A Day in.... Dublin

Dublin. The capital of the Republic of Ireland.

A beautiful city, even when you are ill and don't feel like doing much more than lie down and sleep for about 50 years.

Sadly, it takes a 12 hours bus drive to get there from London. It only gets worse when there are four guys right next to you who can't seem to shut the fuck up. The whole trip also includes an about 3 hours long trip on the ferry, which is nice cause you are able to sleep. And if you are bored, there is a mini cinema waiting for you.

Day 1

Anyway, after arriving at 6am on Tuesday during the half-term holidays at the coach station right around the corner of our hostel Jacob's Inn, we made our way there to check-in or at least lock away our bags. By the way, in my case that meant a rucksack and a bag. That was all I needed. Minimal package is the best.

They actually allowed us to shower in the 'public' showers (meaning they are for a whole floor and not just a single room) and have breakfast for free. The lockers, which are really big, were free, too. That was already a huge bonus since we were really tired. I only got about 2,5h of sleep on the ferry! After spending maybe three hours in the louge we decided to explore the city north of the river. To be more specific, the botanic garden. We had to walk quiet a bit, but it was totally worth it. Th garden is beautiful, even in the winter, and really warm which was one of the reasons we spent so much time there. We just didn't want to go outside again.

The garden is devided in several houses which are dedicated to different continents. Little signs explain everything you need to know. Very lovely, I wish I could see it when everything is blooming.When we came back we pretty much just walked through the shopping streets for a bit to get a sense of what we wanted to do the next few days.

The only two things we did after that was go back to the hostel to unpack our stuff in our room (10 bed room mixed) and then go for a Guinness at the famous Temple Bar. It was great, a lot of people and a very good singer. And to be honest, Guinness isn't half bad. I'm not a beer fan (even though I'm from Bavaria...) but the dark beverage didn't want to make me throw up as much as others.

The great thing about the hostel: there were two other Germans, medicine students who came here for holiday. A nice couple, sadly we didn't exchange numbers or social media names.

Day 2

Our first full day started with a nice breakfast (toast and cereals) and a trip to Trinity College. A nice place to walk around as long as it's not too cold – which it was. So we flet into the old library which includes an exhibition about the Book of Kells. It was 10€ and for the both of us the exhibition was a bit too boring, but that always depends on what you like. After that, the trip to the science museum on campus took longer than expected. The exhibits are partly interactive and play with your mind. Three installments, which were made by an artist who is afraid to lose his hands in an accident or because of illness due to age, made it clear to us just how difficult it can be to do easy everyday tasks like opening a jar when you can't properly use your hands. Another experiment shows why waterboarding as an interogation technique doesn't work since your memory suffers due to stress caused by imitating drowning. And that was in a safe environment with our previous consent!

A hugh part of the day was over already at this point, so we went to the Nation History Museum for an hour, only after walking around the university again by accident, and then back to the hostel. The last place we went to was the cinema to see Deadpool, which is one of the best movies I've ever seen. Seriously, I normally never go into a movie twice, but Deadpool would be an exception. If someone asked me, I would say yes in an instance. It's sassy and witty, fast-paced and breaks the fourth wall several times – just like in th comics. And it's th only superhero movie I can think of that has a lot of swearing in it and therefore doesn't pass a PG13 rating – sorry kids.

Day 3

Our last day. Sadly.

We were allowed to keep our bags in the locker and went out for our last tour. First we visited the Dublin Castle and booked a tour as well. That way you can see more areas and get some background knowleadge along the way. I was really ill by that time which makes it a bit of a problem to walk around in the cold as well as the rather wet underground areas, but there is nothing you can do about that. The tour guide was nice and it didn't take more than 45 minutes as far as I remember to finish.

Slowly, we made our way to the prison Kilmainham Gaol only to find out that there was a hugh queue and that the next tour wouldn't be for another two hours so we ditched that plan and went to the nearby Phoenix Park and the Wellington Monument instead. The weather was still crisp so we sat down and enjoyed the silence and the view before heading back, which seemed to take ages. On our way back we went to the main shopping street for a bit to buy postcards and because I had to return something to Penny's, which is the exactly the same as Primark but named differently. Sadly, there it happened.

I got robbed.

Not my wallet, and I have to say it is partly my fault. I went from the cashier to the cash & wrapping department to customer service only to have to change till because the first one was broken. At that point I was just exhausted, irritated and hungry so when I finally got my money back, I left my shopping back behind.

In there was my dark green Dublin sweater, presents and an already filled our and stamped postcard. I noticed an hour later and went back only to find out that the woman behind me picked it up and left with it. Great.

Because why give it to the nice lady at the customer service you are already standing at anyway, am I right? Why be a decent human being when you can steal tourist stuff from an ill teenage girl? At first I was angry and sad, but by now I'm mostly disappointed.

When our coach came two hours later, I had mostly come to terms with the fact that I'll never see my stuff again. I hope the woman that took it sees my postcard and feels guilty and ashamed. I don't care what your reason was, I just hope you will remember it every time you wear my sweater and feel bad about it.

That night, I didn't sleep at all – not even because of my stolen stuff, but because it was too early on the ferry to sleep there and I can't sleep on buses. So instead, I saw Star Wars in a miniature private cinema on the ship and listened to music on the bus. Just like Deadpool, this is a movie that's just as great as everyone says. The effects were great (and the rocking of the ship during the flight scenes was an unexpected bonus), the story is close to the original movies but with not too many parallels in much else and the characters are interesting. And don't even get me started on the fact that the three main characters are a girl, a black ex-Stormtrooper and a Hispanic pilot.

A wonderful holiday in a beautiful city. I am really happy I went there and would recommand it to anyone who has a few days off.