Dublinia

Been in Dublin three days now, and love the city. While the weather has been slightly depressing with constantly light rain, it's still been great to walk around and see the town. It is not a large tourist spot, with fairly few attractions, but most of the ones that are here are free to get into. Visited the Historical Museum, the Archeological Museum, the famous gaol whose name I forget (site of the execution of the leaders of the Easter Revolution) & the Natural History Museum over the last few days. The last one was a lot of fun, tons of stuffed animals and skeletons of most every animal imaginable. Strangely enough the catherdrals - St Patrick's & Christ Church - cost a fair bit to even get into, so we didn't go see them.

Spent a lot of time walking around O'Connelly Street, Grafton Street & Lord Edwards St. Due to the rain always picking up around 3 or 4 we've ended up playing a fair bit of card games, and watched a few movies either at the cinema or the hostel.

I don't think I'll ever get used to traffic on the wrong side of the road. It makes the streets slightly dangerous to cross, as I'm always looking the wrong way.

Music is good. Still haven't made it to a pub yet to hear some good traditional stuff, though. Were going to last night, but the one next to my hostel didn't have it like the advertised. Going to Kilkenny for tomorrow before coming back and flying to Amsterdam on Saturday - should be able to find some good music there.

Dublin's also expensive. Spent more here than I would like, but that's too be expected. In a few days I've going to start heading north (way up north...) so I can see the midnight sun. I should be hitting Kiruna (possibly farther), in Sweden, by the 26th or 27th after a 20 hour rail trip from Stockholm. After another few days of travel through Norway I'll begin my quick tour through Germany, with the possibility of a visit to poland and a concentration camp or two.