Quarter Century in Dublin

I turned 25 on the weekend. I didn't really do anything out of the ordinary... You see, international travel, seeing new places and things and enjoying the company of good friends has become sort of the 'norm' for me!
About a week or so before this one, Me, Dan and Michelle decided we would go to Dublin for the weekend. Dan lived there 8 years ago, Michelle was keen for a trip to an English speaking country for a change, I have often thought Ireland would be nice, and am always up for whatever is goin' down.

So we booked our cheap flights and off we went on Thursday afternoon from Eindhoven. We arrived and started down Dans memory lane. It was cool to have somebody familiar with the area. We got to our hostel, dropped off things and turned right back around to hit the town.

We made it to our first (of many over the course of the weekend) pub, and it was about as stereotypical and perfect as you could imagine. Friendly attentive bar man who knew everyones order, and had your new Guinness poured and settling before you've finished the current pint. A guy singing cover songs with his acoustic guitar, and the older women up dancing around the place singing along. 2 drunk older local men having stern words and threatening to take it outside, but the situation being calmly defused by the bar man. We watched it all happening from a nice perch at the bar.

Friday was spent walking the city, finding our next few nights accommodation (ended up about 25 mins bus ride from the centre), having a MASSIVE counter meal at a big pub (lamb roast, my first taste of lamb and my first roast since being OS - sooo goood) and then more drinking Guinness in the evening.Saturday we had a typical Irish breakfast (including black and white pudding, sausages, bacon, eggs and toast), went to the contemporary art gallery, an then headed out for the afternoon to Howth, about 20 mins on the train to the coast. What a lovely little town. So close to the city, but had the feel of somewhere like Bateman's bay. We went for a bit of a walk out along the cliffs and watched some porpoises in the sea as the sun was setting. Then back into Howth town for a birthday dinner at the local - yep you guessed it - pub. We watched the Gaelic football on the tellie and drank a few more - yep - Guinness', then worked our way back into Dublin to catch a bit of music and check out a few more of Dan's old haunts.Sunday we went to an area called Smithfield, because Dan remembered that on the first Sunday of every month there is a horse sale on, right in the main square surrounded by shops, houses, and the old Jameson Distillery. Pretty crazy, all the farmer types buying and selling horses for whatever reason, and people racing horses up and down the narrow streets.We had a few more hours of kicking about the city before making our way to the airport and could not have timed it for missing our plane any better. Ryanair have "the highest on time rate" for any Euro airline... and that must be cause they close their check-ins earlier than officially specified, and even though our flight was delayed by 30 mins, they still refused to let us on. Jerks. So we had to book another flight back (with another company) and apart from the extra cost, all was fine in the end, with us flying straight into Amsterdam and getting happily home for some well needed rest about 8pm.

Dublin was a great city, but it was also great getting back to Amsterdam. Riding my bike back to my apartment really reminded me that it is the smaller town pace I like, and I'm still very happy with my decision to call this place "home".