Wednesday, May 28, 2008

the irish are taking over the world

so dublin was awesome, even though there were gingers everywhere. annie and i did a tour of the guinness brewery which was very educational...and by educational i mean
we got a free pint and that was awesome. dublin brewed guiness simply cannot compare with the stuff we get in canada. it was a beautiful thing. the first night we were there, it was a saturday night so it was essential to head down to the temple bar area where EVERYONE goes to drink. see, in every country i have visited, there has been an irish pub, so i was excited to visit an irish pub IN IRELAND. and it was pretty great. afterwards we took a stroll home along the river liffey, which i did not realize was in dublin. all i had heard of it was from a radiohead song

that there, that's not me
i go where i please
i walk through walls
i float down the Liffey

i'm not here
this isn't happening


but then, i was also the one that didnt realize that Ireland and Northern Ireland were two separate political identities. also, the first thing i asked when i got to dublin seeing all the bilingual signs was, does anyone actually speak gaelic here? its a wonder i didnt get lynched in ireland.

afterwards, we took a plane back to France and met up with annies friends in Nimes. my guidebook says that Nimes is significant for two reasons: the roman ruins, and the fact that denim was invented here...de nimes. when someone elses culture and jeans is what you have to boast about, you dont expect much from a place. but i rather enjoyed Nimes a lot. it was a very quaint city and the Roman ruins was actually pretty cool. most of my night was spent in an irish pub. you really cant escape irish pubs. come to think of it, i spent most of tonight in nantes in an irish pub as well. ahhh, who cant help loving the irish.

my french gets better with beer.

i am totally perplexed by the toilets in france. many of them dont have toilet seats. its not because i am a spoiled north american girl; its just because ive only encountered seatless toilets in third world countries like Cuba. i mean, i travelled eastern european countries struggling to rebuild after communism, and even their toilets have seats. so what is the french excuse for forcing me to squat? nous sommes trop occupe avec nos revolutions?