick’s sainthood. Yesterday (Monday) we flew back to Prague, where the girls will meet us tomorrow.

Not exactly a trip filled with cultural, sightseeing experiences, but I wasn’t expecting that, given the situation. It was St. Patrick’s Day weekend in Dublin, Ireland. Honestly, what were you expecting? I think Barcelona and Italy in two weekends will be more of the touristy variety.

[More pictures coming (relatively) soon (hopefully). People blog, requested by Uncle Eric, coming later, too; plus probably some more random notes, as usual.]