pub, a steaming bowl of Guiness Irish Beef stew in front of me, still
soaked from the two-mile tromp through a downpour to get here, I feel
like I've had a pretty good day. It's odd to think that in 12 hours
I'll be leaving this country for week and a half long adventures in
the UK, I mean, I just got here! Eh, but I've got countries to see
and other forms of English to be confused by!
Not a bad day all in all, though after a somewhat rough start...that's
right, the dreaded baguette was given a second chance...oh man what
have I gotten myself into with these things?
I dug my own grave right off the bat as I calmly stepped up and began
the order. "baguette" I proclaimed, yeah, like there was anything else
I could possibly be here for. "Mayonaise or butter?" he shot back,
"ummm neither?" "what kind of sauooose would you like?" (this is as
close as I can spell out his pronunciation of 'sauce') "what sauces do
you have?" in perhaps the least glorious description ever by someone
in the food business, he ran them down for me: "chili sauooose, red
sauooose, brown sauooose, taco sauooose".....I wait, expecting more
options, there are none...this is it. Let's see, chili sauce, been
there done that, never again. Red sauce...I'm not going with something
based on a color for a description, my eyes can get me that far. Same
goes for the brown sauce...ummm no. That leaves taco sauce...what the
hell? My mind screams at me to go dry on this baguette, so naturally,
I order the taco sauooose in a moment of panic and shame. With the
ship all but sunk already, I help bring water onboard, adding chicken
(apparently supposed to be Cajun), Roma tomatoes, sundried tomatoes,
and jalapenos, I decide last minute to get a dash of shredded cheese,
which I notice with dismay that he tosses on the baguette as he is
rolling it in wax paper and the Frankenstein sandwhich is already
closed....perfect! Each bite brought me closer and closer to swearing
off sandwhiches forever, and that "taco sauooose?" probably nothing
more than mayo and cheap salsa thrown in a blender for a bit. And I
bet you thought I was here to talk about my stew didn't you?
Patience....
After lunch, a bunkmate of mine, Somudro, and I went hiking across
town to the Sir Chester Beatty Library, which is reknowned worldwide
for it's collection of early religious books from every religion, art,
and even original symphonies composition books from a Joseph Hadyn,
who essentially invented the symphony and string quartets as we know
them today and also trained both Mozart and Beethoven. This was
located next to Dublin castle, which we didn't go inside, but did walk
around the courtyard for a bit (only a small part of the castle
appeared to be left, the rest painted over and turned into things like
a police station).
Another interesting tidbit that I saw today was part of the original
Dublin City gates and walls, built in 1240 AD....that's old...
A hike back to the hostel set me up for another of my signature naps
that each bunkmate has come to expect of me at the peak of each
afternoon, it's somewhat of a running joke if they come in the room
and I'm actually awake. Buuuut I also think I cover more ground each
day on foot to make up for it. Speaking of hoofing it through the
city, in order to get to the ferry which will take me to Holyhead,
Wales, I will have to hike an hour through the city to get there,
because no bus goes that way. So I'll start my trek around 6am in the
morning, and hope to arrive in London around 4:30 pm.
Now, let's get back to that stew...the place I stumbled into was like
the Luby's of pubs, with a line set up, a butcher enthusiastically
describing each dish with a wave of his carving knife, and instead of
a soda fountain at the end, a bartender manning about eight different
taps while simultaneously serving as cashier. It was here, at
O'Neils, that I finally had my first pint of Dublin Guinness. The
hike from my hostel is a pleasant one, but the weather turned sour
rather quickly and I walked most of the way in a cold downpour, which,
being from central Texas, felt pretty good honestly. Along with my
pint I had a bowl large enough to sail ships in filled with a very
dark, rich Guiness and Irish beef stew. A few stalks of celery blended
into the murk, and the butcher floated two scoops of mash(mashed
potatoes) in the center. To keep my garndmothers happy, I got a side
of carrots which I mixed into the stew, and a side of mashed peas,
which, cold and unsalted, were not for me. The toast, though probably
toasted around 11am (I ate at 7:30pm and was therefore quite stale)
was perfect when dipped into the stew. It's unfortunate really, that
after my meal I couldn't push down another bite, because there is this
thing called Bailey's cheesecake, yeah....you know where I'm coming
from on this...it's so creamy it's served in a small bowl with a
spoon.
Waddling back from the pub in another downpour, getting bedded down
for the night, and here I am, three days down, and three blogs
written. London, here I come!
-Bryan, the Lonely Traveler
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