Trip to Ireland, Part 3: Dublin Revisited

Sunday, July 20th, 2003

Our last weekend in Dublin turned out to be just as enjoyable as the first. We arrived back in the city on Saturday afternoon, dropped our bags off at the flat we had to ourselves, and wandered over to our friend Diarmaid’s place to get the day underway.

Food, beverages and relaxation were the order of the day, so to kill three birds with one stone, we headed to The Porterhouse . The Porterhouse is a massive, yet paradoxically cozy, brewpub which serves up enormous platters of food to go with their own microbrews and their amazing selection of bottled beers from around the world. We settled ourselves into a nice little nook and whiled away the next few hours with exotic beers, tasty vittles and endless chat.

Suitably geared up for a night on the town, we eventually made our way to Whelan’s pub to check out some local Dublin bands . After the bands had played and normal pub hours came to an end, Whelan’s conveniently turned into a "club", and since the atmosphere was nice and the music was good (everything from Electric Six to the Smiths), we hunkered down at the bar, and we didn’t budge until 3 in the morning, when we (and everyone else) were asked politely to leave (incidentally, this civility certainly made a nice change from Brighton, where the bouncers practically tear the drinks from your hand and push you onto the street at closing time). The evening was made complete by the hot dog that Jeremy and I guiltily scoffed on the way back to our flat - almost nothing gives us the munchies like that demon alcohol does.

The next day was, understandably, a relaxed affair. Jeremy and I wandered over to Diarmaid’s flat with hot coffee and chocolate croissants to get things started off on the right foot. The weather was great, so we eventually headed into town, foregoing the usual Sunday roast in favor of something lighter and healthier at Wagamama . Following lunch, we sat outside a cafe and tucked into sinful desserts and more coffee, then retired to St. Stephen’s Green to stretch out on the grass with the Sunday paper and enjoy the remains of our last day in Ireland.

In the end, our last weekend was the perfect counterpart to our first : a whirlwind of food, drink, friends and music, all wrapped up by watching the sun go down over Dublin’s fair city. The two weekends together bracketed our relaxing week in Cobh in the nicest way possible. The entire trip was immensely satisfying and filled to the brim with all the finest things in life. So while I was naturally sad for the vacation to come to an end, I wound up returning to Brighton quite invigorated, content and generally pleased with life.

I think Ireland has a habit of doing that to me.

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