From my Dublin Trip last year... just reminiscing...

"Another week over... another week brewing... Last week seemed such a boring span of days for me. Not too much happening, mostly going out for dinners all over the city. Remember when I told you guys I would be applying for a visa from the French Embassy here in Dublin so that I could fly to Paris... never happened. I needed a multiple entry visa to Ireland first in order for me to actually get out of here and come back again. I did just that, went to the Department of Foreign Affairs and did the whole waiting thing... I was there for four hours. My turn came and naturally I went up to the counter. As the lady on the other side of the counter was screening my passport, I noticed she seemed odd, then it happened... I can't get a multiple entry visa until I "get a green book"... I had no idea what she was talking about. She then explained that I would need to get a green book as a document that proves that I am a "resident" of Ireland. So I was frustrated with the fact that I wasted 4 hours of my day for nothing.

The next day, Tuesday, me and Kristine went to the Bureau of Immigration to get a green book. We decided to meet at the compound around 6:30AM... I got there 5 minutes late and I see a hundred people lined up. Krisitine was no where to be found. So I lined up feeling cold from the chilly Dublin mornings. Kristine arrived after 5 minutes as well. So we had to wait for 8:30AM as the ticket stubs (with numbers) will be given then. I got me a Grande Caffe Mocha from the nearby Cafe Sol and also some Danish. 8:30AM, we got our ticket numbers easily and saw that we were numbers 176 and 177. So we decided we would have time to go back to the office and come back during lunch. Lunch came, we arrived and saw that 104 was being called. We waited, waited, waited... finally after 4 hours of waiting, we were called. Came up to the counter smiling with confidence. As the person on the other side of the counter mentioned the words, "I'm sorry we can't issue you a green book because of your C-Business type visa"... my heart felt like it was being squeezed by a juice extractor... FUCK ... SHITE... DAMN YOU!!!!(side note, Kristine didn't get a green book as well)

We went to Grafton street immediately after the horrible afternoon came upon us. Grafton street is like Stephansplatz(a street where there are stores where you can do your shopping in Vienna). I was so keen on getting my mind out of that ghastly experience that I felt the need to buy something over the top! I didn't. I ended up just checking out the stuff on the display windows and drooling from the nice shoes, pants and shirts I would be seeing. After window shopping, I went to Kristine's place. We passed by St. Stephen's Green Mall first to get Jennifer. For dinner, Kristine made this amazing chicken dish, I brought pasta and pizza and Jennifer came with a bottle of Chardonnay. We had an amazing feast and ended up forgetting the whole fiasco of a few hours ago. Toasting to our exciting week before us we then proceeded to the Back Lounge which was just in front of Kristine' apartment. We had a couple of drinks, I sang a song(it was karaoke night), had loads of fun...

The following days were again pretty much ho hum... correction... very ho hum. The weekend though, I had committed myself to exploring the city by myself(Kristine went to Slane which is up north to catch the U2 Concert where Nelly Furtado, Ash and Moby were also performing as front acts... I know I know... but what can I do, the tickets were sold out way before I came to Dublin) anyway, as I was saying, I explored the city mostly went to the cultural sites. Checked out all the places that would have the word "National" as part of its name... i.e. National Gallery of Ireland, National Concert Hall, National Institute of Modern Art... blah blah blah... Saw a lecture on Art as Influenced by Music... very interesting. Got to see some great pieces by Rembrandt, Monet, Caravaggio and others. I never thought I'd be so captured by graphical illustrations of worldly images and subconscious thoughts."

*sigh*... the good ole days... cheers to Dublin... cheers to Ireland... Slainte!