…tis a little bit a heaven and I love it more and more. Well I didn’t actually see that many real
live shamrocks, but I do love them and Ireland too!
Forever and a year ago Courtney and I went to Ireland. It was more like two weeks, but it feels like
a long time ago.
We left bright and early Friday morning from good ol’
Stansted. We landed in Ireland a short
55 minutes later. Practically the second
we stepped off the plane we knew this was going to be a good experience. Fast forward to customs and the nicest Irish
man in the whole of, well, Ireland. He
was chatting with us endlessly about America and England and cracking
jokes. So far, so good Ireland. We then bought bus tickets and hopped on a
bus towards Dublin. It was the easiest
airport to city transfer so far. The
airport was so close to Dublin! Bonus
points Ireland.
On the bus, Courtney and I were super hungry so we were
eating a leftover Milka bar from Germany and talking about its merits versus
Cadbury. Then nice man #2 decides he
needs to interject and ask us about Hershey. It was so random, this stranger on the bus sitting
behind us talking to us about chocolate.
He then proceeded to tell us everything to do in Dublin. It was great!
I cannot stress enough; the people in Ireland are SO NICE.
When we got into the city center we wandered around a little
bit, went into an awesome souvenir store and grabbed some lunch. After lunch, we decided it was about time to
check into our hostel. Issac’s was
relatively easy to get to, just a short ten minute walk. After we checked in, we headed up to our 12
bed dorm. All female, thankfully. Someone was sleeping, so we quietly crept out
after locking our backpacks and hiding our bags as best we could. Then we went shopping!
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| Sketchy alley leading to okay hostel! |
We went to the Jarvis area.
There were sooooo many shops! We
spent all afternoon running in and out of stores. We went to dinner at an Italian restaurant
before heading back to the hostel early and taking advantage of the free wi-fi
before bed!
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| Most overwhelming store in the world! Stores within a store. Very confusing. |
That night it was the Cardinals Wild Card game and we
thought they had absolutely no chance of winning, but THEY DID! We were so excited when we woke up at the
crack of dawn to that news! We got ready
as quickly as possible, but we were running late and were minutes from missing
our bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher.
Yikes. Thankfully we got a taxi right away! The man dropped us off and we stood in a never-ending
line to get on a bus. The wrong
bus. We were pointed in the right
direction and took off running, sure that we had been left. Luckily, they waited for us. But we were those people. Oh well, at least we made it.
The Extreme Ireland Bus Tour took us through 11 counties of
Ireland that day. We saw amazing countryside. I was able to enjoy it, even with Nina
NoseBlower sitting behind us and Yes, I Have to Lean My Seat Back in front of
us.
 |
| Cliffs of Moher! |
We then made it to THE CLIFFS! They were breathtaking. Exactly what I imagined Ireland to look
like. After we ran all over them
snapping like 2948528 pictures, we left all too quickly and headed through more
counties and back to Dublin. On the way,
we stopped for some lunch and I had the best ham and cheese on white. Delicious.
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| Me like 1037384 feet above water at the Mini Cliffs! |
Back in Dublin, a full 12 hours after we left, we went to a
pseudo Johnny Rockets called…Eddie Rockets for dinner. It definitely wasn’t as good as Johnny’s, but
nice try Ireland. Repeat of the night
before, back to the hostel and wi-fi time before bed! Cue the obnoxious French girls talking and
turning on the light. You get what you
pay for. It’s fine.
The next morning we got some Starbucks before heading out on
our free walking tour of Dublin. My
friend here at Regent’s, Ally, told me about it, and free stuff- loving me, decided
we must try it! Its free…why not. It rained.
It stopped. We toured. We went to Dublin Castle, Trinity College,
etc. It was nice to see some of
Dublin.
 |
| Dublin Castle! |
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| Trinity College |
We ended our day with another tour! This time of the
Guinness Brewery at St. James Gate. We
learned about the ingredients of Guinness and its history, had a taste test,
and learned how to pour the perfect pint!
If only they had taught me how to make the shamrock like they do in
March at D’Arcy’s!
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| Oh yeah, I poured a perfect pint. |
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