I started my Ireland trip in the city of Belfast. Personally, I would have been fine skipping it and going straight to Dublin but it was still nice to see the northern part of Ireland. It was a beautiful and relaxing day just to walk around. My friends and I were also able to enjoy a humorous "Nearly True Tour" in the City Hall haha. The Alice Clock in Fountain Centre was very fun to see although it only lasted a few minutes. If I was to return again, I would definitely have to take the Giants Causeway and the Game of Thrones filming locations tours.
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| Belfast City Hall |
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| Albert Memorial Clock Tower |
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| St. George's Church |
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| Little bit of the country side |
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| White Rabbit at the Easter Festival in City Hall |
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| Cars on display by City Hall |
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| Interior of City Hall |
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| Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, and the White Rabbit |
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| The White Rabbit and Alice |
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| Alice and the Cheshire Cat |
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| The Mad Hatter and the Mouse in a teacup |
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| Humpty Dumpty and the Queen of Hearts |
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| The Queen and King of Hearts |
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| One of Northern Ireland's best known pubs An example of a Victorian gin palace |
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| My Irish Breakfast No black pudding though :( |
After a few hours of sleep in the hostel, I was able to experience a lovely warm spring day in Dublin! It is such a great city to walk around and explore in because everything is at least within an hour away.
Dublin Castle
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| Dublin Castle |
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| Christ Church Cathedral |
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| The Chapter House of the Augustinian Canons whose priory was at Christ Church from 1163-1537 |
After an long day yesterday and an exhausting walk to this side of Dublin, my friends and I decided to relax in the park next to St. Patrick's Cathedral. We laid in the beautiful green grass and took a nice cat nap while soaking up the warm day's sun. I managed to even get a little sunburned….in Ireland of all places... lol.
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| St. Patrick's Park |
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| St. Patrick's Cathedral |
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| Another view of Christ Church |
Trinity College
After recuperating, we all walked back towards the center of Dublin and strolled through Trinity College. Trinity College has several famous alumni including Samuel Beckett, Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift, and Ian Graham.
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| Trinity College |
The National Museum of Archaeology
Got to nerd out at all of the phenomenal artifacts from Ireland's archaeological finds, including some astonishingly well preserved bog bodies!
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| Reconstructed Cist Grave Female Skeleton (2000-1800 BC) |
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| Baronstown West Man (200-400 AD) Found during peat cutting in 1953 |
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| Clonycavan Man (392-201 BC) Internal organs partially preserved Distinguishable face with hair on chin and upper lip |
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| Oldcroghan Man (362-175 BC) Severed torso that had been decapitated Very preserved hands and intact internal organ The upper left harm is a plaited leather armband with metal mounts bearing Celtic ornament Stomach contents suggest his last meal was a type of cereal and buttermilk Stab wound to the chest killed him; defense wound on his arm He was decapitated, had his nipples cut, and his thorax severed from his abdomen |
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| Gallagh Man (400-200 BC) Discovered in a peat cutting in 1821 Due to extensive handling during research, much of his hair has disappeared A deer skin cape was tied at his neck with a band of willow rods [This may have been a garrote used to strangle him] |
Walk down the River Liffey
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| Samuel Beckett Bridge |
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| Cute little church we walked past |
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| The Jeanie Johnston |
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| Closer view of the Samuel Beckett Bridge |
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| View of Dublin from the bridge |
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| Potato Famine Sculptures |
Lunch/Dinner at Fitzgeralds Pub
To relieve ourselves of our growling stomachs, my friends and I found a nice pub called Fitzgeralds.
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| My Irish Coffee Must say they we quite heavy handed on the whiskey haha perfect for a long, tiring day |
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| My Irish Stew with scrumptious lamb, potatoes, and carrots with a side of soda bread |
Eating that absurdly large portion of stew, we all walked around more yet again. We only had an hour to kill before heading to the Literary Pub Crawl we signed up for so of course I needed to walk through the local Disney store. It was three floors and had some awesome life size figurines. And to my surprise there were a few stormtroopers as well as Anna and Sven :)
The Literary Pub Crawl was so much fun! I was a little disappointed that we would only go to four pubs, but the actors/guides' performances made up for it! At our first pub, The Duke, they performed a short scene from Samuel Beckett's brilliant play, Waiting for Godot. I forgot how hilarious it was and could not stop myself from laughing. I also witnessed a great impression of Oscar Wilde as he told us about a story of when he embarrassed some pioneers from Denver, Colorado by easily drinking three enter bottles of whiskey. He said, "If you truly wish to get a Irish man drunk, make it a five course meal" haha
At each bar, I drank a different draft. The beers I tried include Smithwicks, O'hara's Irish Red lager, Galway Hooker ale, and Clonmel.
While enjoying my third pint of beer at The Old Stand pub, I was telling my friends how much I loved visiting Germany and how I look forward to going back on my trip in June. A few moments after that conversation ended, a guy sitting next to us from our pub crawl asked where we were from. I told him that we were from the States. He seemed a bit astonished and said "That's funny. I'm German and I've never heard a foreigner speak so fondly of Germany…. especially from America." Then he told me many small towns that he considers to be the best parts of his country.
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| Taylor, Sarah, Stephanie, Minji, and I |
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| They have taps on the tables… can I take these home? |
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| This was the last pub of our Literary Pub Crawl James Joyce was a regular here and wrote parts of Ulysses |
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| Sarah and I enjoying our final pint |
WEDNESDAY:
To start my second day in Dublin on the right foot, my friend Minji and I took an nice hour walk to arrive at the Guinness Storehouse at 10 am in the morning :)
Guinness Storehouse
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| The lease Arthur Guinness signed in 1759 |
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| The yeast used in Guinness is descended from the strain Arthur Guinness used himself |
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| This is the sample I got for the Tasting Room The proper way to drink Guinness is to exhale, sip some Guinness, swish it around your mouth, a swallow while exhaling through your nostrils. This allows all of the flavors of Guinness to hit all parts of your palate. |
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| Proud to say I learned to pour a perfect pint of Guinness... |
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| …And to drink the tasty results! |
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| View of Dublin from the top of the Guinness Storehouse |
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| St. Augustine Baptist Catholic Church |
Kilmainham Gaol
I was not expecting much from visiting this jail, but it was very interesting to learn a lot about the Irish War of Independence. It is where the leaders of the Easter Rising of 1916 were imprisoned and executed.
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| Chapel in the jail where Grace Gifford and Joseph Plunkett where married |
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| Add caption |
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| Jail cells of Countess Markievicz, Ernie O'Malley, Grace Gifford, Joseph Plunkett, and many others |
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| The recreational yard |
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| Where several of the Easter Rising were executed |
Cemetery in front of the Dublin's Museum of Modern Art
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| Snack stop where Sarah and I split a tasty eclair |
St. Stephen's Green
This was such a beautiful park and it was so nice to spend a whole hour exploring the grounds!
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| My meal at M. J. O'Brien's Pub Slow cooked Irish angus beef meatloaf wrapped in streaky bacon and puff pastry topped with a mushroom gravy served with cabbage, mash, roast potatoes, green beans, carrots, and parsnips |
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| Luckily my friends and I, while trying to walk off our delicious dinners, walked upon a pub that had live Irish music with some Irish dancers. It wouldn't have been a trip to Dublin without it! |
FRIDAY:
Had my third visit to Camden markets. What can I say… they have amazing food carts! haha. I have managed to resist buying any merchandise so far, but I caved in this week :(
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| Indian food with 3 curries (lamb, chickpea, and chicken) topped with yogurt sauce and pickled mango |
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| Paula and I split some amazing pancaked :) |
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