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Full Dublin & Glendalough photosets: Andy’s (flickr) | Nick’s (SimpleViewer)

EWR – DUB

	Top of tha marnin to yas! Continental flight 126 Newark 9:45 PM – Dublin 9:25 AM flight time: 6 hrs 40 min hours lost: 5 sleep gotten: ~4 hrs Not the full redeye sleep payload I was after, but there was no snooze button once the tires hit the runway. Time to bring on the international A-Game and “get sorted”, as my many soon-to-be Irish hosts would say. Luggage-customs-currency-phonecard-transit-GO!
After claiming baggage, getting a phone card, and turning $100 into about 17 euros, I hop a bus from the airport to Trinity College in central Dublin. I sit on the left side of the bus the entire way, wondering after a while why we aren’t ever passing traffic from the other direction, and concluding that there must just be a helluva lot of one-way streets in Dublin. You see where this is going… In my defense, the bus was high and wide compared to other traffic, so the oncoming cars (passing to our right) were mostly obscured from view. But I took this as an early jetlag warning sign – clearly, caffeine was a priority if I had any hope of getting through the next hour without my wallet, backpack, or trousers vanishing inexplicably.

Caffeine rendezvous and “The Special”

Meet Nick – my old friend, Irish host, and Eurotrek tour-guide-to-be. Nick met me at the bus stop in front of Trinity campus – his alma mater, I was soon to learn. We hit a coffee shop nearby, where Nick orders “The Special”. After catching up a bit, he launches into a story of how years ago there had been this place in the same neighborhood where he’d order “The Special”, the drinking of which would trigger a daily metamorphosis from newly-graduated nose-picking computer geek to brain-bending physics-engine developer-superhero. After months/years of habitually dispatching zillions of lines of code fueled by The Special, Nick casually inquired what was in it – and was drop-jawed to learn it contained 6 shots of espresso. Evidently they’d considered a stronger version with 8 shots, but THAT would have been illegal.

Now all the while as Nick’s telling this story and sipping his (apparently unrelated) 2009 “Special”, he’s observing certain structural elements of the building that lead him to wonder if this may, in fact, be the remodeled interior of the infamous coffee shop whose fierce turbo-strength blend he’s just been describing. As we’re finishing up, he catches a server wandering past to ask what’s in The Special? “6 shots of espresso. We wanted to make it 8, but that would be illegal.” I begin to wonder if “Nick” (in the story) ever looked as green as Nick (the storyteller) is beginning to look after drinking his Special. Nick is my eurotrekkin partner-in-crime for the next dozen days, so you’ll be hearing a lot about him.

Trinity College

Library and Book of Kells Still wearing my frame backpack, we wandered into Trinity Library’s Book of Kells exhibit. I wasn’t too enthused about this “making of a fancily decorated bible” expo at first, but after a few minutes of dozily eying descriptions the historical gravity of it started to grab me. Details of the production process, the global nether-reaches from which basic materials were gathered (blue calligraphy pigment from where? …Afghanistan), and the impact this ornately stylized piece of media hardware had on an illiterate agrarian civilization really put me in the mindset of medieval Europe. The lettering, imagery, and colossal assembly process must’ve seemed as much of a stretch to 8th century Dubliners as personal rocket packs or a subprime-lending-induced global economic meltdown seem to us. The fact that it was just THE ONE book also underscored the pragmatic utility of medieval Catholic clergy – conduits not only of religious information, but information in general to the illiterate, never-seen-a-book masses. Front Square Trinity is an impressive old campus, right in the mix of downtown Dublin, yet sealed in from the outside by a solid 15′ stone wall. At night it’s only accessible via the giant castle gate entrance on the west end. Human catapult or parachute would also work. Nick’s ancestral park bench We strolled past a game of cricket and sat on an engraved campus bench that had been donated by (or commemorated) a couple of Nick’s family members. Apparently Nick’s family co-owns Dublin. This was to be confirmed later when Nick muttered a few words to a guard and we were waved past the Guinness Brewery ticket line. Sphere within a sphere – another campus quirk.

Guinness Brewery

Overall, a triumphantly flashy disappointment. Lots of bling and bold statements, but not much cleverness or substance. It was just “upgraded” recently, and apparently pursued the “Jerry Bruckheimer broad-appeal blockbuster” model instead of the “Ken Burns historical masterpiece” model. It actually reminded me of an uber-patriotic, grammar-school-oriented Paul-Revere’s-ride-type theme park exhibit – plenty of “and from that day forth, Sir Guinness knew he was destined to brew the greatest beer in the world” rah-rah blah-blah type stuff. Not a bad place, just felt like an over-produced montage of one-liners and simplistic platitudes aimed at the beer-guzzling masses rather than, say, history buffs or a museum crowd. Putting it that way, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised… this is a brewery we’re talking about. Upside: Nick’s work-school connections got us in for free, and the view from the mezzanine is great!

British comedy discoveries (via Nick’s pad)

I’m a huge fan of both American and British sketch comedy – SNL, Monty Python, SCTV, Black Adder… but I guess I’m not following along as closely as I should because somehow both Mitchell & Webb and Fry & Laurie had completely passed beneath my radar. Nick’s DVR and DVD stash were stocked with each, as well as Black Books and some 4th season Black Adder I’d never seen, so every post-pub wind-down session featured a hilarious British comedy mini-marathon. Here’s one sketch that had us rolling - A typical session also involved a tasty Kebab – a late-night culinary theme that continued across the continent.

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