Wow, where to begin? Well, I guess the beginning would be a very good place to start. The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of fun and new experiences, but it feels like I haven’t posted in forever. I’ll break it up again to make it easy to read. So, my lovely David came on Tuesday the 28th and I was the happiest girl in the world. It had been almost two months since I had left him at O’Hare, but to see him after all that time was the best feeling in the world. We both didn’t want to let the other go, but we eventually got his stuff in and settled. We decided to walk down to High St. and give him a quick tour around, even swept through the cathedral quickly. Wednesday I decided to skip my British History class because I was tired and have heard enough about Henry VIII to last me a lifetime. Dave audited my Modern Britain class and enjoyed hearing the discussions during the seminar. We left that night around 8:30pm out of Gatwick airport for Dublin. It was a really quick flight and once we got to the airport we had to figure out how to get to the hotel. Thankfully there was a shuttle from the terminal to the hotel, so that was pretty hassle free. The next morning we grabbed some breakfast at the hotel and went back to the airport to get a bus into the city centre. We ended up getting this Dublin pass thing that gets you into a lot of tourist sites in Dublin, as well as gets you on a bus down to the centre. It ended up not paying for itself as we thought, but we weren’t that worried about it. It was pretty chilly and rainy, but the rain sort of went away later in the day. The bus let us off near Trinity College and we decided to go see the Book of Kells that is kept there. The college itself is really cool and so was the Book of Kells, it’s so old and detailed, simply amazing! I actually enjoyed the library in that same building more that the book. The library was really old and massive! It reminded me of the library from Beauty and the Beast with ladders the roll along the shelves and just row after row of really old books. I wish I could have taken pictures of it because as a book nerd, it was thrilling! After a stop into the tourism information centre, we made our way down Grafton St. which is a big shopping area in Dublin. Had to take a picture of Molly Malone, or “the tart with the cart”- the picture should explain it. :) At the end of Grafton St. was an entrance into St. Stephen’s Green, a beautiful park in the city with lots of ponds, beautiful trees and some interesting memorials. Dave and I both really enjoyed walking around the green and taking pictures. We decided to try to find Dublin Castle on the way to the Guinness Storehouse. Well, we found it and it was really disappointing, especially after the castles I’ve seen in Europe. So we kept going and found the Guinness Storehouse in sort of a shady area. The exhibition they have there is really cool because the building is shaped like a huge pint glass. At the very top is the gravity bar where you can get the pint that comes with your admission. Since I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast I decided to just share with Dave. It was honestly the best Guinness I’ve ever had, considering the stuff I’ve had before was awful. We walked through the exhibits and went to find the Jameson Distillery that wasn’t supposed to be too far…yes we’re such boozers, I know, but what else are you suppose to do in Dublin or Ireland for that matter? ;)
Well, to make a long story short, we found it, but we didn’t realize it so we did go…I know that doesn’t make sense, but there are better things to explain. I really, really wanted to see the General Post Office in Dublin where the Easter Rising in 1916 had taken place. I couldn’t believe that I was actually seeing the building that I had read so much about. The inside was really cool and old looking and the outside you could see some of the bullet holes still. Pretty cool. We were both pretty hungry…by now it was late afternoon so we grabbed some quick eats at a place called Munchies…not the greatest and we were still hungry, but we wanted to get to our hotel so we had some time before the concert. We asked at the TI what bus would get us close to the Ardmore Hotel and there was a bus that stopped right in front of it, but we had to walk a ways down O’Connell St. to get to it. Some people were smoking on t he bus which wasn’t pleasant, especially since we were stuck in traffic. We were both really tired because we had walked all day with our packs on and not a whole lot to eat. It felt great when we got to the hotel and were able to relax for a bit. Both of us were really excited to get to see the High Kings that night. We took a taxi from the Helix and had a really nice driver that made us laugh..a lot. To put it mildly, the concert was amazing! I was obsessed with them before and to see them, in Dublin, with a mostly Irish crowd, with the one I love was a dream come true. Dave and I had a great time singing along with the songs and listening to the conversations going around near us. These little old Irish ladies were so funny. They are all so agreeable with each other it just made us laugh. After the concert was over we got to meet them and get our tickets signed by them. My sister, who has fallen pretty hard for the High Kings at only 10 years old, is extremely jealous and now wants to see them live too. After another ride with an awesome Irish taxi driver we crashed for the night and took the train to Belfast for Halloween!
No comments:
Post a Comment