Dublin, Guinness and chips.

Discovering Dublin is not that difficult, it’s not that big. The main area’s in the city are situated round the Liffey, the river that crosses the city. So you either visit the north part or south part, depending on which site of the river you are.

It’s a very vivid and lively city, live music in every pub, even starting from midday on. A typical Irish folk sound is what you’ll hear in every speaker in every pub. The typical drink in Dublin would be the Guinness, a dark ale.

Tasteful, a bit bitter and rather heavy on the stomach after a few of them 😉

I discovered some Belgian beers as well, some pubs have some Belgian drafts to sell. Stella Artois for instance is a beer that’s easily found. Locals call it ‘the wife-beater’, because of its high percentage of alcohol. 5,1%, a regular ale in England would be 3,5% to 4%.

And….. finally got to do some dancing…YES!

For those who don’t know me well; I’ve always been passionate about music. I like almost every style of music as long as it is good, as long as they’ve put some effort in the song 😉 So, a couple of years ago I wanted to start dancing and so I started looking around to see what options there were. Like this I discovered the ‘Lindy Hop’. It’s a partner dance that has roots in the african american dances from the early 1900’s. I’m not going to go into details about it’s history and stuff but I just add some links so feel free to explore them.

Lindy Hop 

Frankie Manning

the dance

I might as well add a few names of the music so you’ll get an idea what it’s like.

Duke Ellington

Ella Fitzgerald

Sam Price

Sidney Bechet

Billie Holiday

Please note in the above list are just a few examples of the music that is danced to. There are hundreds of other bands, even new ones that are out there to leave you wet in the sweat 😉

While in Oxford there was not much going on dancing wise so all my bets are on Dublin 😉 I got in contact with the DubLindy scene via the FB group and found out about the social dance on wednesday and a picnic dance on saturday in ST.Stephen’s Green, a lovely park in the city centre of Dublin.

First of, the social on wednesday, held in The Turks Head. TTH is a pub situated in the busy part of Dublin, the Temple Bar area. The social dance was a success, lovely people, great dancers. I even got to DJ there on the social dance, thanks guys, it was fun 😉

After the social I’ve had a pint with my host Wim at Doyle’s, nice bar and after a few ales I found myself in contact with the dj playing at Doyle’s. Great guy, Carlos Irie. We agreed to do a back to back the day after, after all I had my laptop and music with me 😉 What a great night thursday was at Doyle’s. Thanks to Mr. Carlos Irie for the great music and hospitality 😉

Finally, saturday…. After buying some drinks and food for the pic-nic it’s off to St.Stephen’s Green.  If possible take care to avoid the OVER crowded Grafton street. A lot of young musicians/dancers/entertainers are situated in Grafton to show their skills to a real audience.  It’s a very busy shopping area as well.

Some funny peeps to be seen there as well 😉

Some funny guy at Grafton Str.

I’ll add some pictures of the pic-nic, it’s kinda difficult to explain what it feels like to dance in a park 😉

Of course I can’t keep away from lovely places with excellent drinks so here’s another treat for you and highly recommended when in Dublin. The Vintage Cocktail Club. VCC. Rather difficult to find but I think that’s part of the whole ‘Speakeasy‘ concept.

A LITTLE NOTE: PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ADD SOME MORE INFO OR RELATED STUFF AS I’M WILLING TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS STUFF 🙂

The Vintage Cocktail Club

And we’re off, back to Belgium for the 10 day festival in Ghent, the ‘Gentse Feesten’

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First stop: Oxford, land of the Hobbits.

Well, not exactly the first stop but I like the sound of the title 😉

Real first stop was London.
I met up with Matt and Dee, two friends I made while Lindy-dancing. They recently bought a house in Oxford (while living in London) and I promised them to come over and help out a bit when I would start my trip. So I did 😉

One of the masterpieces 😉

While in London Matt took me to a brilliant cocktail bar called ‘Nightjar’. He didn’t know at that time that one of my focal points of my trip was finding nice Jazz bars or related ones. The Nightjar is exactly what I was looking for!
Have a look on their website, an amazing place with live bands and stuff… http://www.barnightjar.com
The served cocktails are real pieces of art, every single one of them. As a customer you’ve got the impression of being important, clients first must be their motto cause when it takes a little while to get your drink (because of a crowded bar or because of the work they have to put in the ‘masterpiece’) you’ll get served a glass of cava and the words ‘sorry to keep you waiting, here’s a little something from the house’. Brilliant.

After a hilarious and ‘dangerous’ bike ride in the city centre of London at nighttime it was time for bed, cause Oxford would be next on the list.

Sunny sunday morning. Hot as hell, it’s been very nice weather the last couple of days in Europe, and we’re off to Oxfordshire. The Shire as Tolkien said/wrote it. http://www.tolkiensociety.org

And my first day of work for a new boss 🙂 Matt and Dee’s house, a ruin at the moment 🙂 (sorry Matt and Dee, it’s not as bad as I write it 😉 ), needs some work. A lovely house, a few minutes away from the ancient city centre of Oxford. But everything needs to be refurbished . Five days of painting, helping out with the floor heating, plastering windows and stuff its time for a beer, Matt knows some nice places. the trout oxford pub,freud oxford cafe,

Oxford has the advantage of having a busy city centre and some lovely meadows where there’s the peace and quietness that makes you want to write a book about Hobbits 😉 Looking around in the countryside you can actually see where Tolkien got his writing material from. It’s easy to see a Hobbit’s house in the countryside of Oxford. Beautiful, just beautiful. Afbeeldingen van oxford countryside

One should definitely visit one or more Universities in Oxford, amazing buildings, nice greens….. In the Christ Church university you can enter the dining room where students and profs have their daily meals and there’s something special about this one. Besides it being impressive to see it’s also used in a film. Perhaps you can tell me in which one?..

On saturday it’s auction time! Jeej! Never been to a real auction before in my life so I thought it was pretty special. As I’m traveling, there’s not much I can bring along from the auction but still, I did find some special things. 5 children books from Grimm, dated ( from 1905_1910 ) and signed for a little boy  as a present for good behavior and attendance in school. Nice.

And a little note if you should travel brittish railways for longer distances; seat reservation is just the thing you might need. Good thing I booked my ticket to Dublin in advance… 😉

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