Tag: 23. Juni 2014

Advice Nr.1

Hey everyone,

there are only five days left and I am looking forward to see my family in Berlin. I will try to give you some information about Dublin, that could be useful for the „AFIB-successor“ next year.

Get a „leapcard“!
Taking the Dublin bus will be very expensive for you if you do not own one. Besides you will need coins to buy a busticket. They will not take any kind of banknotes and you do not get any change!
The Dublin bus system is not completed nowadays. There are a few zones in the city which affect the price of a regular bus ticket (per direction). In the end you will mostly pay 2,35€ except you only drive one or two stations…and you will notice that this will be very expensive if you need the bus to reach your workplace.

leapcard.

You can buy a leadcard in most of the „Spar“ shops for 5€. After that you can top off your leap card with a random amount of money. If you take the bus and pay with your leapcard you will mostly pay 1,95€ to reach your destination (per direction). After your internship you can give your „leapcard“ back to a shop. After that you will get back your 5€…or you keep it as a souvenir 😉

This link could be useful:  https://www.dublinbus.ie/Fares–Tickets/Fare-Information/Fares/

Yours George

A tour to the bushmills distillery

Today Martin, Tim and I headed to the bushmill distillery. Our tour started at 9am we headed to the botanic train station and hopped on the train it took us 1hr 20min to reach colerine train station after waiting for around 30 minutes we took a bus that drove us directly to the bushmills distillery. We arrived a few minutes before the distillery openes we decided to not take the first tour since it was pretty crowded instead we went to the gift shop to see what they offer and to eat some lunch in the cafetaria. We took the tour at 1pm the tour is roughly 40 minutes long. It was definitely worth it to learn how whiskey is made. After the tour ends everyone was allowed to test one kind of the different whiskeys.
Sadly we weren’t allowed to take pictures during the tour.

Sunday – Bushmills distillery

On Sunday I had to get up really early, because Martin came into our apartment quarter to 9. We had planned to take a trip to Bushmills and at 3 after 9 René, Martin and me managed it to start our walk to the Botanic Train Station which was almost too late. I never took a train during my stay in NI before so I appreciated the extras they had to offer. In every train there is an open Wi-Fi which you can use during the ride, which is in my opinion useful and impressive as the route is along rural areas and the train speeds up to I think 70 – 80 miles/h between the stops. After we disembarked at the Colerain Train Station we had to wait 30 minutes for the 402 bus which is called the Causeway Rambler. During the rapid bus ride we had a few awesome views over the coast including all kinds of countryside, from steep cliffs to nice beaches. Only minutes before the distillery has opened we arrived there and were included in the first group that entered the complex that day. We first went to the gift shop to see what they are selling there and then we took our lunch in a canteen which  is directly connected to the shop. When we’ve got back from the lunch to the entry hall, one of the clerks there told us that the next tour is going to start in 5 minutes and we should register for it now. We did what he told us and participated in it. It was interesting to see how the whiskey is produced from the mesh, to the fermenting, to the destilling and at the end the ripening. We got to know the differences between the types of whiskey and after that we we’re led to a bar where we were able to try out the product. I’ve had a glass of the 12 year old distillery reserve which you only can buy in their shop and it was in my opinion a real good spirit. The tour took us 40 minutes and after we’ve got the some souveniers we went back to Belfast. It was a nice day and I think it was worth the journey time. So as the next week is going to be the last one here, I wish everybody who is staying in (N)I that the last week will be a great one.

Last weekend in NI

Hello everyone!

This is it man. This is our last weekend we have here in Belfast and for me I can say that it was an awsome weekend. First we had to celebrate Tims birthday wich was quite nice. Then we watched that soccer game germany versus Ghana and over the weekend itself I went to the Q-Con everyday from Friday to Sunday. Overall I can say that I really love Belfast and Ireland itself but I really have to get back to germany. More and more people ask me when I will be back and now I can say it is just 6 days from now on.