A Tale of Two Cities

So, part out of laziness, and part out of a lack of creativity, I thought I'd combine Dublin and London into a single post.

The fact is that each one of these two towns are actually thriving metropolises. Dublin, as opposed to small Irish villages like Galway, is actually quite large, with a giant downtown shopping area and district called Temple Bar that rivals what used to be the French Quarter.

Temple Bar is so big and so touristy that it begs the question of whether visiting Dublin is really a representation of Ireland, or if you visit Dublin for the atmosphere of Temple Bar itself. Again, New Orleans comes to mind. For most people, a trip to New Orleans meant Borboun Street and a cheesy replica of a Paddleboat. The real New Orleans was quite different, but no tourist would enjoy the rest of what New Orleans had to offer. So I wonder if Dublin is the same way.

On Sunday night, Lisa and Pauline decided they wanted to take Dan to Gay Bingo and asked if I wanted to join. Now, I think this shows my maturity. I would have been perfectly justified if I had stared at Lisa for a moment and exclaimed loudly, "Are you flippin crackers? I'm sorry, has someone reached inside your skull, snatched your brain, and replaced it with a pint of Guinness?" But, I politely mutterred something about going to watch Irish bands. I felt bad for Dan who came over to me to me later and said, "You don't play bingo and you're straight, so I'm not sure why they thought you'd want to do that on your last night in Dublin." So, common sense seemed to prevail.

While the rest of the crew hit Gay Bingo, I ventured about 15 minutes out of downtown Dublin up to a local music venue called Whelan's, where I was soothed with the sounds of Irsh rock and rollers playing Johnny Cash. But the people were friendly in that "neighborhood out with their friends" kind of way. It made me think Dublin would be a pretty ok place to live.

Now, if you've been to London, then you know exactly how big the place really is, and I really don;t need to do any explaining. It's basically New York with older buildings, nicer taxi cab drivers and people driving on the wrong side of the road. If you've never been to New York, London or I imagine Tokyo or Hong Kong, you can't really get a sense of the scale.

We did the cheesy tourist things - Buckingham Palace, Parliament, Big Ben, the London Eye, etc...and you really feel the chasm between tourist and native. Tourists (like us) wander around without a clue, while Londoners are on guest lists at bars and plan nights out with precision so they don't waste money on excess cabs and trains. Nowhere have I ever felt so lost and hopelessly out of control of a travel situation - and we even had a great tour guide leading the way.

So I can understand why people live there and choose to stay forever. It really is an amazing mix of smart, talented people, in a city that's a 3 hour flight from EVERYWHERE, and where you can make a ridiculous salary. I definitely added it to my list of places to send resumes. It's expensive as hell, but the good news is that wherever you travel, you're getting a discount.

Here are some quick stats from the trip to London:
Citizens of London: 8 million+
Places to see: Thousands
Price of Zone 1 Daily Underground Pass: 4.70 pounds (US $8.50)
Favorite Underground Stop Names: Chalk Farm, Mornington Crescent, Elephant and Castle, Tooting Bec, Mudchute
Underground Miles Travelled: 2.6 million
Cost of Average Taxi ride: 10 pounds
Cost to get into a good club: 20 pounds
Cost to get into a bad club: 5 pounds
Amount of money we spent: Who knows?

I'll try to put more effort into the pictures, because words don't really adequately describe either city.

I'm in town this weekend for the first time in a month, so I'll try to find some funny Mancunian trouble to report on.