First Day in Dublin

We didn't go to class on Wednesday and made our way down to Pisa early so we could check out the leaning tower and everything else Pisa has to offer. Turns out that its not really that much. The tower was cool and we took the typical corny tourist pics, then we decided to get more creative. We got to the airport and figured out all of our plane stuff, Ryanair is a lot more legit that I was told it was, just very low frill. The flight was good, I got cognac in a baggie, which was two for one. It was almost as bad as the Absinthe I drank. I could barely choke it down. We got to Dublin and found our hostel, called The Shining. Not very promising. The lady at the front desk was cool though, our room has 18 beds in it but for the most part we have our own room because it is split in half. I got top bunk. We went out and got Tex-Mex, and man everything is so expensive here. Hanks and I decided that since there isn't really traditional Irsih cuisine that we would just buy some bread and nutella and live off of that, and that is all I have eaten so far.
When we woke up the next day, we had a full day planned. Hanks and I went to Trinity College and checked out the Book of Kells, which is an ancient manuscript written in the 9th century. There was a really cool exhibit in front of that that showed how they bound and made all of these books and with the history of influences on Irish style. At the end was my favorite part, the Long Library of the college, which was amazing, I would suggest that you look it up online because it was like the ideal library. We then met the girls, who did not share our enthusiasm for books, at Dublin castle, where they reserved us a spot on the last tour of the day. It was really cool and our tour guide was funny. He took us through the mediocre past of Irish politics. Not that they don't have any exciting times, but they really don't have much of anything that people want so it hasn't been a very hotly contested piece of land. We got to see the base of the old castle which was built in the 12th century. We then stopped by St. Peter's cathedral, which was cool on the outside, but some people didn't want to pay to get in so we did not go. I will go at sometime because I would like to compare the differences between Irish and Italian cathedrals. Like everything else I have been to this place is under renovation. We then went to the Guiness tour, which is amazing. They just made it and it is quite the impressive building. It takes you through everything that goes into beer and then all of the steps that make up the process of making it. There is a small sample room halfway through, but then at the end, you get a free full pint, which was delicious. I had been building myself up to drinking Guinness since I got to Europe, trying stronger and stronger beers. We re met some girls that were on our plane from Minnesota and Hanks and I got some extra beers because the girls didn't like theirs as much. After that we went to my favorite place yet. We took the tour of the Jameson Whiskey distillery. The tour was guided and the guide was really cool, and since I read my Rick Steve's Tour Book, Hanks and I knew to volunteer enthusiastically to sample the wares. They had mini models set up everywhere about the 8 steps that they take to make this triple distilled Whiskey. In comparison, scotch is distilled twice and American whiskey once. At the end, everyone got a free glass of whiskey, but since I won the rock paper scissors between Hanks and I, I got to be the on the taste testing panel. In front of everyone, they gave us a small shot of the three best Irish whiskeys, Paddy's, Power's, and Jameson's. We had to compare the flavors of all three of them. Jameson is actually very good and doesn't have much bite at all. We had to pick our favorite and then compare it to a small shot of Scotch. Scotch is made by roasting the barley with smoky fire, so it has a smoky, peaty taste to it. It wasn't very good. Then, finally, we had to drink the Jameson against the best selling whiskey in the world, Jack Daniels. After drinking those good whiskeys, the Jack was absolutely unbearable. There was a French guy and some Australians on the panel and they were making fun of me because we drink Jack at home, I looked at them and proudly said that I drink only the best Evan Williams. They laughed pretty hard because apparently Uncle Evan doesn't have the best rep here. After we were done tasting, they gave us another glass of whiskey, I tried mine with ginger ale, it was good. Needless to say, after the two tours, Hanks and I had a slight buzz going. We went home and had some sandwiches and the girls had found a good pub to hang out at for the night. The drinks were really expensive there so we snuck in our own and kept pouring it in the one glass that we had bought. The place was called Fitzsimmons and it had four floors, one had live music, one had another classier bar, and the top floor was a rooftop bar that we hung out on for a while and met a dude from Amsterdam who was fun to talk to. We then headed to the basement, where the club was, and danced until four or so. Today the girls, Piper, Emily, Danielle, and Kelsi, went to the coast, I didn't really feel like going, so Hanks and I are doing all the nerdy things that they don't want to do today. We got kicked out of the hostel at 11 because they close it from then until two to clean I guess. I have loved the emails and would love to hear from more people. Peace, love, and gap.