Dublin, Ireland

We flew RyanAir to Dublin on Thursday evening. We arrived around 10:30 pm and quickly went through customs and caught a city bus to the city center. We didn’t know exactly where the hostel was, but we had a general direction and the address so we asked along the way. Some people knew where the hostel was and some didn’t. Half of our group hopped in a cab and went to the hostel and when Alicia, Dawn, and I tried to get a cab, the driver said it was too close and he gave us directions so we could walk. We ended up getting there like 5 minutes after the rest of the girls and we saved money too. We checked in and got situated and decided we needed a drink, badly! We walked towards Temple Bar (where we had just been) and went to a pub called The Porter House. There were three levels and they had a live cover band playing. We went to the bar and I noticed that there were “girly” drink specials. Dawn and I got Emerald Isles and Tir Na Nog drinks and they were delicious and only €5! We closed down the bar and headed back to the hostel. I showered and went to bed because I was exhausted!
Friday morning we tried to wake up early and get a good start on the day. We somewhat succeeded and were out of the hostel around 10. We started walking towards Dublin Castle and fell upon Christ Church and took a few pictures. Everything in Dublin is really compact so we were at Dublin Castle in no time. We took a guided tour of the castle. It was once used by the English Kings and Queens, but it’s now used by the Republic of Ireland’s government. The rooms were really interesting and I learned a lot. Once the tour was over we went to the gift shop and spent entirely too long there! I bought Emma’s Claddagh ring. It has the celtic trinity on it as well so I hope she loves it! I bought Grandma a shamrock charm too! Once we were all done, we walked to Trinity College and some of the other girls saw the Book of Kells. We grabbed Subway for lunch and saw the Molly Malone statue. We walked to Hard Rock Café so Molly could get a shirt and some other stuff. While we were outside, this man came up asking for money for lunch and none of us gave him any money so he called us bitches. How awful. Then we saw him shoot up or something in the corner of the alley so we quickly left! We had a short walk to Jameson Distillery. At Jameson they asked for volunteers of the whiskey tasting and I raised my hand and the guide picked me! I quickly remembered I don’t like whiskey that much so I gave the tasting baton to Dawn for her birthday! We went on the tour and it was so interesting. The difference between Jameson and Jack Daniel’s is huge! Jack is distilled once while Jameson is distilled 3 times and you really can taste the difference. When we got to the complimentary drink area, I had a Jameson and cranberry juice. Lynnsey got the Jameson and ginger ale, and Alicia got the Jameson and coke. All were good, but I liked the Jameson and ginger ale the best I think! Eleanor and Dawn did the tasting/comparison and got to try Jameson, Jack Daniel’s, and Johnny Walker Black Label. They both preferred the Jameson by far. I tried the Johnny Walker and I couldn’t even swallow it…yuck! Once they had a good buzz going we walked to the Guinness Storehouse! Liquor before beer of course! The storehouse was different because it was a self-guided tour which I didn’t like as much. Guinness was decorated really cool and they laid out all of the ingredients and had quotes along the walls talking about beer and the ingredients and stuff. We got a complimentary drink at Guinness as well and the bartender was so amazing. She was able to pour my beer and put a shamrock in the head of it somehow. It was amazing and I tried to take a picture of it. The Guinness in Dublin definitely tastes different than the Guinness here. They say the closer to Dublin you are, the better it tastes and I could agree with that. I could actually drink it in Dublin! After the tasting we went to the gift shop and I bought myself a shirt because I haven’t really gotten myself that much. We headed to a nearby pub for dinner and then walked back to the hostel. We checked into our new rooms and freshened up so we could go out to Temple Bar. Kendall had heard about this place called St. Johns something or another and we tried to go there, but it was 21 and up…not good. We walked a little further and found another pub to go to. We met some men and talked to them all night. Two of them were married with kids, but the one was still pretty forward with Lynnsey. They left and said if we saw them again it would be Serendipity. Well, we saw them again at Temple Bar. We rang in Dawn’s 21st at the Temple Bar! It was like 5 bars in one! We were pretty tired so we went home around one, but we got Hungry Harry’s drunk food!
Saturday was a LONG day! It started at 9:45 when the tour bus picked us up for our tour of the Wicklow Mountains and Glendalough. It was cold and rainy at first so I was not having it, but as we drove it got sunny and warmer. The man driving our tour bus provided us with tea and biscuits…how sweet! As we drove up into the mountains, our guide would point things out and tell us the history and stories of the area. We would often pull off to the side of the road and get out so we could take pictures and stretch our legs. The first stop we made gave us a great view of Dublin’s port. Unfortunately, it was rainy and foggy so we couldn’t see as much as we liked, but we still took pictures. Our next stop required a bit of hiking to get to, but it was worth it. We arrived at a lake surrounded by huge hills and our guide said the lake was formed when there were glaciers covering this area. We also stopped at Guinness Lake which is the lake on the Guinness family’s estate in the mountains. The wind was so strong I thought we were all going to be blown off the hill! We stopped in a small town which is the highest elevated town in Ireland, nice fun fact! Our driver also took us to a waterfall and dropped us off at the top so we could walk down the road to the bottom. It was very picturesque because there were sheep and a small farmhouse near the stream. Soon after, the driver took us to lunch which was kind of a rip off because they give you the choice of a restaurant or a coffee shop and you’re starving by this point, but the meals cost 15 euro which is really steep. After lunch we went to this little souvenir shop and I found a claddagh ring! That was one of the things I wanted from Ireland because its such a great symbol of love, loyalty, and friendship. Next we headed to Glendalough (in Irish it means city between two lakes) which is GORGEOUS! It was founded by Saint Kevin as an early medieval monastery in the early 6th century. It was destroyed by English troops in 1398. There were a ton of grave stones everywhere with some remains of their churches and the only one completely still standing was Saint Kevin's Church. Our bus driver toured us through this area (on foot that is). Once he told us a little about it, he let us loose to go explore the area. He told us how to get to another water fall and a walking trail that would take us along the lakes. We took off and explored for a couple of hours. The weather was beautiful as well. We could have asked for better weather for that time of the year. It seemed to be very rare that we didn't get rain either. The bus driver was pretty much shocked. We told him it was because it was our friend Dawn's birthday. After exploring the area for a while, we headed back to the bus and went back to our hostel. We went out for Dawn’s birthday at Thunder Road Café, which is a lot like Hard Rock Café and uber-american. It was fun to celebrate and get some American food! I had a blue drink which matched my blue shirt, not on purpose, but still funny! We went to Porterhouse, which is another bar in the Temple Bar area, and listened to live music! Later that night we went back to the hostel to get our bags and then we caught a taxi to the airport and slept there for a few hours before we could catch our early flight back. It was an amazing trip with the girls and I loved how beautiful the country is.