Ireland
We left Nottingham on the 15th of March and Drove to Ireland. Yes you can do it but you have to get on a very big boat. So we did.Ireland isn't that much different from England. The only real difference (besides from the accent) is everyone drinks Guinness instead of Fosters or Tennants. And the crazy midgets running around shouting "you'll never geet mee pot oh gould!!" Why I was the only one who saw them is weird.
One bit of advice. Ireland in March is fricking cold. Never ever camp in Ireland with a tent in March. It is shit and you will end up sleeping in the car and waking up very grumpy and walk funny for the rest of the day because you have a handbrake imprint in your arse. Also the coin operated showers are a pain. €1 is too long a shower for one person but too short for two people to sud up and wash off. On the plus side, it did only cost us €14 a night for two of us:)
We spent the next day getting lost in Dublin. Two teeny little Irish kids ran up to me (little punks) and tuned me "heey there, I know where yooour from. Yoour from Jermany. Guess how Ir know that, hu guess, its on your jacket. Ha ha ha ha." So I was all like " I'm from South Africa dumb-aas. This is just a German army jacket. Your spelling sucks! Out of my way dyke!!"
Friendly people.
If you go over by car, don't park in the city. Parking is really expensive. Like €10 an hour. You can find a side street 15 minutes outside the city center where you can park for free.
We went on the city bus tour which was really good. You get to hear a whole lot about the city from a real Irish bloke and see a lot of stuff that's not in the Lonely planet on the way. The actual city center is not that big so we could walk pretty much anywhere without getting too hungry.
On St Paddies day we chipped the ice off our faces and crawled out the tent. Had some bacon and eggs and a shower paying special attention to wash behind my ears. Then Ceri pulled out a bag of goodies she had bought before we left home. So we spray painted our hair green, put on shamrock shaped bobbles on our head and I strapped on a pair of fake boobs with "Buy me a drink, Its my birthday!" written on them.
The St Patrick parade is a full day event including a lot of people sitting in pubs getting drunk. The parade was pretty disappointing because of all the people watching it. There were only a few areas where you could get any sort of view of the precessions and there was usually a crowd of people standing at the barriers blocking everything. We did manage to get a good view at the end of the day where the parade finishes.
If you go to Dublin for St Patrick day parade, bring a ladder or stool to stand on other wise you won't see a dam thing.
A Float at the parade
Me with green hair and boobs
This kid got on the buss with his parents. He sat down in the front of the buss and the parents went and sat at the back.
For the sole reason that I was borne on St Paddies day and we had nothing better to do, we went to St Patrick Church. You are supposed to be able to see a statue of him beating the crap out of a bunch of snakes but we didn't see it.
A trip to the world famous Guinness factory was a prerequisite before leaving Dublin. The tour can take about 2 hours if you want to take it all in but it can get a little too much after a hour. The whole museum is 4 or 5 floors of beer and beer related products. The best bit is all the Guinness adverts and merchandising crap they produced over the years. That and the free beer you get at the top of the museum in the Sky lounge.
The view is brilliant. Its a 360 degree view of Dublin's skyline and the parking lot out back of the factory. Brilliant! Guinness beer on the other hand tastes like shite. It took me and Ceri an hour to finish half our pints before we hid them behind a posh sofa and buggered off.
