Goodbye Ireland.

SPOKANE – I made it home.

Farewell beautiful island. I will never see the world the same again.

“May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.”

Back to Dublin

DUBLIN — The clock is ticking.

I’m almost headed home. Just have to pack up the last of the gifts and make it to the airport. This will hopefully be my last night in a hostel for a while. Not that it’s been bad, but home will be nice.

The trip down from Belfast took longer than expected. About three hours to go 100 kilometers (60 miles).

It’s nice being back in a town where I know where things are located. Tonight should be low key, a couple drinks and some music. Just one last night.

Pints of Guinness make you strong

DUBLIN — I made the pilgrimage today.

The Irish Mecca that is the Guinness Storehouse was fairly impressive. For my last full day in Dublin, I just had to make the trip across town for the brewery.

You can see the brewery for miles, but then you walk up and see the huge gate. Walking through is like entering the Jurassic Park of beer. The place has a pretty fancy entrance. It cost 14 euro to get in, but you can walk through the five stories of museum.

They break down the whole process from harvest to delivery. You can walk inside old stout vats, start the next batch of brew and taste their “North Star” Guinness, which is only available in Ireland as part of their brewhouse series.

Walking off the map

DUBLIN — No fish today.

I walked west along the River Liffey for more than two hours. Nothing but crap fly-fishing access. After waking up at 6 a.m. to find fish, I was a bit disappointed. I walked about twice as far as I expected to have to and didn’t find much.

I went past all the bridges I knew. Past the entrance to Phoenix Park. Past the Guinness Brewery. And suddenly, I was off my map, which is pretty comprehensive. So I stopped to check the map at a bus stop. It had a map of Dublin and a “You are here” arrow pointing to the metal off the edge of the map.

Lunch with David Byrnes

DUBLIN — Actually David Byrnes isn’t real. Well, kind of.

He is a character from James Joyce’s Ulysses based on a real person, which everyone here is obsessed with — the book not the person. So I went to the David Byrnes literary pub for lunch. Basic. Guinness and chips.

Then some window shopping at the St. Stephen’s Green shopping center and a walk through the Green. Then the ever-gray sky let loose an epic downpour that had the street performers huddling in storefronts and the tourists struggling to hang on to their umbrellas.

I just laughed and enjoyed the soak, which probably isn’t doing anything great for the sinus troubles that have been plaguing me for a couple days. But to hell with it.

Inside Dublin Castle

DUBLIN — Spokane should have a castle.

But we don’t. Most cities don’t.

Dublin has a decent one, but it’s amazing how the city has just been kind of built around and into it. I visited the castle this morning before most of the shops had opened up.

More Irish images

Statue Daniel O’Connell on O’Connell St.

Rainy Dublin morning

 

DUBLIN – It’s Ireland so it’s raining.

 

I’m sitting in an Internet café watching traffic pass through the rain. It’s only three, but it seems like it’s been a long day.

 

Today I woke up early. Grabbed some “orange” juice and a sandwich. Then I wandered around town for a bit waiting for the shops to open up. I checked out a couple shops and made my way around Trinity College.

 

I went inside and had to pay 8 euro to see the Book of Kells. It’s a nice book, very complicated and intricate. Plus it’s more than 1,000 years old. Upstairs, in the library, there was the long room, which houses all of Ireland’s oldest books.

Mass at St. Patrick’s

DUBLIN — The father knew I was a tourist.

A lot of people have asked if I’m a Dubliner, but the father at St. Patrick’s Cathedral knew better. Early yesterday morning, two other Americans (Mike and Lindsey) and I got up to attend mass at the historic cathedral. We missed the first mass at 8:30, but got breakfast and came back at 11.

The cathedral was absolutely amazing. Huge arched ceilings. Rows and rows of flags, candles and, for some reason, knights armor. The stained glass was incredible. The hardest part was keeping up with all the Catholic formalities of standing, singing, kneeling, standing some more. They gave us a step-by-step guide, but it was still complicated.

That morning we also checked out Stephen’s Green, this imaculate park, where they have ponds and memorials all over the place. Then after wandering all over south Dublin — the real walking began.

Long nights on O’Connell

DUBLIN — Didn’t sleep much last night.

The new hostel was a 12-bed room full of a bunch of guys from the states. And one guy from Belfast.

The Belfast guy managed to stir everyone up and we were all wandering around until 4 a.m. Then we decided to stay up until 7 a.m. so we could go get breakfast. So I finally got some rest at about 10:30 a.m. Everyone crashed pretty hard.

I just booked my next two nights at a place farther west called Litton Lane hostel. It’s a lot cheaper and hopefully it won’t be just a dive. The new place is supposed to have wi-fi, so maybe I’ll have access up and running again. Then I can really start planning the rest of this trip as far as moving south and west.

I hope the family is having a good time at the barbecue. And everyone else is staying out of trouble.