In 2015, it was announced that my alma mater, Georgia Tech, would be having a football game in Ireland in 2016. I decided to go ahead and make plans to go to this game. A lot of my friends from college, some that I haven't seen since college, were also going to go to the game. It would be a great opportunity to have some sort of a reunion while there. I ended up getting into Dublin on a Thursday and some friends and myself found an AirBNB near the stadium. It was maybe only 3-4 blocks away from the stadium so it was in a pretty good location. The first day was spent getting used to jetlag. My trick is to take a shortish nap in the afternoon, 1-2 hours, power through the rest of the day, and then go to bed at a decent time. But being in Ireland with some college friends, we ended up drinking until 1 in the morning or so. We also went to the usual Guinness brewery. It was crowded and in my opinion no longer worth the money since I have been there so many times before. However, one of my friends suggested the Guinness Open Gate Brewery. This is where they have many experimental brews there and it was absolutely fantastic! Well worth the money and some very great, unique beers. I think everyone's favorite was the Antwerpen Stout. If you are going to Dublin, I say skip the main brewery if you have gone before and go straight to the Open Gate Brewery.
My stormtrooper companions
I loved this company's website address
Random creepy Irish alley that I took a picture of
In America, red doors are a thing. In Ireland, yellow doors are a thing.
The stadium is in the distance and this is right in front of the flat.
GUINNESS!!!!!
Amazingly hilarious "pick up the poo" signs in Dublin. Yes, his eyes are piles of poo.
Another yellow door.
Colorado in Ireland.
Irish band playing in the pub.
For the football game, we played against Boston College. Dublin puts on this college football game every few years and it usually is a school with strong Irish ties. Notre Dame has played many times and Boston College has been the home team for the last few years. Speaking of, while BC was technically the home team, it seemed that there was at least 3 GT fans for every 1 BC fan. It was also a pretty big deal in Dublin with banners everywhere and it seemed that every store, restaurant, and pub had advertisements for the game. It kind of took us by surprise.
We ended up going to brunch prior to the game and then headed to the stadium. One of my friends had a block of about 20 seats together at the front of the 2nd level. Great seats! GT scored on the 1st drive and then the rest of the game was pretty ugly. It wasn't very exciting and wasn't good football until towards the end. Georgia Tech ended up winning 17-14 which made everyone very "lively" for the rest of the day.
On Sunday morning, we ended up watching the hurling finals. Hurling is a crazy ass game that dates back about 3,000 years. And in the name of that ancient tradition, we watched it in a pub, on the TV, while drinking whiskey and Guinness. The game was actually very fun to watch. We asked some locals some questions about the rules, but since were were all there for a football game, we could appreciate good sport when we saw it.
After that, we ended up getting on a train to Belfast since many of us had coincidentally planned to go there next. I had traveled through Europe several times on trains before. The rest of the crew had not traveled as much as me. Because of that, I had to help educate them on proper train traveling etiquette. No one though, had thought what it would be like traveling from Dublin to Belfast on a train after their Super Bowl. The train was a madhouse! Many people were standing up because there were no more seats, we saw 3 guys in 2 seats, several people were still drinking while a few were passed out, and the locals were friendly, but a bit "overly friendly" in a few ways that made us uncomfortable. A great story, but definitely awkward.
Seats for the GT game.
More home in Ireland.
Birds!
How you properly travel on a train in Europe.
Uh, this policy isn't strictly enforced.
When will they realize that this is a BAD design? There should not be separate faucets for the hot and cold water.
At this point, I was definitely ready to leave Dublin. Dublin is a cool city, but it is very international with it being a very mixed city culturally. That's not necessarily a bad thing because cultures mix everywhere, but you don't go to Dublin for authentic Irish culture. So, we went to Belfast next. Belfast is not quite authentic Irish, but it was very eye opening.
Belfast is a very industrious town. Because of that, it isn't very pretty. Just my opinion though. We were there for only a day and a half and I didn't get to see as much as I wanted to see. I want to go back and see a few more things, but I think another day and a half and I would be done with Belfast. Belfast has a lot of history with The Troubles that went on for about 30 years. The best way to learn about it is to take a Black Taxi Tour of the city. I linked to just one tour company, but there are several around.
What they do is they take you around the city and show you many of the murals that adorn the city that commemorate both sides of the fight. You also learn a lot about the history. I'll try to give a very short summary, but I won't do it justice. The Troubles were a fight between the Catholic minority that wanted a united Ireland and the Protestant majority that wanted to remain a part of the United Kingdom. The reason why the Protestant majority wanted to remain with the UK is because they have faced discrimination and oppression in the past while under Catholic rule. The Catholics in Northern Ireland want to be united with their brethren in the Republic of Ireland and not be under the rule of The Crown.
If you want deeper thoughts of how this affected me and my thoughts on how it compares to current events, please send me a message. I don't want this to be political at all, but I will discuss it deeper offline. I will say that seeing the memorials for both sides, and the murals on street corners, and the "peace lines" between Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods that still exist because the residents think that it is a matter of time before the fighting begins again had a very profound, striking effect on me. I now say that if you go to the British Isles, seeing this in Belfast is the top of the list.
Belfast Botanical Gardens on my morning run.
Belfast Botanical Gardens
Interesting sculpture at Queen's University Belfast, but had trash in the mouth.
Proper Irish breakfast at the French Village.
Rare blue sky.
Creepy Jean-Claude Van Damme billboard.
Customs House, got a picture of it for my wall
Murals
This is a "peace wall" for the nationalist side.
The other side of the "peace wall"
Seriously, go to Belfast and learn about The Troubles.
Beat this shamrock in a Guinness!
Belfast City Hall.
The Titanic was built in Belfast and here is some stuff from it.
More food.
After the day and a half in Belfast, I had to take a train from Belfast, back to Dublin, to catch a bus to Galway. And the rest of the story will be told in my next post.
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