The evening went about as expected after I left you dear readers.
We got dressed up to go out which...we looked great but then we were thinking about how we were going to be outside for a good chunk of it, we bundled up so...you know...cute and comfy- not hot and freezing. We thought about being *those* girls but I'm too thin-blooded for that and Sarah's too responsible.
(We were very glad we did have layers though.)
So we bounced around 6 and had dinner at a nearby 5 Guys. I know, I know, but it was cheap and fast.
And delicious.
Then we made our way to the Quay and got there....about 6:45? A couple of the buildings were lit up, like Trinity College and the bank, but for the most part it was just colorful uplighting or christmas lights.
Then, at the quay, we discovered (/ were reminded of) the 6 pm concert for like, kids and family. They did some fireworks and the orchestra but they literally prevented us from walking over to see the custom house. We HAD to wait until they opened the lines for the concert.
I wasted about 15 minutes wandering around trying to see what might be on the river (cause that's where some of the lights and orchestra were set up on barges) and then by the time Sarah was like, "We should get in line for the concert side" it was another 15 minutes.
Luckily the line was still pretty short, and we got in right as it opened. We even got super close to the stage! We were about 3/4 people deep? We had a few assholes literally pushing us but Sarah and I held our ground, and we developed a bit of a community with some others around us who helped us from being crushed. We met a nice couple from the UK, a local Irishman from Derry, another couple from the Northern UK. (Much younger, and the girl was wearing an off-the-shoulder top. She looked super fashionable, but she was freezing.)
The concert was great.
The opening acts were really good, we're definitely following two of them for sure now (Aimee and Ash--Lisa McCough was good, but she's a western style singer so- not my cuppa) and then Walking on Cars came on and they killed it.
They took a tiny break when there were
25
Seconds!!
UNTIL THE NEW YEAR!!!
We counted down and then the lightshow began! Fireworks, lasers, 3D building projections, the orchestra, cheering.
It was amazing.
Did some Auld Lang Syne (no one knew it)
and then Walking on Cars did some more songs. Concert wrapped at 12:30 and that's when we started to drink.
There were beers at the concert, but frankly we held off to avoid having to lose our spot.
Plus, I think as crowded as we were, having a beer just would have made me anxious.
So! Getting out of there was......
DAMN
there were a lot of people at the concert.
just
HORDES
of people.
Whitewalker size,
Regular walker size,
Black Friday Sales size.
My god.
And people were already throwing up, pissing on buildings, running into lampposts and stumbling home and we hadn't even started!
We went past a ton of bars packed TO
THE
GILLS.
Eventually we settled on a bar called,
for real,
Bad Ass.
Bad ass was crowded, had live music and friendly people. We were able to get to the bar no problem (a guy traded me his spot, then waved the bartender over for me before disappearing into the crowd) and get drinks.
We traded spaces with others once we got our drinks and then our task of "getting pissed" officially began.
We had some shots and drinks, and danced until about 2:30. Sang with strangers, danced without spilling our beers. I complimented a girl on her outfit and I don't think I saw her stop smiling the whole time we were there. (If you're wondering why this might be a big deal, it was an all black outfit, but I loved the cut and it was super flattering, but it wasn't shiny! Sarah thinks it was because she was surprised she was noticed with it. Remember girls, it never hurts to pay a genuine compliment. (I'd say guys too but that could cross into creepy territory if you're not careful, and I have no idea how to navigate giving compliments as a guy so....you're on your own.))
We stayed out past my superstition of "Nothing ever good happens after 2 am" and luckily it was fine.
We stayed up even later once we got back to the hotel though--we got room service! Well we got a pizza.
I called down and the poor guy...
he was so flustered. I could hear the hustle and bustle behind him.
He told us that there was *literally* only pizza left.
And so we got pizza. (Cause I did ask about some other things and those were all gone so then after the 3rd thing I was like....a'ight. I do believe you when you say 'literally' now.)
I went to bed around 3:45 and Sarah says she went to bed around 4:30. Coffee folks.
It can do wonders.
But I am happy to report that when we got up at 9:45, we were hangover free and not ready to die hours into the New Year.
We did get a late start onto the road-not leaving Dublin until after 12.
Today, we drove to Kilarney-
We're doing the ring of Kerry tomorrow.
The drive was about 4 hours cause I had us stop at a place called Leap Castle. (Click on the right of the pics to see several)
It's a neat but odd thing. It's a GORGEOUS castle, but it's owned by one guy? Who's fixing it up?
He also lives there?
Friendly, but peculiar. Gave us a little rundown of the history, told us we could go up the tower, handed us some flashlights and had us on our way.
Like, he's still putting in electricity in the tower stairs and the tower in general. The top of the tower is completely....not done.
The owners WAY back when, the O'Connors were apparently very...hmm....violent? So they had this castle for those sorts of reasons, and the reasons of when violent people tick off other violent people reasons. The tower had these beautiful sweeping views of the valley to-you know-be alerted when others were marching on their land.
Good times.
Then after the brief tour, we got back on the road.
It was a mix of regular highway and Irish country roads (avoiding the toll road). Darkness hit about 5ish as we got really close to Kilarney.
From what we've seen of the place, it's very cute, but a little busy. We're going to do proper exploring tomorrow when we're done with the Ring of Kerry.
Dan, Amanda, literally everyone who's a fan of Star Wars- there's a store window we saw on our way back from dinner though that had Irish and star wars themed things.
Don't worry, we will be stopping in tomorrow.
Until then!
Here are some pics from the road.
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