Saying Goodbye to the Emerald Isle

Wow, record viewership numbers on that last post. Apparently I need to publicly consider giving up more often. Builds the readership!

Alas, I'm not leaving Europe just yet. I'm also not planning on spending endless amounts of time (and money) drifting from place to place like a rootless playboy -- though it'd be a fun couple of months. No, I went back and hammered at an itinerary until I ended up getting something into shape that I could live with as my first European trip (of hopefully many) .

This means whirlwind tours through London and Paris -- and I'm taking the eurostar from one to the other so I'm looking forward to that. Spending a little more time with breathing room in Italy. A little over week there thanks to surprisingly low hotel prices -- probably because it's super-hot. Athens was potentially on the docket but I couldn't make a plane flight out of there cost anything in the way of reasonable, so it's Rome to home.

Asia is still a potential before the end of the year for sure, but I need to take a good long look at the numbers, and you know, figure out what I'm gonna do with my life. That might be good.

*** And now some random ephemera on Dublin

-Dublin loves soft-serve ice cream. It's available in a ton of places you wouldn't imagine it would be. Like the independent barbecue restaurant I was at today.

-Dublin is not super-easy to get around in. The roads still have a medieval layout, it's incredibly easy to get turned around, and the street signs are tiny and attached to buildings -- if they're even there at all.

-It's a city of legal vices. Multiple gaming establishments (casinos and horse betting) right on the street and obviously plenty of pubs. I never once got a hint of weed smell though that may just have been chance.

-Most of the people working in the shops aren't Irish. I read a lot of stuff before coming about all the Europeans working here now and that was no lie. Tons of accents I pegged as Russian, Croatian, and Polish. Most of the tourists seemed to be either American(or Canadian) or Italian (maybe they're trying to escape the heat).

In the end I have a certain affection for Dublin. It's multicultural with a strong sense of self-identity. I never felt unsafe and I never felt unwanted. That said, I don't think I'd come back without a good reason. It's just a little too similar to what I already know. I mean, their Irish pubs are even copies of our Irish pubs!

I should probably pack up. I fly to London super-early tomorrow.

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