Dublin at Night

This is where our journal takes a hazy turn, as the last few nights we spent in Dublin, I did not go back and write notes as I had religiously done before.

That being said, there are some things I definitely recall. The first night back in Dublin, we all went out together to a Pub to hear some music. We hit the first one that was recommended to us just beside the River Liffey. A young man was playing acoustic and singing mostly American songs, such as the dreaded "Sweet Caroline". The most memorable song, however, was when he dropped "Losing My Religion" by REM. Through his thick accent and Irish lilt belting out "I tink I tawt I saw you cry" left us all dying at the table. He performed for an hour or more and we enjoyed the merriment. Some of the gals got up to dance a bit and we had a good time with good

friends and lots of food and booze.

After the young man was through, a couple of different men got up, both playing guitar and one singing and began to perform. Unfortunately, they basically were playing the same set as the guy before and not as well. When 'Sweet Caroline" began again, I was done with the Pub. The rest of the gang was worn out and wanting to head back to Clontarf Castle, but Amy and I were up for adventure and after taking the Ha'penny Bridge over the river, headed into the night of Dublin. We ended up walking into the Temple Bar District and thinking we had ended up IN the Temple Bar, due to the amount of people and level of the two guys playing some crazy good Irish trad music. The banjo player, specifically, was fantastic. We ended up meeting a pretty young lady named Maria who was from Venezuela,

but had been living in Ireland the last few years, first for study and then getting a job there. We also witnessed a breaking of stereotypes as some college jock looking fellows from Sweden were getting rowdy and knocked a beer onto a local Dubliner, who appeared perturbed, but the guys hadn't even noticed. By the time they had, they quickly apologized through thick Swedish accents, but the Dubliner just smiled and shook it off. No big brawl or anything. What a shocker!

We then adventured through the streets of Dublin, specifically looking for the Phil Linott (of Thin Lizzy) statue. My buddy Craig said he'd revoke my Irish card if we didn't find it, which we did after much confusion and wandering! By the time we were done, things seemed to be winding down and we headed back for a night of rest.