Dublin: An Unexpected Tale

The only quiet baby and a sweet dad loving on him or her. Not a fan of the picture but the moment was nice. 

boom, baby!

Ian never thought we'd find one and I'd do it. "One" being a tattoo and piercing parlor and "it" being getting my nose pierced.

We were gone almost fifteen hours for 2.5 hours spent in Dublin. First, the ticket man did not open the counter until four minutes before our first train left. Then in Belfast, we assumed that when the train time says 10:35AM, that meant the train comes in at that time and you get on. So we waited for this train to leave so ours could come in but unfortunately moments after that one pulled away we were told that had been our train. So we waited for the next train. Then the train in front of us broke down so we didn't get into Dublin until 4PM, just in time for us to catch the train we'd planned to take back to Ballymena. We decided to run around Dublin for a few hours, find food, and make frantic phone calls to tell our relatives we'd be back later. 

It really was a smashing success. We even stumbled into Trinity College where something like an Irish version of High School Musical was being filmed on some steps. As we walked ourselves around in search of a great Irish marvel (and a tattoo & piercing parlor) Ian tried to choose whether he'd get his ears pierced or his lip pierced while directing us after none other than, (as I quickly discerned when he said, "she's getting away!") a pretty lady. Typical. 

Like I said, Ian didn't expect I'd find a place but a very handsomely tattooed Irishman informed us Connected Ink's other parlor had the piercing man for day so we trotted down the lane, over the white bridge that crossed a river, and through a tunnel to find their other location. Ironically enough, the guy who pierced it was from California. 

Everyone said it wasn't painful, and the actual piercing wasn't too terrible I thought, but my eyes watered and ran on their own today and then he pulled the needle through and I gasped how much worse it was than my tattoo before launching into questioning him about his life to distract myself and maintain any dignity I had left. He was nonplussed but very nice. A blood vessel in my nose broke. Ian encouraged me by telling me it looked mangled and awful and asking if it hurt as we walked down the street. Needless to say, I was the only one to get a piercing today. 

On the way back, we barely caught the train to Belfast and when we did it got held up again for a wee while. Every train trip I've been on (which now amounts to three) has been stopped. I'm not a fan. Not a fan. 

Loving my nose ring though! Still on the prowl for a decent pair of black boots. I've been searching for five years. It's high time I found some.