walking walking & a little boom boom

Woke early, had a long bath, got ready and headed out to get a coffee and have a smoke - I knew the others wouldn't be ready for breakfast for a few hours so I could take in the city early and alone. Dublin is much like Montréal in the weekday mornings, it seems...a slow starter. The cobblestone - which was filthy last night - is clean clean, and the only people out and about are those heading to work (and are dressed that way) those who are already working (like the old man polishing the outside brass of the hotel - with polish and a buffer by hand) and those still on route home from the previous night's outing. It's so amazing to take that in when no one else is up. After breakfast, M and I wandered - to try and find the old stomping grounds of my partner's folks and to check out the city. A short meander lead to a pretty serious trek - we walked the entire span of the city from Temple Bar to Phoenix Park, in really no time at all...Compared to Canadian spaces, this city is really, really small. It seems strange that they even have and use public buses, because they're not really needed! Took a ton of pictures up and down the Liffey, hit the Jameson distillery, walked past the Guinness storehouse (but didn't do the tour - thanks Avenger! Those who did said it bit) saw some sights. More on the tour when the photos come back.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

Perfectly located for conference goers (a literal hop skip and a jump from Trinity College) Blooms is located in the west end of Temple Bar - tourist haven for all visitors to Dublin, full of "hen-do's" (bachelorette parties: wait for the pictures, they'll blow your mind!!) and trinket leprechaun and celtic souvenirs, very reminiscent of New Orleans' French Quarter. During the day it's really quaint - cobblestone and old school pubs and great eateries. Later on, it morphs into rowdiness: stumbling, singing, puking, hollering - the works.

For sleeping, Blooms is the pits. Found out last night that a good chunk of the lower level of the hotel is actually a dance club - a really, really popular dance club that’s open late late - and that the bass is jacked up so high that the BOOM. BOOM. is not only inner-eardrum pounding but also vibrates the bed (and not in a good way). It's called "Club M" and M and I have started playing a new game as we wait for the 3:15am closing: name that crappy late 80s/early 90s dance bar tune. Yup, Salt'n'Pepa every single night. On the other side of the hotel is a pub with standard-issue house band playing "Irish" tunes that I've heard pretty much in every "Irish" pub across Canada, but it becomes an intimate, well lit, solid drinking hole after the major tourists have moved on...perfect for nightcaps, and they let you bring your pint up to your room.

If I were here for the same purpose as most of the people around me - to get shitfaced on the most delicious beer I've ever had in my life - this would be a kick-ass place to stay. Plus, it's totally reasonable in terms of cost.

But I am starting to miss not having a kettle or coffee maker in the room!