Day Two - 12/9/2012 - Dublin

     When I woke up this morning, I met one of my roommates in the hostel.  His name was Michael, a Dubliner, or Dub.  After a brief exchange of words, he was surprised to find a "Yankee" in the hostel.  He proceeded to tell me that President Wilson was an Irish president, which was mainly the reason that he was able to end the war (Michael was happy to learn that I was not drafted), but that nobody in Ireland likes to call Wilson Irish, as he wasn't Catholic like the Kennedys.  There was some confusion as to which bed was Michael's, and after a 2am altercation, he decided that the hostel staff should be involved.  Michael was the type of older gentleman who would talk as long as you would listen, but I eventually made my leave.
     Meng and I decided to return to In Cahoots for breakfast because we found the atmosphere to be quite inviting.  I had my first European scone, which was surprisingly buttery, and Meng touted the sweet taste of Irish butter.  We stopped by the Tesco next door, a value supermarket.  "Buying Irish" is a big thing here, from 100% Irish milk (and beef) to Irish strawberries, and of course, Irish potatoes.  I bought a 2 litre jug of still water, as water seemed hard to come by unless you were willing to buy bottled water at restaurants.  In Ireland, you bring your own bags to the grocery, or you buy reusable bags from the store, because they do not have plastic, or even paper, bags available at checkout.  I've also noticed that all of the outlets have switches next to the plug, allowing you to turn off the outlet at the wall.  Between these observations, and ads that promote conservation, it seems that the green revolution in the United States is far behind the cultural norm of Ireland.
     After breaking out the map of Dublin, we decided to go see the National Botanical Gardens, which had received positive reviews from the hostel staff and some of the locals.  The hostel had a whiteboard of daily events, and we had missed the botanical garden trip by one day, so we decided to make the trip ourselves.  Interestingly, and impossible to miss from the numerous posters, Lady Gaga was playing in Dublin on Friday.  So far, all the music we had heard in the city was a mixture of 80's and 90's US hits  and traditional Irish folk music.  There was a mix of British, and of course, Irish bands as well.
     We took the number 9 bus north to get to the botanicals, but as we were waiting, it began to rain.  Dublin has some very useful electronic bus signs that tell you the time for upcoming buses at that stop.  When the bus arrived, we stood in anticipation, but to my dismay, the bus kept driving past us.  Confused, we waited for the next one.  Following suit from some local school children, I signaled the bus to stop and we got on.  When we arrived at the botanicals, the rain stopped and the sun came out.  We entered what proved to be an amazing park.  Not only were the gardens huge, at least three times the size of Balboa Park in San Diego, there were host to plants from around the world, and some well done displays about cellular life, the use of plant products, and Irish bees.  We stopped for tea after the garden trip and got a slice of raspberry cake, which went quite well with the tea.
     After returning to the area around the hostel, we walked down the River Liffey and followed it west to see Dublin's bridges.  We walked through the many quays on the south bank, passing the Ha'Penny, Millenium, Grattan, O'Donovan Rossa, Friar Matthew, Liam Mellowes, James Joyce, Rory O'More, and Frank Sherwin bridges.  Southward on Steven street, we passed St. Patrick's Hospital, which was built in 1745, and was the first mental hospital in Dublin.  It is still in use today.  We headed east through the south side of the Liffey, walking through the Guinness Brewery (missed the last tour by five minutes).  A lot of the original architecture still stands.  Over 3 million pints of Guinness are produced daily, and Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease, with rent of £40,00 a year, so the brewery has a promising future.  East of the brewery is the medieval area of Dublin, where we stopped briefly for some tea at The Food Gallery on Thomas street.  Thomas street became High street as we moved on, so named because it was the main street through the Viking Settlement in the 1200s.  There is one section of the wall from 1245 still standing near Wood quay, so named because it was home to the original wooden walls of the Viking settlement.  In the Medieval area, I marveled at Christchurch Cathedral, built in 1038.  The cathedral spans the street, forming a bridge above the cars.  Just across the street was Dublin Castle, built in 1204.  Unfortunately, they had closed for the day.
     We found an Asian restaurant on Capel street, which was surprisingly authentic (Meng ordered in Chinese).  We asked for napkins, and confused the waitress entirely.  We eventually settled on "something to wipe our hands".  (Later, I realized that napkins in Ireland are serviettes.)  After dinner we stopped by TP Smiths, near the National Leprechaun Museum, for a pint.