Dublin!

Hey ma! I'm alive!
[5/1/11 1:03:31 PM] Lisa Symington: YES! but where?
[5/1/11 1:03:47 PM] Troy Symington: In my hostel in Dublin!
[5/1/11 1:03:56 PM] Lisa Symington: Tell me all about it!
[5/1/11 1:05:48 PM] Troy Symington: I'm declining your call because I'm sitting in a common room and don't want to be annoyingly loud.
[5/1/11 1:06:01 PM] Lisa Symington: Notte Bianca must have been fun. Who else was still iin Florence?
[5/1/11 1:07:15 PM] Lisa Symington: You know, you could accept the call and turn down the volume :)
[5/1/11 1:07:21 PM] Troy Symington: There were a couple of people but we didn't meet up with them. It was just Alec and I roaming around on our own. Still fun though! Unfortunately we went to bed pretty early.
[5/1/11 1:07:25 PM] Lisa Symington: and speak quietly
[5/1/11 1:07:29 PM] Troy Symington: I would still have to talk loud.
[5/1/11 1:07:41 PM] Troy Symington: You wouldn't understand if I spoke quietly.
[5/1/11 1:07:50 PM] Lisa Symington: sure, sure....
[5/1/11 1:08:01 PM] Lisa Symington: Tell me more....
[5/1/11 1:08:22 PM] Lisa Symington: Was there good music?
[5/1/11 1:09:15 PM] Troy Symington: The Notte Bianca supposedly went on until 5 in the morning. We wandered around listening to bands. There were some DJ's and a couple small ensembles that were pretty good. We didn't see much in the way of the art stuff (because we couldn't read the program!)
[5/1/11 1:09:58 PM] Lisa Symington: Not read the program? Even with all the Italian in school? Bad Boy!
[5/1/11 1:10:38 PM] Lisa Symington: How was the florence hostel? the train or bus to Pisa and the flight? and then finding your way to your dublin hostel?
[5/1/11 1:14:43 PM] Lisa Symington: Are you going to chat?
[5/1/11 1:14:49 PM] Troy Symington: Weeeell. I mixed up our two Ryanair flights. So I thought we were flying out of Pisa at 3 but that's the London to Frankfurt flight... our flight didn't leave until 5 so we waited around for many hours after the train got us there at 12. We got into Dublin at 7.30 (we gained an hour it's 9.13 here right now). And took the hostel van from the airport to the hostel for FREE! We've only been here for like 30-40 minutes.
[5/1/11 1:15:14 PM] Lisa Symington: Ohhhhh
[5/1/11 1:15:31 PM] Lisa Symington: I guess you don't know Dublin very well then :)
[5/1/11 1:16:15 PM] Troy Symington: Not exactly... but our hostel is right across the river from the Custom House which is some famous building!
[5/1/11 1:16:22 PM] Lisa Symington: Have you had the local drink yet? is it Guinness in Dublin? or whiskey?
[5/1/11 1:16:44 PM] Lisa Symington: Do you have a tour book of Dublin?
[5/1/11 1:18:40 PM] Troy Symington: Guiness. No we don't have a tour book. And how could we have possibly already have had a drink here!?! Although I think we're supposed to take a tour of the Guiness factory at some point. Oh! Our hostel is giving us a free all day tour thing of the countryside tomorrow because we're staying over two nights! It's supposed to be really good but I'm not exactly sure what we'll be seeing!
[5/1/11 1:19:35 PM] Lisa Symington: Wonderful. I was just looking on wikitravel and saw the custom house photo on the river Liffey. Looks nice.
[5/1/11 1:20:36 PM] Troy Symington: Yup! Ummm... could I get some more money soon? I withdrew enough to last me the next couple of days. But there's only 200 left in the account.
[5/1/11 1:21:01 PM] Lisa Symington: I put in $1000 yesterday
[5/1/11 1:21:29 PM] Troy Symington: Yaaaay! It must not have processed it yet because I was just looking at BoA.
[5/1/11 1:21:49 PM] Lisa Symington: Have you checked with Bank of America for sister banks to save you fees?
[5/1/11 1:22:45 PM] Troy Symington: Yeah. I just haven't been able to figure out which ones are in Dublin! The UK is Barklay but I think I just need to look for Deutchbanks or Barklays while in Ireland.
[5/1/11 1:24:18 PM] Lisa Symington: I just looked at b of a and it shows my deposit as "processing"
[5/1/11 1:25:19 PM] Lisa Symington: I expect you will likely need more $ before you are done, but I am awaiting some deposits myself before I have enough to spare you. Hopefully within a week or so.
[5/1/11 1:25:25 PM] Troy Symington: Gotcha. I just checked and there aren't any Deutche banks... now to check Barklays and BNPs.
[5/1/11 1:26:19 PM] Troy Symington: M'kay. $1000 will definitely last me a while. An entire month if I was still in Florence! But since we got to pay for hostels and eat out all of the time...
[5/1/11 1:26:34 PM] Lisa Symington: How's the weather? I think of Ireland as rainy
[5/1/11 1:27:34 PM] Troy Symington: Cloudy. But a good temperature (though colder than Firenze this morning) and I haven't seen any rain yet.
[5/1/11 1:28:20 PM] Lisa Symington: I hope it is nice while you are there. It's always easier to walk around in good weather.
[5/1/11 1:29:21 PM] Troy Symington: Yup. I do have my umbrella but it's gotten even more broken. So if it starts raining a lot I'll probably have to buy a new one :(
[5/1/11 1:30:46 PM] Lisa Symington: My cheap ones (even one I bought in Pisa) were only 3Euro! Katie said it didn't withstand the wind, so I think you get what you pay for... Wikitravel says there's a meideval viking world in Dublin. Interesting sounding.
[5/1/11 1:31:19 PM] Troy Symington: Huh... I might have to look into this!
[5/1/11 1:31:55 PM] Lisa Symington: and there's a gaol where folks were executed.... yuck
[5/1/11 1:32:26 PM] Troy Symington: gaol?
[5/1/11 1:32:41 PM] Lisa Symington: http://wikitravel.org/en/Dublin
[5/1/11 1:32:52 PM] Lisa Symington: did I mis-spell? goal?
[5/1/11 1:32:55 PM] Lisa Symington: Prison
[5/1/11 1:33:06 PM] Lisa Symington: pokie
[5/1/11 1:33:14 PM] Lisa Symington: joint
[5/1/11 1:34:22 PM] Troy Symington: Now I'm confused? Since when is goal a synonym for those others?
[5/1/11 1:35:13 PM] Lisa Symington: GAOL, not goal
[5/1/11 1:35:44 PM] Troy Symington: What the hell is a gaol?!? That was the point of me asking in the first place!
[5/1/11 1:36:10 PM] Lisa Symington: the gaol is the prison, pokie, joint, jail
[5/1/11 1:36:33 PM] Troy Symington: Huh...
[5/1/11 1:37:03 PM] Lisa Symington: Com'on smartie pants. you always got an A in english class...
[5/1/11 1:37:30 PM] Troy Symington: Doesn't mean that I've ever heard that word before.
[5/1/11 1:38:57 PM] Troy Symington: Oh! Gaol is just the British spelling of jail!
[5/1/11 1:39:34 PM] Lisa Symington: They spell funny! Well, check out your touristy options and see if you want to see the gaol, or any of the other sites. Wikitravel does seem to be concise and informative, but I would compare it with other info you get.
[5/1/11 1:40:16 PM] Troy Symington: Yeah. I'm unsure of how much time we'll have to do stuff like that. But I'll look into it and we'll see!
[5/1/11 1:40:50 PM] Lisa Symington: Is it just you and Alec? at one point you thought one of your roomies might be with you
[5/1/11 1:41:56 PM] Lisa Symington: and when and out-of-where is your ryanair to frankfurt?
[5/1/11 1:42:11 PM] Troy Symington: Yeah. We just saw a couple of them. They'll all be on the tour tomorrow ridiculously early in the morning and we'll talk with them then!
[5/1/11 1:42:31 PM] Troy Symington: We're doing London to Frankfurt on the (I think) 17.
[5/1/11 1:42:45 PM] Lisa Symington: Who is "them"?
[5/1/11 1:43:15 PM] Troy Symington: Greg, Maura, Kim, Gabi, Avia.
[5/1/11 1:43:32 PM] Lisa Symington: ahh, not roomies then, but comrades
[5/1/11 1:44:26 PM] Troy Symington: Yup! Oh my god! People. are. driving. on. the. wrong. sideoftheroad!!!!
[5/1/11 1:44:51 PM] Lisa Symington: Yes, and they will run over you from the opposite side, too!
[5/1/11 1:45:16 PM] Troy Symington: It's soooo weird walking around!
[5/1/11 1:45:23 PM] Lisa Symington: haha
[5/1/11 1:45:34 PM] Lisa Symington: and they all talk funny, too
[5/1/11 1:45:47 PM] Troy Symington: I like the Irish accent!
[5/1/11 1:45:58 PM] Troy Symington: So how are things back home?
[5/1/11 1:47:03 PM] Lisa Symington: Things here are usual. We hauled Nanny's new curio cabinet up to her apartment without you, just Dad and I. It was heavy and didn't fit easily in the elevator...
[5/1/11 1:47:29 PM] Lisa Symington: Dad bought a new weed whacker yesterday and has been using it all morning.
[5/1/11 1:47:34 PM] Lisa Symington: without you...
[5/1/11 1:48:03 PM] Lisa Symington: We haven't seen Katie since Easter
[5/1/11 1:48:04 PM] Troy Symington: I'm sorry! Just goes to show that you guys can't handle things without me!
[5/1/11 1:48:17 PM] Lisa Symington: Looking forward to seeing you!
[5/1/11 1:48:43 PM] Lisa Symington: I am happily looking for hotels in Barbados for January
[5/1/11 1:48:56 PM] Troy Symington: I know! Only a couple more weeks! It was so weird leaving Florence this morning. I was surprisingly sad.
[5/1/11 1:49:03 PM] Lisa Symington: With 5 of us, we don't fit into most rooms.
[5/1/11 1:49:35 PM] Lisa Symington: I'm sorry you were sad, and I understand. You will ALWAYS remember though
[5/1/11 1:50:17 PM] Troy Symington: Yup! Sorry you're having trouble with hotels!
[5/1/11 1:50:25 PM] Lisa Symington: especially the special bond you shared with your fellow californians in a special place
[5/1/11 1:51:03 PM] Troy Symington: Yeah. I'm definitely gonna miss it. It's going to be weird going back to the real world.
[5/1/11 1:53:43 PM] Lisa Symington: You will have a really hard time coming back. Not only will we be mundane, you will have to be working, saving money instead of spending, denying yourself which I didn't want you to do much of while you were in Italy and now vacationing in a once-in-a-lifetime kind of way......
[5/1/11 1:54:54 PM] Troy Symington: Sigh.....
[5/1/11 1:55:01 PM] Lisa Symington: Well, I ought to get going. I am raking the back yard, under the oak tree.
[5/1/11 1:55:28 PM] Troy Symington: M'kay. I should go to. It's almost 10 and we haven't had much in the way of dinner yet. Love ya!
[5/1/11 1:55:47 PM] Lisa Symington: Love you too! Have a fun time tomorrow!
[5/1/11 1:55:50 PM] Lisa Symington: Mwah
[5/1/11 1:56:07 PM] Lisa Symington: :*