This begins a new series and I’m about a whole vacation behind so…just deal with it. The vacation before this will be uploaded at some point. Celtic Oktoberfest is this years annual holiday that I take with my best friend…and we were headed back to Europe. Can you guess where by name alone? That’s right, we were going to Ireland (some place I’ve been, but she hasn’t) and Germany, specifically Munich (new to both of us).

Requisite airplane selfie!

I’m beginning to think we might be incapable of city hopping every time we travel together. This was yet another 10-12 days trips, and like last year (when we went to London, Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam), we were hitting up four different cities again. The itinerary this time included, and in order, Belfast, Galway, Munich and Dublin. What?!?! Munich in the middle of it all? Yes, because it worked out to be cheaper that way.

Day One was a day I had to myself in Dublin. Friend Anne was not arriving until Sunday morning (the next day). I couldn’t, to myself, justify a night in a hotel, so I decided to try something new. I was going to try CouchSurfing…and if I had to, I’d get an AirBnb or stay in a hostel. In walks my fantastic host Rory. I thought my studio was small…his is even smaller. For the night, I was staying and chilling in Rathmines, a nice leisurely 20 minute walk to the City Centre, unless you get distracted by things like the Royal Canal and a famous statue.

Patrick Kavanagh 1904-1967

There were supposed to be some housing protests about on the streets, but it seems we had just missed them. Instead, we ended up at The Snug Guesthouse (a very, very “townie” bar), which turned out to be quite the dive…but in the non-traditional dive way. The men inside were mostly regulars. The bar was small as was the actually seating area. It was very Irish. I say this because I had a very hard time understanding what the man next to me was saying…or even what the man next to Rory was saying. Rory had no problems, mostly.

Kehoe’s

The Snug Guesthouse

The Snug Guesthouse

Kehoe’s

After The Snug, we headed over to Brogan’s for another pint to finishing watching the Liverpool match. The real reason we were at the pubs. I wanted to go to one more bar before heading home…so, over to Kehoe’s it was. We were going to go back out for some live music after dinner, but both of us were pretty tired.

breakfast courtesy of United Airlines

dessert courtesy of United Airlines

dinner courtesy of United Airlines

flying over (what I believe to be) Howth, Ireland

cloud game = strong

Royal Canal

street art

Rathmines – local street

City Centre – hidden street