So now that I'm here I planned to get my room at Steingarten ("Rock Garden"). It's a university apartment... when I went to Sydney I chose to not do Uni housing at first in order to find a better deal myself. After discovering the paucity of apartments in the area I eventually went with the uni anyway. This time around, I decided to save myself the trouble by applying for uni housing from the beginning. Unfortunately, the WG office (Wohnen = "Apartment") is only open for a few hours on Tuesday and Thursday. Weird, huh? I guess I'll get my keys tomorrow.
I also met Alex, my VISUM buddy. This "buddy" program is a great idea... they hook you up with a local student who helps you out with stuff, and you actually /know someone/ when you get here. Fantastic. Plus, Alex is really great... she's fun and extremely patient and excellent with English. And she has weird (but good) friends. So tonight we went out with Melanie and Mira and Christoph to a fantastic club in the Jugenburg (sp?) area, "SoHo." I can't vouch for other nights but on Mondays they play a really groovy lineup that makes for great dancing. Average bar. Good atmosphere; gets hot - wear ventilated clothing. The whole Jugenburg (sp?) area is very hip and bohemian... I'd like to live here.
Woke up late with a headache. I begin to see a pattern forming. We met Dustin's best ladyfriend Julie at Zoologischer Garten station. At first I thought she was shy but she's really vivacious; it just took some time for her to acclimate to speaking with me in English, and she's quite good at it. Dustin & Julie used me as an excuse to explore the most turistic parts of their city. Here's Julie in the Beateuhse sex shop:
(Show photo of the sex shop (Beateuhse) w/ Julie)
Later in the night we met up with Richie and ventured to the Bar Der Visionare ("The Bar of the Visionary" - guaya, ya?). Julie drove - stick shifting like something out of the Bourne identity in her tiny little car. This place is a beach bar (sand-filled areas, tiki torches, right by the river) and has the best Long Island Iced Teas I've ever had. Really, I think that's the test of a bar tender: LIITs that taste like delicious iced tea and not some horrid coke nightmare, but still knock you out sip by sip. Met some Americans there - Chris and Suzy. It's great how you meet Americans (/Australians/Canadians) just by speaking English somewhere. They left with us, and then we got lost on the way to the car (somehow) and went dancing at some random 80's bar because Dustin saw a tall girl with nice legs inside. Getting lost turned out to be great (it usually does) after dancing to (examples of music?). Lots more drinking from Dustin & me (Julie was driving) and a really great night out. Eventually we got to Dustin's around 5am, chatted for a while, and fell asleep.
Katerina
Dublin, the Nicest City in the World?
Last night was my last in Dublin. The other guys from the hostel were headed out for some pool and clubbing, but I felt a little like being alone. Backpacking around you're constantly around people - you wake surrounded by people, shower with people, go out with people, eat with people, and go to bed with people. So - sometimes, it's nice to take a stroll by yourself.
In this case, I got lost. I wandered south of the river hoping to find some Irish music in a pub at Temple Bar. However, Temple Bar is a place for fun, but not genuine Irish-ness, if you get my meaning. It's become Dublin's main tourist attraction. So I didn't find what I was seeking... instead, I kept walking, hoping for something a little more cozy. I didn't find that either and ended up lost in the eye of a storm at St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Charlotte also has a St. Pat's. It's across the street from my parents' house, so I saw it every morning as a child waking up. Being near its big brother made me feel almost as if I were taking a stroll at home, so I sat by it for a while.
I asked a young thirty-ish man walking by to "point me north," because I could find my hostel from the river. He (Glen) asked me where I was headed and, upon hearing I wanted a pint and some food, invited me to have a drink with him. He was on his way to some late work at his office in the city and wanted a walk first, because like me, he does a lot of work alone, indoors, and from home. Of course I followed him and he took me to my now-favorite bar in Dublin: The Lord Edward. The Guinness is cheaper than anyplace I've been, and better, everyone is pleasant, it's very intimate, and the atmosphere takes you back to when England, rather than the US, was colonizing places. Go there.
In any case, we planned on a pint but spent the whole night there - Glen invited his girlfriend Pilar over, and she was quite nice. They're both fascinating people who have traveled all over the world - Glen is a designer as well (I think much better than me) and he builds graphics for an Irish TV station. We kept drinking over stories of African bribes and South American extortion, and eventually Pilar went home. A couple hours later Glen and I stumbled somewhere to get some food and then he led me to a point from which I could find my place. It was maybe the nicest night I've spent with a complete stranger.
