The Euro

As stated in the last couple of posts, the Euro got the better of us while in Ireland. I am not going to sit here and tell you I am happy with the exchange rate between the US and Europe. When we were in Europe, and I know this is constantly fluctuating, the exchange rate was $1.56 for 1 euro. With this in mind we were constantly in an uphill battle.


Take this meal for example, Kelly (beautiful I might add) at a mediocre restaurant ordered fish and chips. In American terms, she got fried fish and french fries (a standard meal at the local American Legion) for 14 Euro. I ordered the cheapest pizza, a Mediterranean pizza for 15 Euro. Not bad prices huh? Well if you do the conversion, Kelly and I spent approximately $41 on fried fish and a personal pizza. This is not the only example here my friends. Kelly and I could only settle for pub food. Not that we can complain it was good food in a great atmosphere. Pub food consisted of either a burger and fries, or a panini and fries. You could not find a burger and fries for less than 12 Euro. Kelly and I, buying pub burgers and fries for about 24-25 Euro= $36. To this day, I am still trying to figure out how ludicrous and expensive Europe is. I have been to fancy restaurants in the Twin Cities with Kelly, and the max we have spent at a restaurant is about $50. Are you trying to tell me, that I spent $41 every meal on a burger and fries? We went to McDonald's the last night we were in Dublin. To try to save a few, but even their/our dollar menu ("Euro" menu) is a rip off. You can get a double cheesburger in Ireland for 2 Euro. Not bad right? Well thats actually $3. Don't even get me started on retail.

It doesn't stop with food. Cab rides, bus tickets, Bed and Breakfasts. Europe is expensive and will bust your bank. However, it is awesome and worth it. My advice, which is what it always has been, go to Europe when you are older and have a little more cash.

Irish Pubs

I want to make a quick observation about Irish pubs. The Irish pub scene is by far one of the coolest aspects about the night life in Ireland. The pub scene is very laid back. In a pub you can see a 70 year old sitting next to an 18 year old laughing and having a good time while listening to musicians playing real, authentic Irish music. The pub scene is so cool because its main focus is usually on music, or football (lesson learned from Green Street Hooligans, never call it Soccer). The music tradition in Ireland is evident. When you walk around the Temple Bar area in Dublin, there are numerous musicians on the street performing. While they are usually playing for money, their main focus is getting their sound out on the street. It was fascinating/inspiring to see so much raw talent that played on the streets. In the pubs, the Guinness flowed like the headwaters of the Mississippi and the music was playing until the wee hours of the morning. It was very refreshing to be in an atmosphere where you can actually talk to the people (person in my case) you are with and not have to compete with Lady Gaga annoyingly sing about a disco stick...actually it is always refreshing when I don't hear Lady Gaga.
One other cool thing that you would commonly see in a pub is that even though the people are amongst their own private conversations, everyone in the pub could not help but tap their toes or clap to the music. Quite honestly, the music that we heard was kind of intoxicating, and without a doubt, it allowed us to leave the place with a smile on our face and a desire to go back and listen to more. This is unlike several bars I have seen in the US (mainly the Twin Cities where I am gathering most of my generalizations). The bar scene in America seems so lame compared to Ireland. In Irish pubs there was not this sense of a "meat market" between men and women. I did not see any obnoxious students drunk to the point where they made fools out of themselves, nor did it seem to be the goal of the locals to get "crunked" while wearing the latest American Eagle polo shirt. I did not see any of it, and that is one thing that made the whole pub experience so great.

Ireland

So Kelly and I went to Ireland for our honeymoon a few weeks ago. Throughout the past few years while at college I have had the amazing opportunity to travel and see different aspects of the world. For some unknown reason, however, I have had this uncanny reluctance to travel to Europe. Don't get me wrong, I find the history and culture of most European cultures fascinating as I do all cultures, but European cultures have always seemed boring to me.
Ireland has always been on Kelly's "bucket list" yes the now cliche bucket list (thank you Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson), ever since she was very young. Her mother went to Ireland and Kelly has always had this sense of Irish blood pulsating through her. So I thought I would surprise her. Even though Europe is low on my list of places to see before I die, I knew Ireland would be different. I just wanted an excuse to go somewhere.

The trip was essentially flawless. I credit that to the many hours I slaved over the computer for about 4 months before arriving in Dublin. Our itinerary consisted of arriving in Dublin at 9 a.m. Monday morning. I did not sleep at all because I was too busy watching Transformers 2, Land of the Lost, and Mulan on the overnight airplane ride. Plus I get gitty with excitement on airplanes traveling to unknown areas of the world. We had to walk aimlessly, but with a mission around Dublin for about 4 hours before we were able to check in at our B & B (bed and breakfast, however don't be deceived like we were. You have to pay an additional price for a breakfast). Kelly and I tried to everything we could for the first 2 days of being in Dublin. We walked everywhere. If it wasn't for our trusty travelers book by Fodors, we would have been lost before we got off the plane. Thanks to that book and our motivation to walk everywhere, we boldly, and with confidence say that we almost have that city memorized.

After 2 days consisting of sight seeing at places such as Malahide Castle, Dublin Bay, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Guinness Storehouse, Trinity College (the Long Room and the Book of Kells are indescribable), and several, several pubs, we took the cheapest way possible, a bus ride across Ireland to the mesmerizing Dingle Peninsula. The bus ride, although a few hours longer than any other means to get to Dingle was the cheapest, and greatest way to see the real Ireland. We made dozens of stops in small Irish towns and villages, and we were able to sit and ride with the locals who use the bus everyday. $150 for the two of us taking the 9 hour bus ride was way more justifiable than spending nearly $270 to take a 6 hour train ride. We needed to pinch the penny, or should I say Euro when we could because Europe has this way of taking all your money (more on that later).

Dingle was an excellent oasis from the bustling city of Dublin. Dingle was our Grand Marais to Minneapolis. Our Manistee to Detroit. For those who do not understand the correlations, put simply, it was a very quaint, relaxing town on the Atlantic. We stayed at another B & B, and did a lot of relaxing which lacked in Dublin. There still was, however, a lot to see and we were not about to miss it. We stayed about 2 1/2 days and 3 nights in Dingle. It was very relaxing. October is Ireland's wettest month, and the entire 7 days we were in Ireland, it rained for only 1. Dingle was warm, sunny and mostly gorgeous. One day we went on a 3 1/2 hour boat tour of the Great Blasket Islands on the Atlantic. We saw such things as dolphins, seals, goats, and 2,000 year old archaeological sites from the Celts. We saw where Gale Saiyers lived before she was evacuated from the Island during WWII. We saw amazing Irish landscape on the sea side--landscape that makes Ireland so popular.



The Second day we decided to fulfill Kelly's dream (other than coming to Ireland) which was to go horseback riding in the Irish hills and mountains. One of the bonuses to going to Ireland in October is that while you gamble with getting rained on the entire time (lady luck was on our side), the tourism industry is coming to a close. Meaning, everyone is headin' out of Dodge. Kelly and I were the only 2 customers to go horseback riding. So other than our guide, who spent the whole time yelling at her dog who was running along the entire country side chasing sheep that did not belong to him, it was just Kelly and me. Amazing countryside to say the least. Kelly has good taste and I thank her for dreaming to go to Ireland.


After an astonishing 2 1/2 days and 3 nights in Dingle, we took the long bus ride back to Dublin, where we would close out the night and our honeymoon in Ireland. The bus ride was perfect, as well as our last evening in Dublin. While in Dublin, we got a slightly better room at the same B & B and we decided to make one final hurrah of sightseeing. We walked to the Dublin Castle. There was not much left of the enormous castle first established by Viking Longboats (Dublin and Limerick, the 2 largest cities in lower Ireland were actually established by Vikings, huh.), but there was some, and some is all we needed to get our enjoyment out of the building. That evening we TRIED to save more money (at this point our Euro was exhausted and we now relied on the Visa) so we went to McDonald's of all places. Even McDonald's was overpriced (more on that later)!


Needless to say this trip was amazing. Kelly and I love to explore by nature, and going to a new country and sitting in our hotel room for a week did not sound appealing. We did a lot, and we aren't going to lie and tell you there were not times we were stressed, because when you try to do a lot, including staying 2 days in one places, then taking a 9 hour bus ride across the country, then coming back all within in a week, there is naturally going to be stress. It was worth it however. We did what we could, and saw what we saw and there were no regrets. We had a blast in Ireland and have not closed the books on it yet. There is potential to go back (several, several years from now), but we just don't know yet. There is a lot more out there to see.