Don't Worry I Didn't Turn into a Leprechaun!

I had a fantastic weekend in Dublin 2 weekends ago! I enjoyed Dublin and Ireland much much more than I expected to. We left Thursday night on a Ryanair flight (one of the notorious budget airlines); I didn't think it was nearly as bad as everyone talks it up to be. We arrived in Dublin late Thursday night and took a bus and then a taxi to where we were staying. We reserved through airbandb a room at a charming house of a lady named Adrienne. She had gotten such positive reviews, we just had to stay with her. She was the cutest and nicest lady I have ever met! She greeted us at the door, offering us tea and scones! She was so nice to wait up for us and was just so helpful the entire time. We hadn't eaten dinner, so we much appreciated the DELICIOUS HOMEMADE SCONES and JAM! OMG. Let me just say this was the best jam I have ever eaten in my entire life! Adrienne was so nice- she offered to take us to the bus station very early the next morning so that we could catch our bus to Cork to visit Blarney castle. We had the most charming rooms, and we snuggled in our comfortable beds with a heated blanket! So heavenly! It was so hard to wake up and get out of bed early the next morning.
Our Friday in Dublin was fabulous! We did a day trip from Dublin to Cork and the Blarney Castle. We woke up super early and caught a bus to Cork (Adrienne gave us croissants in the morning and then drove us to the bus station). Cork is in the southern-western part of Ireland; it was about a 3-hour bus ride. We arrived in SUNNY (woo!) Cork and took another short bus ride to Blarney Castle, the home of the Blarney stone! The grounds of Blarney castle are just beautiful! Everything in Ireland is just so green and luscious. During the bus ride, although I slept through most of it, I got to see the BEAUTIFUL GREEN countryside of Ireland. Blarney Castle is basically an old ruin. We got to climb through the castle and see what it would have been like in the castle. At the top, (having to go through tiny doorways and up tight spirally staircases!) we had a beautiful view of the Irish countryside. SO  GREEN! At the top of the castle, we got in line to kiss the blarney stone! With this kiss, I got the gift of eloquence. J I definitely need that! You lie on your back and the man there, holds you and lowers you down (you are upside down hanging!- there are grates there to protect you since one time someone died). He lowered me down and I kissed the Blarney Stone (where thousands of others have kissed…ick!). I wasn’t really sure what to expect- but it really just looks like another rock/piece of stone. A little shiny and smooth- but nothing I would have been able to pick out as super special. Overall, the whole experience was SUPER FUN! After exploring some of the other parts of the grounds of Blarney, like this garden full of poisonous plants and a little cave, we decided to head to lunch. We took the bus back to Cork and explored the little city. It was a really cute city; reminded me a lot of the shopping streets I had seen in Copenhagen. Just super quaint. We ate at the English market, under Adrienne’s recommendation. The queen ate there when she visited Cork, so it was bound to be good enough for us. Lol. We each picked food from different stands- so many options of a variety of different foods, although most of the stands were for raw meat. After some food and exploring the little shopping area of Cork, we took the bus back to Dublin. Slept again for most of the ride, and arrived back in Dublin around 6pm. We didn't have a map of Dublin and didn't know how to get back to the apartment- oy... so after getting lost for 2 hours (even though we were actually only 15 mins away from the house if we had just walked a little further in the opposite direction), we finally made it back to the house. Exhausted from the tiring, yet amazing day, we napped in our heated beds and then ordered burritos for delivery and had an early night.
On Saturday, we began our tour of Dublin with the Guinness factory. I don't like beer so the taste testing part of the tour wasn't as exciting for me as it was for other people, but it was interesting to learn how beer is made and see how Guinness has evolved over time. Have you ever associated Guinness beer with the Guinness book of world records? Well you should... pretty cool! We got our beers at the end of the tour at the top of the factory, at the Gravity bar. There are windows surrounding the entire bar, so you can see a great view of Dublin! We had a nice sunny day; we relaxed and looked out at the Irish countryside, while Chris and Sadie drank their and my beer. Drinking at 11am... normal I guess. The Guinness beer is different than other beer I've tried- it's got a very rich flavor and is very thick. Also, we had to wait two minutes in the middle while the beer was being poured for the beer to settle. It was interesting to see it turn a different color after it settled. Also, the lady that poured the beer, drew an Irish shamrock in the white froth at the top- super cute! After buying lots of souvenirs, mainly for all the guys in my life, we headed into the center of town. We walked on the Trinity college campus. Wow, the school is beautiful; has an ivy league feel to it, with the stone buildings and green quad area. The Book of Kells is in the Trinity College library. After waiting in line to enter, and learning how expensive they were charging for entrance, we decided not to go in :-\ After a quick bite to eat, I separated from Sadie and Chris and walked to the Jewish museum. I had seen signs all over the city for it; I figured it would be closed, but wanted to check it out anyway because it was the only available time I would have for it. Besides, the Copenhagen Jewish museum was open on a Saturday. Well it was closed... bummer. But at least I found it. Sadie and Chris went to the coast during that time. We met back up and then went to the Temple bar area to meet up with other IES people for dinner (Brent, Joe, and Joe's sister). We wandered around for a while, but it was a Saturday night so every bar was packed and there was no room for us. We ended up just grabbing food at a fast little shop. We then began our pub crawl. :) We started at The Temple Bar of course! This was just great! The music was fabulous- it was really packed! The players there hold a world record for longest time playing guitar- like 6 days I think. SO COOL! The music was an acousticy, folky, country spin on some pop rock songs. Really fun! Boy do the Irish love their beer- most bars barely offered any other drinks. Everyone was drunk! People of all ages! and they were drunk early! Here in Milan, people don't start drinking or partying until 12 maybe 1 am. People were drunk by 10 pm and the pubs all closed by 1 or 2am! SO DIFFERENT! After a good amount of time at The Temple Bar, we walked down the street to Auld Dubliner. Phil, from Skidmore, was also in Dublin that weekend and came with two of his friends to meet us! It was so great to see him! We chilled at Auld Dubliner and listened to the fun live music. After a while, we parted ways and I met back up with the IES people at a different pub. On the way there, I SO COMPLETELY RANDOMLY ran into Ellie, from Skidmore and on the riding team with me! So random and so great to see her! RUNNING INTO TWO SKIDMORE PEOPLE IN ONE CITY! CRAZY! It was so exciting! So funny, that from such a small school, I still have contacts all over Europe because everyone is studying abroad this semester! I met the IES people at the bar and then we walked to another pub to try to find Chris, another IES person. We walked all the way to the other side of the city! No luck. We ended our pub crawl back at the pub next to The Temple Bar, called Farrington's. Funnily enough, the singer and guitar player from The Temple Bar was singing there now, so we ended up hearing their set twice. We had the best time at Farrington's. The people at the table next to us were college-aged Irish people, who knew how to Irish dance. They got us and were having lots of fun. We clapped for them and then decided to join in. They tried to teach us how to Irish dance. We were singing and stomping and clapping and dancing and twirling. It was just such a blast.We ended the night as the pub was closing, at 2am and were just happy to have had such a great time.
Sunday morning, Chris went to mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Sadie and I woke up a bit later and started the morning with a fabulous breakfast that Adrienne had prepared for us. OMG... she made crepes and with some of her mother's amazing jam. It was SO delicious! Adrienne was just the sweetest; we talked with her over breakfast about the places we've been and are going and we just loved being with her. In general, we found that everyone was just the nicest in Dublin. Everyone was helpful, even if you didn't ask them for help; everyone was just so nice and jolly. WE LOVED THEIR ACCENTS! and we loved the subtle differences in the words they used. Everything is just grand :) Sadie was in heaven seeing so many red heads! After breakfast, Sadie and I did a whirlwind tour of Dublin, as usual. Both St. Patrick's cathedral and Christs Church were holding services by the time we got there, so we went to find Dublin Castle, which unfortunately was closed because a major meeting was happening there. We bought some souvenirs and then walked by Trinity College again and then on  Grafton street, the major shopping street in Dublin. The city is just so bright and clean and there were street performers everywhere. I took a picture with a leprechaun and made a wish!

At the end of Grafton street, we ended at a really nice park, St. Stephen's Green. It was just so nice to see so many families and children out playing. We then went back to St. Patrick's Cathedral and Christ's Church to go inside. It was really beautiful- I really liked all the celtic symbols around the church, like on the floor tiles. This and Christ's Church had a different feel to those churches I had seen in Italy. Less extravagant in some ways, but still absolutely beautiful. The outside of both of these churches are just amazing. Christ Church looks like a fabulous castle, right out of a movie. We were so exhausted by the end, it was a struggle to walk back to Adrienne's house, but we made it and just in time to pack up and get to the airport to go back to Milan.
I really enjoyed Dublin- the people are just so nice, the atmosphere is fun, and it just seems really down to earth. I would really like to get back to Ireland to visit Cliffs of Moher, which Brent and Joe got to see on their day trip.
Overall, it was a fabulous trip. Really different than the other places we had travelled to yet!
Only 7 days left in Milan! Getting really sad and scary!
~E