Dublin was a craic time. Craic, pronounced 'crack', is the Irish term for fun/great! Supposedly it rains alllll the time in Ireland, and we were fortunate enough that not only did it not rain, but it was sunny and warmer! So let me start at the beginning...Friday night we got to the hotel at around 11:45 and got ready to go out. We went to the Temple Bar area and had drinks at Gogarty's and The Temple Bar (yeah, the area is called temple bar and this bar banked by using that as the name of their pub...pretty clever).
There were SO many people there for St. Patrick's Day, lots of green hats and wigs. We were shocked that the pubs all close by 2:30 because in Copenhagen it's not til 5, but then we found out its because they re-open at 10am. We found this out because we went and got us some Irish coffees the next morning :) yummmm.
From there, we walked to City Hall to meet up with a tour guide for a free walking tour of Dublin (its with the same company that does the free tours of Berlin). Our tour guide's name was Conor and he had a very thick Irish accent and lots of jokes for us. He showed us all around the city, and we saw everything from Dublin Castle (and a crazy man outside playing a saw...in shorts) where we got free hotdogs for St. Patty's (aren't the Irish nice?) to Trinity College, one of the top 50 colleges in the world. Here is the Viking Memorial, with Conor on the left telling us about Ireland's history with the Vikings.
After the tour, we went walking along Grafton street just seeing all of the different shops and hearing local musicians sing and play in the middle of the street. For dinner, we later went to The Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Ireland. I was intent on having a 'traditional Irish dinner' and I found it! I had a traditional Irish stew with lamb in it that basically melted in my mouth, it was sooooo good. And, of course, what is Ireland without a Guinness to wash it down? I was a little freaked out about having Guinness, but it's actually really really good in Ireland (unlike the states...sorry, it's true). The restaurant had different currencies covering all the walls, signed by customers from all over the world. I turn around, and what is right behind me? A dollar bill, signed by people from Brenham, TX. Yes, it IS a small world.
The Temple Bar area didn't have any Irish music for the weekend since there were so many tourists, so we went a little out of the way to Cobblestone Pub, where Irish singers sit for hours and just play fiddles and sing old Irish songs. It was very like 'P.S. I Love You', minus Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Darn.
The next morning was an early one for us because we wanted to take the train down to Bray and then up to Howth, totaling an hour and a half of travel time. So we left bright and early for Bray, and it was sooo worth it. We climbed up to Bray's Head, a 40 minute incline where from the top you see Ireland.
Here's another pic that actually includes the coast in it too:
After that, we went on to Howth, a small little harbor town. We watched people feed the wild seals, ate fish and chips, and went walking around. It was a great day and an amazing weekend...I could definitely go back to Ireland in a heartbeat!! But the weekend wore me out, so I need a nap...
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