I flew in at the crack of dawn on Friday morning, so (in theory) we would have the whole day to explore. Unfortunately both Tessa and I were SO tired from preparing to travel/traveling, that most of the day we spent wishing the check-in time at our hostel wasn't 2:00 PM so we could take a nap! After we did check in, we went into our room- a small room with 7 bunk beds for both men and women, there was definitely NO personal space. It was a little nerve-wracking to leave our stuff there, but Tessa just kept telling me "We have to trust our peers." So I tried.
After we put our stuff down, we decided to check out the Jameson Distillery. When we got there we found out a free drink was part of the tour, so we forked over our euros and were prepared to see a lot of cool stuff.
Well, when you are running on no sleep and they put you in a dark room, in a large cushy armchair.... it doesn't matter what movie is on the screen. So I don't remember much of the movie. After the movie we were lead on the official tour of the distillery. It was interesting to learn how whiskey was made, and the importance of little things I had never even considered (ex- the properties of a barrel and how it affects the taste). We learned the difference between traditional Scotch whisky and Jameson whiskey is that Jameson is distilled three times while Scotch is only distilled twice-- explaining its stronger smoky, peaty flavor.
After the tour, we had our drink. It was really good... Jameson whiskey with Canada Dry!
After the tour we went back to our hostel and took a nap. When we woke up we decided to find a good place for dinner. Since it was so early, we planned to take advantage of the early bird specials. We headed over to Temple Bar, which is an area of central Dublin with lots of great restaurants and night life. Tessa and I found a really great Italian restaurant, and it was celebrated as both of our well-deserved first "splurge" of our study abroad experience. Deee-licious!
After dinner we were excited to find endless possibilities for live music, so we stayed up as late as our bodies would allow (which ended up being 10:00 PM) before we headed back to the hostel. It was nice to get a chance to talk to some of the people in the hostel. A few guys we met were really friendly-- one was from New Zealand, and had spent 9 months backpacking alone, he was planning on heading home in December. Another guy was from Canada and Dublin was his first stop on a 10-month solo backpacking trip. Tessa and I couldn't figure out how these people had the money to not work for almost a whole year and just spend, spend, spend!! Even though they were living cheaply, the hostel was still around $20 a night, and that adds up.
Saturday we woke up feeling a lot better after a night's rest. Over our (free!) breakfast and (free!) coffee we looked at a map and decided what to do. The Irish guy working at the hostel front desk was surprisingly un-helpful. We asked him about things to do in Dublin that we had read about, and he kept saying things like "Usually I lie and tell people I've been there, but I haven't" (about the Guinness factory) and, "To be honest, Dublin isn't that great." EVERY single thing we asked him about he hadn't done. When Tessa asked about this supposedly cool magic show in Dracula Castle that she had read about online, the guy was really skeptical. He said he hadn't heard of "Dracula Castle" and it sounded to him like maybe it was just some creepy old guy trying to get us over to his house.
After that, Tessa and I decided to create our own itinerary.
The first thing we did was check out Trinity College, which was GORGEOUS. It looked like something out of a postcard. There was a wedding going on there also, with a horse and carriage clop-clopping around the cobblestone campus. Regretfully, I didn't take very many pictures of the gorgeous campus, because Tessa and I were A) too busy spying on the gorgeous wedding ; B) we were taking aback by how gorgeous the campus was and C) We were a little busy trying to eavesdrop on campus tours happening around us (It would have been $15 to take a campus tour!)
So here is a picture I found online, I didn't take it, but it shows how gorgeous the campus is:
The pictures I did take:
Wedding
Tessa and I!
The gorgeous windows of (one of) the libraries on campus
After our peek at Trinity College, we got some lunch at a really cute cafe. It was yummy.
Then we went to Dublin Castle, for a tour! That was really cool. Dublin Castle doesn't really look very "castle-like" anymore-- a lot of the exterior has changed, and they took the drawbridge out. But we got to see where the moat used to be, and they took us underneath the castle to look at the original stone work built by the Vikings! The Dublin Castle is where a number of TV shows/movies were filmed. I can't remember all the tour guide listed, but I do remember hearing that "The Tudors" and the movie "Leap Year" were both filmed here.
We also went to the Dublin Castle Chapel, which was small and gorgeous, with lots of natural light.
After the Dublin Castle tour, we went to a pub where there was a rugby game on. We met a bunch of guys that went to Trinity College that were dressed up as "Where's Waldo?" characters. But apparently in the UK, it's called "Where's Wally?" so they kept correcting us. They were very friendly.
I had my first pint of Guinness!
After the pub we saw a movie, got dinner, and went out to a few pubs, but it was a really busy and wild night so we didn't last long. I had to get up at 4 AM for a flight, so we headed back to the hostel.
It was a great trip! After conducting research several places around the UK, I've realized every single pub that plays live music that I have EVER been to has played this song. Every time. I usually hear it 3-4 times a night. It is strange how obsessed they are!
Love,
Kate
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