This post is a couple of days late, because I got back from Dublin on Sunday and my family was already here! Right now we are in a cottage in Potterne, a little town central to Bath and Stonehenge. I will write allll about our trip on my next post!! But Dublin-we had a flight at 6:45AM leaving from Leeds so we were up bright at early at 3:30 AM to get there in time. I went with Annik and Sophie, but two other girls from Leeds Met exchange were on the same flight as us!! I was there all day Friday and Saturday then flew back early Sunday morning. I'll dictate the rest of my adventures underneath the pictures!!!
My flatmates were nice enough to leave me goodbye notes!
And apparently they thought I would get confused on how to perform basic tasks
DUBLIN!!-Relax and shop, which was the LAST thing we wanted to do! We were wayy to excited
We had to walk out to our plane, and the sun was rising! Annik took this of me as we were making the trek out
Sophie, Annik, and myself-This was my first time flying Ryanair! It was similar to a bad version of southwest airlines, there weren't even seat back pockets!
Dublin Airport!! They had balloons EVERYWHERE!
It seemed as if the entire city was ready to celebrate!
More balloons!
Annik exchanging her pounds of euros-lots of sorting to do!
When we arrived into Dublin Annik's friend who we were staying with was unable to meet us for a couple of hours, so we wandered the streets of Dublin and got some food at a little pub in the Temple Bar district. This was a really cool electrical box that was on the streets, I really like the way it was decorated.
After we got settled into Alicia's apartment, Annik Sophie and I headed to the Guinness Storehouse. We had heard nothing but good things about it.
I was all ready for St. Patrick's Day with my green scarf and umbrella
All three of us were huddling under my umbrella to stay dry!
Storehouse
Truth.
The Guinness factory was really interesting. You start off on the ground floor, and slowly make your way up to the seventh floor where there is a bar and breathtaking views of Dublin. They take you through the process of making Guinness, the history of it, marketing, free samples, and you even get to pour your own Guinness! This is me with the Barley on the first floor.
How to make a Guinness
How to make a Guinness 2
How to make a Guinness 3
In this part of the storehouse they showed videos of how people used to make the original barrels that held Guinness, it was a really cool process!
All of the different bottle designs throughout the years
More bottle designs
Label designs
We got to pour our own Guinness! They had little stations set up and a staff member took groups and taught us 'the proper way' to pour a Guinness. I will now share my knowledge with you.
1. Take a pint glass, and look at it in the light to ensure that it is clean with no smudges or dirt.
2. Hold the glass at a 45 degree angle underneath the tap.
3. Pull the tap all the way down, slowly raising the glass to be 90 degrees as it fills up.
4. Stop the tap with about 1/4 of the pint empty and allow the Guinness to settle for about a minute.
5. After letting it settle, take the Guinness and push back on the tap this time (this does something with the nitrogen and oxygen but I can't exactly remember). Stop filling the Guinness when there is a perfect layer of foam on top
6. Drink your Guinness!
Mine overflowed a little...oopps!
A pretty blue door on our walk back!
Pretty cherry blossoms
The oldest pub in Ireland! We went in to use the bathroom!
One of the many bridges
Another gorgeous red door!
After we explored the Guinness factory for a good 3 hours we wandered through the streets of Dublin for a little bit then went back to take a nap, make some dinner, and go to bed early. We were exhausted from being up so early and wanted to save our energy for St. Patrick's Day!
On St. Patrick's Day we woke up nice and early to get a good spot on the parade route! We got ourselves decked out in St. Patrick's day gear and wandered the streets before they were blocked off for the parade!
Christ's Cathedral-they had set up a bunch of food vendors in the gardens of this church so after the parade everyone could eat! Since we got to the parade early we staked out which ones we wanted to get lunch at after the parade, which made things a lot easier later on. Also; when the services for the day finished all of the bells in the church started playing and didn't stop. I'm not sure how long they were going for, but at least an hour or so!
There were a fair amount of groups who all dressed up together! It was so much fun!
It started raining right before the parade started! Sophie and Annik were sad
There were people EVERYWHERE! I particularly liked these little girls up on the telephone booth, they stayed up there the whole time
This baby was adorable!
Annik took this one as well! I was getting impatient and wanted the parade to start.
Still waiting for the parade! While we were waiting we met a family from Alabama. They had two little kids so we let them go in front of us; it was nice to talk to some Americans and share travelling stories.
These kids were ADORABLE!
St. Patrick was the most Irish part of the St. Patrick's Day Parade. I was really expecting this parade to be dancing leprechauns and smiling shamrocks, but it was quite strange. The theme to the parade this year was 'Science' and so different floats answered different science questions such as 'How is electricity made, Why do we dream, and How can you tell how old a tree is?' They were interesting, but just not what I was expecting. I will save you the trouble of looking through all my pictures of the parade; they aren't too interesting.
Except for.....the American marching bands!! There were SOOO many American marching bands. I tried to take a picture of every one, but I'm pretty sure I missed a few. I guess it proves that St. Patrick's Day really is an American holiday.
The Texas high school just brought their cheerleaders...big surprise there
The other Texas high school brought an American flag.....and a Texas flag. Another big surprise.
Notre Dame stayed classy, per usual, and just carried their banner. Of the American marching bands they were by far the best.
This guy was really enjoying his St. Patrick's day
American Marching Band # 4
American marching band #5
American Marching band #6
An hour later this guy was still having his fun
After the parade we headed back up to Christ's Cathedral to get food. It was a sea of green, everyone was dressed up and having so much fun.
Yummy chicken curry and veggies.
Lunch break!
After lunch we headed over to St. Patrick's Cathedral. I knew I couldn't go to Dublin without going to St. Patrick's cathedral. We walked over, wandered through the gardens and took some pictures. We then headed back to the insanity at Temple Bar!
St. Patrick's Cathedral
St. Patrick's Cathedral
St. Patrick's Cathedral gardens
St. Patrick's Cathedral.
More pretty Cherry Blossoms
One last look at St. Patricks.
Just kidding.....Now that I could see the whole thing it was time for one last picture
After wandering the streets awhile we ended up at the Temple Bar. Before coming to Dublin I thought that the Temple Bar was just a bar in Dublin, but it is actually a district! It was definitely the life of the party on St. Patrick's Day, and was filled with lots of internationals. There were Brazilians chanting, Spaniards singing, Americans arguing, and the Irish were drinking.
Ready to go with my St. Patrick's day gear-Hat, scarf, and button!
Temple Bar
Temple Bar
Trinity College lit up in green
Gorgeous blue door!
Another pretty red one!
And some more! Sorry about all of these, I just really love the colors of them! I decided that when I get a house I will have a brightly colored door similar.
We met up with some of Alicia's friends (the girl who we were staying with in Dublin). This girl goes to the same Univeristy as my old roommate's boyfriend, and therefore knows my roommate from last semester! (Sorry if you didn't follow that, I know it is confusing) Anyways, we started chatting and realized what a small world it really is! I then got in contact with my old roommate and she connected us!
I found it entertaining to take pictures of people passed out in pubs.
Rain in Dublin on our walk home. What a beautiful city it is.
Flying out of Dublin bright and early on Sunday morning to get back to see my family. So Beautiful. If I have enough time and money at the end of the semester I think I want to do a tour of Ireland.
-G
