Temple Bar bar

I returned to Allison's flat in Dublin last night after my Galway adventures came to a close. She took me out for a night on the town in the neighborhood called Temple Bar, which I mentioned in my previous post. If anyone back home isn't sure whether or not the drunken Irish stereotypes are true, let me assure you: in this neighborhood, they are. The streets were crowded with groups of drunk people singing traditional drinking songs and less traditional drinking songs, i.e. Oasis' "Wonderwall."

Oasis is big here. Really, really big. Almost scary big.


*Allison, Italian friend Edoardo, Irish friend Dara, and me in front of Temple Bar bar in Temple Bar neighborhood. Yeah, people actually say "Temple Bar bar." Allison and I were sober - Edoardo and Dara were definitely not. I have a great video of them singing a very drunken duet (Oasis, of course).

This morning, we went to Dun Laoghaire ("Dun Leery"), which is a town not too far from Dublin. The "Festival of World Cultures" is going on there this weekend, which turned out to be really awesome. The highlight for me was a bagpipe group which played alongside a rambunctious Spanish percussion group and an Irish punk band. The result was a musical blend unlike anything I'd ever heard before. I really don't know how to describe it!


The worst (and by worst I mean most traumatizing) part of the festival was an event in People's Park. It was a kid's event, and a giant man on stilts and his tiny ghoulish comrade practically assaulted me, screeching and grabbing at my sweater like a couple of screeching, sweater-grabbing demons. I cried out "I don't like you at ALL!" and they continued their attack shouting "why you no like, why you no like" until I managed to escape. I took this photo of the giant later, without getting too close. I don't know why they think small children would enjoy that kind of terror.


I guess he doesn't look too bad here, but remember that he was screeching. Absolutely terrifying. Also, I may have been a little jittery... Irish tea is apparently quite caffeinated - something I didn't realize until I had finished an entire pot.

Since it was pouring rain, we returned to Dublin before the festival ended. We decided to cook dinner, which turned out to be the best meal I've had since arriving in Ireland. Vegetables with curry and rice. Mmmm. I literally haven't eaten a single vegetable since arriving here, (unless you count potato?) so my poor tummy was begging for some rabbit food. There isn't a lot of produce on most restaurant menus here. In fact, there's no produce on most restaurant menus.

Oh, which reminds me. Mini rant time: all of the produce in Irish grocery stores is individually wrapped. Plastic-wrapped tomatoes on styrofoam trays, plastic-wrapped zucchini. Each eggplant comes in its own individual plastic bag. I can't believe the amount of waste that this creates! The grocery stores encourage the use of reusable bags, but wrap each eggplant in loads of plastic. I can't believe it. Also, there are no recycling bins which actually caused me physical pain. Berkeley should teach Ireland a thing or two about being eco-friendly!

Rant over, back to the point: the meal. Words can't do it justice, but how about this:


Can you taste the curry goodness? I didn't realize how much I missed my veggies until the post-meal food coma ensued. What a beautiful feeling.