Dublin, Ireland

Well, I was semi-functional today, and I decided that would have to be good enough. Walked over to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells; pretty cool, although I'd really like access to the whole thing instead of just the pages they had on display. Someday maybe my credentials will be impressive enough to merit that. I got a few pictures of the campus for Taryn as well (waitress from the Wok About who went to school there for two years), but it was crowded with incoming "freshers" signing up for the various clubs & societies so I didn't stay long.

After that I wasn't really feeling any better, but on the advice of uncle Scott & the guy at the hostel's front desk I decided to try using Irish whiskey as a cure, and made my way up & along the river to the Jameson distillery. The tour was more expensive (€13.50 vs. £7.00) and not quite as cool (since it's no longer a functional distillery; that's all done down in Cork, since the 70s) as the Oban tour, but still fairly neat. I also got picked as one of eight "volunteers" to do a taste comparison at the end, between Irish whiskey (Jameson), Scotch whiskey (Johnny Walker) and American bourbon (Jack Daniels). Even though I was the only one to choose the Scotch as my favorite, we all ended up with a "diploma" declaring us Certified Irish Whiskey Tasters. Plus, of course, the glass of Jameson that everybody got at the end of the tour. Oddly enough it did seem to help, though the effects wore off before long; I guess that's why the Mexicans down in Orondo always recommended a full bottle of tequila to cure what ails you.

I ended up eating at the distillery too: a remarkably good leek & potato soup, and a pretty good Thai chicken salad. While I was eating I talked with a guy a few seats down; he turned out to be a lawyer who worked around the corner & came in for lunch fairly regularly. We talked about my trip, and public transit, and how expensive Ireland is, and at the end of the meal he ended up paying for my lunch. Hooray for lawyers! No, you can't quote me on that. It probably wouldn't have happened, but I sat around for awhile after I finished... it's hard to tell over here whether they're going to bring you a bill or just have you walk up & pay at the counter.

After lunch I ran into one of the guys from the hostel who had stopped by to pick up some Jameson (random: they pronounce it funny... kind of a cross between "Jay-messon" & "Jamm-esson," which was impossible for me to replicate) before heading back to art school in Galway, and we walked back to the hostel; he stopped off at the pub next door, and I got to work on all my postcards. I still need to look up the addresses for a couple of them (Taryn & the NCNB ladies)... I meant to do that earlier, but got distracted by email, Facebook, and Gulliver's Travels. I think I'm going to do that now, then read for awhile before attempting to get some sleep.

Goals for tomorrow:

• Get more cold medicine; even if I'm better, my supply is gone.
• See Christ Church & St. Patrick's
• Guinness tour!