28th January 2009 / 0 comments

July 2nd 2007

We spent the first night at the Dublin International Hostel getting introduced to many different languages while playing Texas Hold’em…here’s the scoop from an e-mail Cheryl sent out earlier that might not have reached everyone…”I have to admit, the hostels are not bad at all. The Dublin Hostel was actually pretty cool. That was our first night abroad and what did we do but play Texas Hold ’em in a chapel that was set up for dining purposes! Imagine this, 6 people around a table, 2 speak English, 3 Spanish, and 1 French. The only thing we had in common was a sort of “hydrating” beverage.. okay, I admit, it was wine…anyway, I digress – Somehow, we managed to teach everyone how to play and work our way through a very successful game of Texas hold ’em. The young girl from France (Auld Marie) played guitar so one of the guys from Spain (Sergio) went to his room and brought it down for her to play. I would give you as many guesses as you want and I am sure you would not guess the songs that somehow our 3 languages all knew!.. We sat around singing, Yellow Submarine, Twist and Shout, La Bamba. Then someone from each country sang a song from their own country – needless to say, I was NOT one of the singers, and any of you that might have heard me sing before are all pleased to hear that I am sure!”

I have to say this was an interesting first evening (first time abroard, first hostel, first bunk bed…) and there was even some table dancing involved! The next day (once we got caught up on our jet lag) we headed out for sight-seeing, typical tourists! Dublin was a neat city. Lots of beautiful architecture and so old that sometimes its hard to get your mind around it. We found a topless bus and rode through the city to see the sights. O’Connell Square, River Liffey, Book of Kells (a little disappointing as only two pages were on display), Trinity College, Temple Bar, St. Patrick’s Cathedral with Jonathan Swift’s tomb, and my personal favorite – the statue of Molly Malone, the beautiful fishmonger on Grafton Street, affectionately called “The Trollop With The Scallops”, “The Dish With The Fish”, and “The Tart With The Cart”.

It was a whirlwind of two days, learning new languages, braving the blustery cold, and trying different currencies. Onward to the smaller town on Kilkenney where we’re staying at the “haunted” Foulksrath Castle. Because of the latest news from the London area, we’ve decided to do a quick change of plans and avoid that area for a while. Not exactly sure where we’ll go instead, but will keep everyone posted.