Friday, April 16, 2010

Oh my Guinness!!

Dublin was my first stop for travel break and I absolutely loved it!! It was actually the first place that I wanted to go when I came abroad. When we first got to Ireland, I was stressing out because I couldn't find the girl who I was supposed to stay with for the night. Luckily I was traveling with 2 other girls, so I went to their hostel with them and got a room for the night. Unfortunately, that just means I had to pay for 2 rooms for 1 night. Which was annoying, but I'm glad I didn't have to sleep on the streets.



We saw a majority of Dublin attractions the first day-- including the Paris, Texas restaurant above!!! It was completely random and I had to take a picture! We did a hop on/hop off bus, so we could take it around the city to the different sites. I went to the Guinness Factory museum that day as well. It was a lot of fun! We learned how to pour our own pint! It is a 2 step process, apparently. And I have a little certificate saying that I passed. Hahaha. But then they didn't take our ticket, so then we went up to the bar at the top of the building and got another pint of Guinness! (1 pint was included with the cost of the admissions ticket) The Sky Bar (as it's called) is really beautiful! The walls are made of glass, and they are labeled with the locations of Dublin attractions. It's a really neat idea. 









On my second day in Dublin, I went on a tour into the countryside. It was really nice seeing the rest of Ireland. I don't exactly remember where we went, but we saw a couple towns and also where they filmed Braveheart. Even though it was set in Scotland, it was filmed almost completely in Ireland. Strange...but we saw where they did it!





It rained almost the entire time we were on our tour of the Irish countryside, but I didn't mind it at all. I felt like I got the real experience! Below is a picture of one of the oldest churches in Ireland that still has a roof. There are ruins in a lot of places, but they are sans a roof.


Below is a picture of some sort of castle in Ireland. I forget what it's name is, or which super famous aristocrat lived there, but the coolest part are the barns. They took them and turned them into a shopping center and (I think) a hotel. It was pretty neat to see.





We also did some shopping in Dublin. There were some pretty cute shops that I wish they would bring over to the states! Honestly, I think we were in Dublin for too much time. I got a little bored with it towards the end. It might have been because I was with just one other person--it might have been better if I was traveling with more people.


This is pub was nothing special--I just thought it was cool because of the name. We saw it when walking back to our hostel from the Guinness Factory. 


This super cute bakery was a place that we ate one day for lunch. I the food wasn't anything special--I just really liked the name of it! It was absolutely adorable and probably sat about 20-25 people inside. If I was to open a bakery, I would want one that was a bit like this one.




I took a bunch of pictures of these Georgian Doors in Dublin. The door above it one of the most photographed doors in Dublin. These row houses used to house politicians and other rich Dublin residents, but now they are now owned mainly by investment companies. I wish I could have taken more pictures while I was there, but it rained a lot and it was hard. I really loved being in Dublin though!

1 comment:

  1. I am so jealous!! I'm glad you had fun though :) also, please let me know when you open your bakery ;)

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