Aloe Gov’na: London and Dublin

Aug 20

Aug 20 Aloe Gov’na: London and Dublin

London won’t rank on the list of most exotic place I’ve ever visited (or the warmest, or on the list of places with the best food) but it’s a pleasant place to visit. What it lacks in uniqueness and culinary flare though it makes up for in convenience. Easy to fly into, easy to get around in once you’re there. It’s expensive and sure, they drive on the wrong side of the road, but that won’t stop you from having a good time. Like most of my trips lately this was a quick one. London is so thoroughly soaked in history that it’s hard to pass a square or roundabout that doesn’t have a name you recognize. Nelson, Piccadilly, King this, Queen that, Lord so and so, the history can be overwhelming. There’s a lot to see and do, but using the Underground to zip around won’t break the bank and helps you see as much as you want quickly. Before I left for this trip, stumbled across a long, detailed article on Rick Steves and it inspired me to buy his guidebook to London. Then I bought the one for Ireland, just for the sake of completeness. For a long time I kind of poo-pood guide books. The internet would be much more up to date, right? More detailed, more nuanced. If you wanted a list of top ten things to do in London for people who like to walk a lot? There are a thousand of them. How about of list great tattoo artists in London so you can finally get that Harry Potter tattoo you’ve always wanted? You won’t find that in a guide book. But a guide book is now almost charmingly retro, and reading something by someone who has a passion for travel, and does it for a living, is different than reading a blog post written by an internet influencer who’s sponsored by a hotel to look gorgeous by the their pool.

So I museum-hopped and fish’n’chipped my way around London, thoroughly enjoying the Tower of London and the British Museum the most. I got lucky with decent weather, and though Big Ben was completely covered in scaffolding, had a nice time touring the city.

On the way back, I had a few days layover in Dublin, and though I didn’t have enough time to get out into the countryside, I had a plenty of time to explore the city. It’s mostly walkable, and even though it’s the largest city in Ireland, it doesn’t quite have the corporate feel that London has. I saw the usual sites here, and ate at a restaurant just a day after George Clooney and Bono had dinner there. I’m pretty sure that makes us best friends now.

The trip wrapped up and I’m heading home. I learned that there’s no such thing as too much clotted cream – even though it sounds like some horror you would find in a nursing home clinic. I know that capital cities are often not the place where you can find the ‘realest’ of experiences when visiting a new country, so I’ll be back someday to explore a little more; until then, I’ll be ahright gov’na.

Where I Stayed: Cheap hotel not worth mentioning.

What I did:
Tower of London
British Museum
The Tate Museum
Dublin walking tour
Guinness Factory, of course, where I learned I don’t care for Guinness.