The most noteworthy acts at the festival included Goliath, standing at just four feet tall and known as the "World's Smallest Strongman," who was able to lift twice his body weight with one hand! Wacky Chad from America accomplished a back-flip on a po-go stick without any injuries. One of my favorite jokes by Chad was “If you’re wondering what health insurance we use in the U.S., it’s the ‘do not get hurt’ policy…” I also saw many other acts, including a “lad” who could juggle seven balls and another “lad” who could swallow fire, but Chad stood out most based on his comical personality (Here’s his website: http://wackychad.com/) Definitely a talented "lad” (they seem to use that word regularly here, it’s new to me which is why I feel the need to put it in quotations and use it excessively in one paragraph).
After the festival, a group of us decided to go to a pub nearby called The Ivy House. I really enjoyed this particular pub because most of the pubs I’ve been to so far are more relaxing in nature, whereas The Ivy House has more of a lively feel with plenty of dancing. They played the perfect 80’s and 90’s playlist, including Spice Girls “Stop,” (the lyrics of my title come from this song, I thought they were fitting to the theme of this post), S-Club-7’s “Reach for the Stars,” and Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer.” This was definitely my favorite night out so far because of both the enjoyable company and the upbeat atmosphere of the pub. My only complaint was the overpriced drinks. Now that I’ve been to numerous pubs, I have a feel of what drinks should cost. While a pint of draught typically goes for 4.50-4.70 Euros, this pub sold pints for 5.00-5.15 Euros, and even increased the prices beyond that after midnight!
The next day I woke up early so that I could travel to Howth via train to a farmer’s market, which we heard was worth seeing from an Irish local we met in a pub a few nights earlier. The market was really impressive- they sold everything from fresh fruit to jam to fish to jewelry to cupcakes to fudge to soap to… I could go on and on but I don’t want to bore whoever is sitting here reading this. Check out pictures in my facebook album! The market was full of people, and many of them brought their dogs. This obviously put a smile on my face but also made me miss my own dog Doc. After exploring the market, we decided to grab some fresh food and sit down to eat it. Then we walked around the town for a bit and took in the incredible views. As cliché as this sounds, the harbor was one of the prettiest sites I’ve ever seen, and I couldn’t seem to put my camera down because I wanted to capture every moment. I definitely plan to travel to Howth again when I have more time to explore the summit and the surrounding areas.
I forgot to mention that at the market, Annie picked up some fresh fish and told our group that she would be happy to cook for us. Annie told me that she really enjoys cooking and would love to host “family dinners” a few nights a week for us as long as we all chip in for groceries. Tonight she made pasta with clams, fennel, and tomatoes. After finishing every last bite, I realized that this girl definitely knows how to cook! I can’t wait to enjoy more future meals with my new Dublin “family,” especially because this is a tradition I like to follow in D.C. with my friends at school, so there’s a level of comfort in the familiarity of it.
While we ate dinner we started talking about next weekends plans to travel to Galway, where we hope to stay overnight on Friday, tour Galway on Saturday, and see the cliffs on Sunday. It’ll be a busy weekend but I can’t wait to venture outside of Dublin and see what else Ireland has to offer. I’ll wrap this post up for now, but stay tuned for news on my first full day of work tomorrow. I can’t believe I’ve already been in Dublin for a week now. The time is flying and I'm beginning to wonder if these two short months will be long enough to enjoy the sights of a country I’m already beginning to love.
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