What goes perfectly with pancakes and chocolate cake? Whiskey. We headed to the Jameson Distillery to take a tour. A tourist must do, and we were feeling like we should do all the touristy things. We got our tickets, browsed the gift shop and waited for our tour to start. The Irish love John Jameson like they love Arthur Guinness, he is a hero and an icon. His family motto (former pirate fighters) is "Without Fear" and the Irish eat that stuff up. We toured the old distillery and learned a little bit about whiskey making and distilling. And to end it all, a free whiskey cocktail. Curry took hers with Ginger Ale, appropriate, mine with cranberry juice, and Grace with Coke. We enjoyed our cocktails, and then headed back to meet with Claire & Stevie who had been jealous of our Queen of Tarts experience and had gone there for lunch.
Stacy wanted to go see Oscar Wilde in Merrion Square Park so we headed there through Temple Bar. As we were walking through the lively Temple Bar, the sounds of a guy playing Jack & Diane floated out of our new favorite place, The Auld Dubliner. We decided to go in. Why not, right. Have another whiskey & cranberry before 3 pm? Sure. When in Dublin, do as the Irish do. Unfortunately as soon as we got our drinks, the live music stopped. Fail. We considered taking them on the road, but we decided to just finish them and head on our way to see the famous Oscar Wilde statue. Stacy wasn't wearing the proper shoes to scale it, but we enjoyed the Oscar Wilde quotes.
We headed back towards St. Stephen's Green and wandered through the park. We were going to make a pit stop in the shopping mall to use the bathroom but we stopped to see some street performer's act. A Scottish man who was going to "do freaky things with his body". Somehow Stacy became a part of the show. Typical. She had to inspect the bottle that he was going to smash and then lay on. Basically she had to stand in front of the crowd and act entertained while this guy did his act. He was somewhat inappropriate in his joke making and his stunts were mildly entertaining, but the fact that Stacy had to stand up there for like 20 minutes was probably my favorite part. After the show was done and the man had convinced all the small children to beg their parents for money to tip him, we headed through St. Stephens and down Grafton Street doing a little window shopping. I am going to miss Grafton Street, the live musicians, the street performers, the flower stands.
We headed to M.J. O'Neils to secure a table for our Last Supper with the Wolfpack. We were starving so we were anxious for the others to arrive. We had an array of true Irish meals. Stew & Bulmers for me. Corned Beef. Carvery. We enjoyed our meals and cheers-ed to Dublin. I think we were all in denial that it was our last time all together. We enjoyed our meal, and decided to do dessert in typical fashion, at a different establishment. We headed towards Elephant & Castle, stopping to give our love to Molly Malone.
I loved those moments, just together wandering the streets, laughing, feeling young. The wait at Elephant & Castle was really long, and they wouldn't let us take our cheesecake to go so we gave up on that dream and headed to find some live music. Gogarty's never lets us down. As we climbed the stairs, we heard the familiar rhythm of "Galway Girl". Perfection. The band played a bunch of Irish favorites and ofcourse Johnny Cash. There was a bride and her hen party, dancing, the bride looked and was dressed like a clown. And while the music played on, I couldn't help but feel sad. I just looked around and soaked it all up. These are the moments that'll last forever. The band played 7 Drunken Nights upon Stacy's request and we all sang along. A few more reels and jigs and then Wild Rover. We sang and clapped along and then headed out.
We sat in the street, trying to figure out what to do. None of us really wanted to go home, because going home meant that we'd have to say goodbye, and I don't think any of us were ready for that. But after a few failed attempts, we gathered in the middle of the street, huddled up and said goodbye. Nothing would ever change how much these last four months had meant to us. Tears were shed, and like a change of events, tears spread from one to another, until we were all crying, except Grace, who was probably laughing at us standing in the middle of the cobblestone, as the Irish music filled the air, sobbing. Strangers had become friends, and friends had become our own little Irish family.
After the goodbyes had been said, we headed for the bus, as the Dublin rain started to fall. Like our emotions. We got on the bus and went home. We retreated to our respective apartments. Laura, Claire, Grace, and I stumbled upon the elevator which had literally been torn apart by some drunken fools. Glass everywhere, the number paneling ripped off the wall, ridiculous. Which means that I will be carrying my 4 suitcases down the 4 flights of stairs. Thank you, idiots. Just as I got into my room and took off my jacket, the fire alarm went off, and it is about the most obnoxious alarm in the world. I evacuated and found the girls outside. More antics of the drunken students celebrating their last day of exams. I had to still pack and be up in 5 hours to catch my flight. Not pleased. Finally we were able to go back in, but the alarm continued to go off. I finished packing, headed up to say goodnight to the girls, and went to bed to get my 4 hours of sleep before my expected departure of Dublin.
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