The Luck of the Irish- Dublin, Ireland

Ireland was my favorite place yet, I loved the Irish people, the city living, the old architecture, the history, and the beautiful country side.

Thursday November 12, 2009

We left Granada Wednesday night and flew to London and stayed in the London airport over night!We woke up at the airport and went for breakfast- we noticed that everyone around us was drinking beer- at 6am. It was crazy. We sat next to this band that looked totally legit. We then boarded the flight and were off to Dublin. When we got to Dublin we got right on an express bus into the city- it was about a 30 min ride. Then we went straight to our hostel- we sat around for a little cause we couldn’t check in until 2pm. We decided to head to Guinness Storehouse first. We got on a bus and went there, it was so fun. We learned all about how they brew the beer in Ireland. We tasted roasted barley- I thought it was gross. The factory was really neat, at the end we each got a free pint of Guinness and we got to sit i

n this really classy lookout bar area!

After this we got in a cab and me the nicest cab driver ever- this was the first time we were in a car that the driver was on the right side, and they drove on the opposite side of the road.We then headed over to Trinity College- Nicki said it was like the Harvard of the U.S. It was so beautiful and old. It reminded me a little of olivet. There were students going to school there too. We weren’t sure what was there, but we kept hearing about the book of Kells, so we decided to check it out. We went into the exhibit- where we saw the book of kells which is a copy of the gospels with beautiful drawings and its on special paper- it was written in latin and is REALLY old. After that we got to see the amazing old library of the college- it was so cool. There were many historic documents in it

We then headed to Arlington hotel where we were told there was real Irish dancing. We got there and it was the neatest pub, all light up and there were three men on stage singing irish songs and playing instruments- we ordered drinks ate Guinness pie, sooo delicious. The Irish dancing was 5 kids three girls two guys about our age! They were good it was soo neat to see.

Friday November 13, 2009

We woke up and walked to the bus for the Country tour. We got a quick tour around the city- our bus drivers name was Kevin. He explained so much to us, our first sto

p was the sea side it was really pretty. The second stop was this quaint little coffee shop with beautiful scenery. We then were on our way to the moutains, as we went up the country side he explained the black turf on the ground that turns to coal after an amount of time- we learned a lot. Our second stop was beautiful- here we had a shot of Jamison- we were pretty sure our bus driver drank too- haha Then we were off to more of the countryside- we saw where the movies black beauty, lassy, p.s. I love you, braveheart, and more were filmed. Most of them were filmed in a little valley where no real heavy equipment is allowed. Then we went for lunch at this amazing buffet pub- it was basically a turkey platter (thanksgiving early). Then we were on to see more of the country side we saw where the Guinness estate is, where a 70 year old man- the heir to the guiness lives all alone- BEAUTIFUL. Then we stopped in Glendalough- and we saw this really old graveyard- we learned about the tower- 2^nd largest in Dublin or Europe- and we got to walk on our own to 2 awesome lakes- and we saw some beautiful waterfalls.

Saturday November 14, 2009

Today we woke up a little later around 9:30 had breakfast in the hostel- then got on the hop on hop off bus. We got to hear all about the city- our first stop was Christ Cathedral- it was really neat. We got to sit through a prayer service- I loved it and I got to write a prayer in the prayer book. The cathedral was cool because it was soo old, but it looked really modern

Then we went to the St. Patrick Cathedral but it was closed so we just got to see the park

We went to Bull and Castle Pub- I had delicious chicken- and I LOVED gina’s fish- crazy right. It was SOOOO GOOD

Then we headed to the Dublin Castle- we went on a tour of the castle which was really neat. There were a bunch of different rooms we learned all about- and we learned the Irish has had a consecutive women president for 21 years at the end of the current president’s term.

After this we finished the tour and got to see phoenix park and where the current president of Ireland lives, we did a little shopping, then we were back to the airport.. to sleep in London one more time

Such a great experience- I LOVE IRELAND