That’s not pronounced “Dun Lay-o-gare”. It’s actually “Dun Leary”. Yeah, those Irish names are confusing to pronounce. It was for me.
I woke up around 8 am and got the day started early. Went to explore the northern half of Dublin and found most of the immigrant stores are more concentrated there. Polish, Czech, Chinese, Moldovan, you name it.
Also, Dublin (like most of Europe I’m guessing) has a lot of butcher shops. I wish America had more mom/pop butcher shops, especially in Texas. New York probably has a few. I took a walk in a few of their grocery stores. They don’t have massive stores like Costco or HEB or Walmart around here. It’s mostly small supermarkets. For the most part, they have what American stores have, just different brands, brands I grew up with in Malaysia, which used to be a British colony (Ribena, Schweppes anyone?). I haven’t seen something out of the ordinary yet that completely boggled my mind. Maybe ‘Rhubarb and Ginger jam’ and ‘White/Black pudding’ which really is meat and blood in a sausage form.
I had to find out how to get to Belfast so I took a walk around and had to find the Bus Eiranne office. Some locals were kind enough to point it out to me. I will be there around 7:30 am this morning to take the 2.5 hour ride up to Eire’s rivals.
There are just so many buses here it’s insane. I had to find one to get to Dun Laoghaire but when I finally found the right one, the wait for the bus was too long and it was an 80 minute ride. Instead, I took the D.A.R.T. train and for €4.20, it took me back and forth to Dun Laoghaire in around 20 minutes one way.
Dun Laoghaire is a small coastal town with a breathtaking view. It isn’t famous for anything other than the ports. Not the food nor any particular tourist attraction (according to a police officer whom I spoke too. His accent was damned thick, could hardly understand him). It’s a normal town with working folk and students.
The Eastern pier was super long. I walked all the way to the lighthouse, enjoying the views and watching ppl take their dogs and kids out for walks. Lots of yachts parked in the water. I was sitting down writing something down when a father exclaimed to his little girl that there was a seal in the waters. I managed to just catch a video of it before it disappeared underwater, probably playing hide and seek with us but picking too good a hiding spot amongst the yachts.
I enjoyed an ice cream cone and a beef + Guinness pie at a local bakery. Both were delicious and the immigrant shopkeeper got an A+++ rating from me for customer service. I decided I was done with people watching for a day and walked back to the train station and head back to Dublin and retire for the night.
Until my roommates woke me up since they had to pack up for their 4 am flight out to London and my other roommate (mr aerospace engineer) ran out of bed and puked onto the bathroom floor, drunk. He’s there right now, sleeping in the bathroom after his second run back there. I’m not planning to use the bathroom tomorrow, just head straight out to Belfast and wash up there.
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Hey cuz, this is so great! You are like living out one of my dreams or something. Guess I never really took the plunge. But i’m really happy for you to be doing what you want to do. And you are right…certainly easier to do before you decide to settle down. Great pics too. Keep the posts coming, as i get to experience the journey without actually having to be there physically (well, somewhat).
Keep Safe and Warm!
yay you made it!
hey just so you know this Dun Laoghaire town was mentioned in the P.S. I Love You movie—lol that’s cool!! 🙂
dude! did you see any hot irish girls? you should have brought some J’s to europe. those shoes are not happening.
You really had to take a pic of the urinals huh? I am loving your blog and pics each leg of your race around the world. I am enjoying my postcard you sent. Be safe, have a blast, and keep the blog with pics coming. Miss you!