Well, I guess I've been a little too busy livin' to write about it! So today it's my aim to get caught up.

Mark and I continued our pub tour of Dublin. The first one is on Dorset Street, and so I've passed by it at least a hundred times by now because it's on the way from our house into the city centre. The outside always reminded me of a 60s style American office building. There don't appear to really be windows, so you can't see in from the street to get an idea of what it looks like. Naturally, I thought it was going to be a dive inside:


However it wasn't a dive at all! It was a very nicely decorated place with vinyl-upholstered walls with mirrors and bank seating. Of course we were practically the only people in there under the age of 50. We took photos of the inside with the film camera, but they haven't been developed yet, so I'll have to insert them later.
EDIT: Here's the photo I took from inside with Mark's camera. As you can see, it's got some cool decor:

The pint was ok, but certainly not great. If I had a large group of people and I happened to be in the vicinity, I might suggest it, but I probably wouldn't think to go there again.

Then we ventured a couple blocks over to the Bodrhan pub, which is at the top of Parnell Square next to the Maldron Hotel. It's in an area that is mostly flats (American readers: "the flats" are basically a step up from tenement housing). The outside of the pub is hideously painted with fake stones and the inside is all new. I found a photo of it in flickr, with the heading "Ugliest Pub in Dublin?"


It sort of looks like a sports bar. It kind of reminds me of PA's Lounge in Somerville, MA, actually. But they have four euro pints so that was cool. We sat down a table over from these three dudes who were *totally* wasted, but still drinking. At one point, one of them was going up for another round and another guy says, "Get us three whiskeys," and the first guy say, "No. I'm gettin' us three pints," and I started to laugh and the second guy slurs to me, "Whatryou laughin' at?" And I just laughed again. Then the bartender had to bring the pints over because the first guy was too drunk to carry them. He didn't miss the opportunity to rat the guy out to his friends. Then about ten women came in from the flats, to the great interest of all the men present. Then at one point, a guy walking through randomly shouted, "Tipperary!!!"

When Mark was up getting drinks, a guy at the bar was complaining about Dublin and how it had gone to pot, but he was immediately put in his place by the bartender. All in all, there were many interesting characters to watch there!