Today my friend Phil flew all the way from Liverpool to spend the day with me in Dublin. Phil and I go way back from when I was a third-year visiting student at Oxford, and he was a wee freshman. He's still (and always will be) just a wee lad to me -- he's turning 23 tomorrow!
I took a gazillion photos but I'll just post a few because I need to soak my feet in a hot bath. I walked over ten miles today in little red flats that were not born for hardcore city walking. Ouch.
Anyway. Here we are somewhere in the City Centre:
Here I am in front of some law building. (I obviously didn't take many notes during this outing, as we only had one afternoon and so much to take in. Bad traveller! Bad!)
Phil and I spent a lot of time looking at the tourist map.
We had to go from one side of town to another to get to the restaurant where we wanted to have lunch, and we couldn't find a bus map anywhere because Dublin does not like to help tourists on Sunday. It's true! The tourist information stop was closed, and the CENTRAL BUS STATION where I picked up Phil DID NOT HAVE BUS MAPS. So, I spotted the first bus that stopped in front of us and told Phil to come with. Phil doesn't like to argue (at least not with me!), so we got on and hoped for the best. Miraculously, we got to where we were going. Too bad the place we had planned to go was closed. (As it turns out, everything is closed in Dublin on Sundays. )
The place we went to instead was just wonderful.
Luckily, the churches had no problem being open on Sunday. And St. Patrick's Cathedral was breathtaking.
The James Joyce House of the Dead was not open. Here are some nice photos from someone who was able to get in on a separate visit.
We had dinner at an Irish pub where Phil opened his birthday present from me. This was my favorite part of the whole day.
And here I am enjoying what I call the The UK Panini, which I've never seen replicated stateside. The UK panini has a special kind of bread and is all pressed and perfect and looks like this. If you know where I can find a UK Panini in California, oh my god you've got to tell me where.
Phil and I did more during our outing besides eating and visiting closed attractions, but I hope to recap all that in a later post. For now: foot bath. And sleep.
Thank you for visiting me, Phil! To quote another favorite friend of mine: You are one in a million.
