Dublin Tales

Dublin days have been great! The city is similar enough to London for me to be able to get around easily, but exciting enough to have lots to offer in terms of tourist attractions.

 

I spent a day doing the tourist blitz, including a stop at the infamous Guinness Brewery in Dublin. Apparently Arthur Guinness signed his lease for 9,000 years in 1759 so he must have known he was onto something good with his beer. I can probably count on one hand the number of pints (sips) of Guinness I've had in my life, but I have to say I really enjoyed my pint atop the Guinness storehouse looking out over Dublin. There are also so many writers that are from Dublin! It's the City of Literature because there have been so many famous playwrights and authors to come out of Dublin - James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Yeats, the list goes on.

 

I was really excited for my day trip to the Hill of Tara, that magical place, except that it got cancelled!! Instead I visited the Cliffs of Moher, which are apparently these super famous cliffs on the west coast of Ireland. At first I was like, ok, so they're some cliffs...good. But once we got there I was pretty blown away. Literally. It was extremely windy.

 

 

 

 

The cliffs were really beautiful and just a good reminder of how stunning the planet can be without mankind doing anything to it. Our tour guide also sang Irish folk songs to us on the bus so of course I fell in love with him immediately. I love hearing the stories of people's history and how things came to be in different countries, I think it's something that we may be lacking at home in Canada.

 

So I left Dublin with a tiny appreciation for the Irish country and culture, although a few days is such a short time to try and take it all in. Plus I had two Tim Horton's doughnuts in the time that I was there, so that's definitely a success.

 

I was looking out at the Cliffs thinking how strange it is that in one week's time I will be back in Canada trying to process and absorb everything that's happened on this crazy adventure. Back on the bus Joseph Mulligan (Irish tour guide) sang a song about coming home that really struck me (if you substitute Caledonia for Canada).

 

Let me tell you that I love you
that I think about you all the time
Caledonia you're calling me
now I'm going home
and if I shall become a stranger
no it would make me more than sad
Caledonia's been everything I've ever had