Ireland/Iceland Trip, day 3: Dublin

Day 3 in Dublin and we decided to head out to the Tall Ship Festival, that had been the buzz of the town for the past few days. We had seen in various pubs men with heavy navy blue coats and and nautical hats, drinking together and enjoying Dublin. We headed out to the east part of River Liffey in a rare day of sunshine. The ships were indeed tall, huge masted structures with big sails that, when untied, must billow in the wind. They looked like pirate ships.

The highlight of the Tall Ship Festival was the Mexican ship, where the sailors had climbed up the masts to wave goodbye to the crowds standing on the side of the river. It seemed death-defying and we were suitably impressed. We left the festival just as it began becoming incredibly crowded; we heard later that a quarter-million people attended.

Dublin city was also buzzing with diffent families wearing the red-and-white or the green-and-yellow of sports teams. There was also a big match between Cork and Donegal happening in Dublin and everyone seemed to want to take their kids.

From the Tall Ship Festival, we headed towards the Dublin Writers Musuem, where we saw manuscripts, typewriters, and letters from the biggest names in Irish literature: James Joyce, of course, but also Sam Beckett, and others. The rooms were beautiful, and the gentleman manning the front desk was a real character.

Hungry from our literary leanings, we headed towards a Korean restaurant called Kim Chi that Will had found in a stroke of genius. It was so delicious to be eating hot rice and spicy Korean sauces in the middle of Dublin.

After lunch, we headed towards the river again to visit the Jameson whiskey factory. I have a whole new respect for the coopers, or the men who put barrels together -- it sounds like hot, heavy and difficult work. I also have a new respect for whiskey, and for Jameson in particular; it is always a pleasure to hear people talking about things they are passionate about, and expert at. At Jameson, they explained the triple distilled process, and how their whiskey has honeyed caramel notes because they only use seasoned barrels from sherry or port to age their whiskey.

From Jameson, we headed home for a minute, then headed back out for dinner and stories at the Brazen Head. We learned about the Irish potato famine, as well as the faerie mythology of the islands. With Irish music accompanying the traditional pub dinner, it was a perfect way to end the night.

Ireland/Iceland Trip, day 2: Dublin

We breakfasted on simple omelets and strong coffee at the nearby Lemon cafe, before heading back to Trinity College (this time with cash in wallet) for attempt number two to see the Book of Kells exhibit.

Learned a lot about the painstaking craftsmanship that went into making these beautiful, illuminated texts.  The exhibit and the book itself (behind some serious plate glass) made the visit worthwhile, but the unexpected star of the show was the Long Room, Trinity's historic library.  The weight and smell of all that old, loved leather and paper is with me still - it was a real treat for two bibliophiles.  No pictures were allowed, but here's a good snap from the internet:

From Trinity, we took a short walk to the excellent National Museum (Archaeology).  The intricately carved Cross of Cong made a lasting impression, and the viking relics brought the iron age to life as well.  After seeing some 3,000-year-old, solid-gold necklaces, Lauren has also informed me that she knows what she wants for her anniversary present.

We then swung by St. Stephen's Green, a lovely park just south of our hotel, on our way to the Cornucopia vegetarian restaurant for lunch.

Friendly vibe, quite full and bustling, with tasty food.  As I type this, Lauren is allowing herself her first jetlagged nap of the trip, but I've promised not to let her nap take on epic proportions.  More later...

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After Lauren's (ultimately epic) nap, we had a refreshing 30-minute walk to the Guinness Storehouse, where we learned all about the history and manufacturing process behind Guinness.  Clearly, this is a building-shaped Guinness ad, but just as clearly it's also a real labor of love.  It's cool to be in a spot where they've been making the same beverage for just over 250 years.

With a couple of hours before our late dinner reservations, we relaxed at the Kehoe pub near our hotel. The Guinness tour did its job: Will was eager to have a pint!

Afterward, we ate at the Pig's Ear restaurant, which had received top billing for Modern Irish fare.  Every bit of food was incredible, and we ended the night with some Irish coffee (of course).

Ireland/Iceland Trip day 1: Dublin

We arrived in Dublin early in the morning and hopped into a cab. The rain has made the foliage incredibly green and verdant. Will said it reminds him of Virginia. Pots of flowers here are incredibly full and colorful, bursts of bright fusia, purple, and cream.

The cab driver was an elderly gentleman who talked about "boom times" followed by the recession. His daughter's house lost half it's value and her family is struggling to pay back the mortgage. We knew that the recession hit Ireland especially hard, but it is another thing to see it with your own eyes.

On a tip from the concierge, we found Keough's, a little cafe along Grafton Street with fresh pastries and delicious breakfast items. I had a mini Irish breakfast, with an egg, sausage, slice of ham, and "pudding," which is a salty meat-based mush that was delicious (I don't want to know what was in it). Grafton Street reminds me a lot of Michigan Ave back home in Chicago, with the big designers and specialty stores. Some were special to Ireland, but many are the same.

We headed into the city roughly following the itinerary in Frommer's, and our first stop was Dublin Castle. While beautiful, we could not figure out how to get into the castle, and ended up looking at it mostly from the outside. The highlight was surprisingly the Revenue Display, which discussed the role of tax collectors, to which I had never given much thought before. I thought of John and how much he would have liked it.

We did find the Chester Beatty Library, however, and poked around the gorgeous illuminated manuscripts and old books.  Will and I spend so much time with our heads in books that it seemed like a special place for us. This library has some of the earliest papyrus texts of the Bible, dating back to circa 200 AD. It also had a ton of Asian scrolls and pieces.

From the library we headed to the Christ Church Cathedral, a lovely stone structure with buttresses and 19 bells that we heard from blocks away. It was a quiet and restful stroll through the building, looking at its gorgeous organ and treasures.

[At this point in the narrative, Lauren neglects to mention the stops at the Sub-City comic+sci-fi shop, and at Clark's for shoes, where Lauren drew first shopping blood.  --Will]

From there, we headed to Trinity College and found the line for the Book of Kells. We have been running into a few problems with shops not accepting our American swipe credit cards, however, and we were unfortunately three Euros short of being able to get in.

After strolling around the gorgeous green fields at Trinity, we headed to the Temple Bar area. We first had a wine (Will), some tea (Lauren) and fresh-baked bread at the newly-opened Hippety's. Then, Will heard some Irish music playing, so we stopped into the Gogarty pub for a Guinness.  On the way home, we stopped by another pub, O'Neill's, for some beef and Guinness stew. After such a long day, it was delicious.

This morning, I sit by the window in the great room of our hotel, looking out over Grafton Street. Dublin has been rainy the whole time, but we don't care. I am drinking insane quantities of black tea and looking forward to our day.

Helsinki to Tallinn, August 23

We had an early morning with a rushed-but-tasty hotel breakfast in order to catch the short ferry from Finland to Estonia.  The ferry didn't have "seats" as such, but we sort of squatted at an out-of-the-way bar table and dozed through most of the trip.  We happened to be perched midway between a large bar where a horn-heavy band was playing dance music, and a smaller bar where a soulful guitar-wielding Finn was singing songs like "Hotel California" ... phonetically.  Maybe the weirdest dreams of my life.

Then, Tallinn.  We were staying in the Old Town, which is one of the best-preserved old towns in Europe with some buildings and fortifications dating from the 13th century.  Everywhere we went in Tallinn, I felt like we'd stepped into a fantasy novel or a fairy tale.  Pictures are probably best:

We had lunch at Kompressor, a divey "pancake" place, but the pancakes were much more like hefty (delicious) crepes.  We enjoyed a walking tour with our guide Mari, had dinner at a local spot, and then some after-dinner drinks at a bar called Clazz.

By this point in the trip, speculation about the upcoming Big Reveal was starting to heat up.  I should explain: on this trip, for the first few days no one was allowed to reveal where they were from, where they'd gone to school, what they'd studied, and (if traveling in a couple) which member of the couple was the Northwestern student.  We'd all gotten to know each other by this point, and people were having a lot of fun guessing each others' life stories.

After dinner and drinks, we returned to our basic-but-serviceable hostel in the heart of Old Town for a good night's sleep.

Helsinki, August 22 - Suomenlinna

We spent the first part of the day on Suomenlinna ("castle of Finland") (no actual castle), which was originally built as a Swedish fort.  Suomenlinna has a history as rich as Finland's -- see the wikipedia link above.

Many of the original fortifications are in place, and others have been faithfully restored.  Today, a few hundred Finns also live on the island year-round, commuting to mainland Helsinki by short ferry ride or (in case of emergency) under-sea tunnel.  We enjoyed strolling the island.  We also had a nice chat with an older Latvian-American couple on a long trip themselves.  Chuckling, they encouraged us to spend a lot of money in Riga once we got there.

Suomenlinna's drydock was particularly impressive, and was considered very large at the time of consturction.  Be sure to stare at the first picture for a second to get the perspective right; that is NOT a small boat!

After returning from Suomenlinna, Lauren and I stopped at local vegetarian restaurant Zucchini, where we got a bit of a break from the meat+potatoes fare.  We napped and wandered through the rest of the afternoon, before joining the rest of the KWEST group for a Belgian dinner (and a few Chimays) at Belge, and then some partying at the local Butterfly Bar.  Lauren and I had less party stamina than many of her new classmates, but everyone had a great time.

Helsinki, August 21 - Arrival, bus/boat tours

Lauren and I were thrilled to join the KWEST Baltics trip this year.  KWEST is a Kellogg business school program where students entering the first year of their MBAs split into groups of 25, and bond over exotic vistas and new foods during a week abroad.  Along the way, there's usually some service component, lots of sightseeing, and lots of partying.  A good time all around.

We'll be posting our notes from the trip over the next few days.  Pictures from the whole trip are already posted.

We flew direct from Chicago to Stockholm, then had a 2-hour layover in Stockholm where one of our new trip buddies immediately fell in love with every Swedish woman.  A short flight to Helsinki, and our trip was begun in earnest.  The pine trees outside the airport were a great first sight.

Many unfortunate souls (like me) hadn't slept during the overnight plane flight, and so energy was a bit low as we checked into the Hotel Arthur...

In a noble attempt to combat jetlag, the trip leaders had planned an immediate bus tour for our first day in Helsinki.  We alternated between dozing and sightseeing, but enjoyed cool stops at a church built into solid rock...

...and at the Sibelius monument, honoring Jean Sibelius, a composer whose work is central to the Finnish national identity.

After the bus tour, we had a bit of time before our next activity (boat tour), during which we wandered through the breathtaking senate square before meeting up with the group back at the mermaid statue.

I'll be honest: I slept through most of the boat tour.  I must have snapped a few photos while sleeping, though?

We finally lurched our way to a hearty dinner of meatballs and hash at a restaurant called Zetor, and then it was time for a long, hard sleep.

I had just enough awareness of my surroundings during this groggy day to reach one firm conclusion: I'd move to Helsinki in a heartbeat!