Dublin, Day 1

Hi everyone!
I'm sitting in the lounge of the Abraham House on Lower Gardiner Street, a few minutes walk from the River Liffey. Dublin is dank.
My flight landed around 10 this morning. I waited for a while and thought I had forgotten my luggage until I realized I was looking at the wrong belt. whammy.
I dropped off my fat ass backpack in the baggage room here, and set out for the city by noon. Pleasures here abound for the architecture enhusiast. Like any old European city, Dublin is host to many very old structures that lie adjacent to modern office buildings and apartments. Being a fan of antiquity, my stops included Trinity Square, the oldest university in Ireland, Christ's Church, and St. Audeon's Chapel, among others. The streets are lively south of the river, and there is a surprising diversity to the people tht walk them. I heard many languages and accents.
My feet got tired, so I went to St. Stephen's Green, Dublin's "Central Park", and napped under a tree for three quarts of an hour.
The weather is ambiguous here. It stays within the range of 55-65, but I must have switched between my sunglasses and my raincoat at least ten times. So much for summer.
South of the Liffey, Dublin's thoroughfare is Grafton Street, a colorful pedestrian avenue packed with human "statues", musicians, and many many shops. Around it, a maze of more shops. And more tiny interconnecting alleys than one could ever explore in a day.
North of the river, the city's blood flows through O'Connell Street, which strongly resembles the Champs Elysees in its design, except without the cafes and their sidewalk tables.
In the afternoon I came back to the hostel to rest my feet and drop a duke. In the room (which has 20 beds, co-ed) I met two dudes from Vassar, two guys from Spain, one guy from Lille, and two chicks from NYC. Then I went out to have dinner with a friend of my step-grandmother's called Paul, whom I had never met but is very nice. After dinner, we went to a pub that advertised a jazz/funk band but ended up staging a karaoke night. We quickly finished our pints and moved on. Paul showed me a bar/restaurant inside a renovated church. That was cool.
Now I'm back and I'm exhausted. Desiree has kindly let me use her internet access on her laptop in exchange for my plug adapter. We're now best friends for it.
Tomorow, Glendalough.
Enjoy the high 90s lucky fuckers.
Danny