Four Days in Dublin

I just got over this awful bug that hit me on Wednesday and kept me in bed for almost 24 hours straight! I can't remember the last time I had a fever and chills, nonetheless the last time I threw up (worst. grossness. ever.), so I suppose I was overdue to get knocked down by something. It probably didn't help that Cody and I had such a busy 4 days of travel and then came right back in for some busy days at home! Whether our trip had something to do with my weakened immune system or not, it was totally worth it- we had a great time in Dubin :)


Our flight was super early on Friday, so we woke up at 1:30 am and drove the 3 hours to Frankfurt Hahn. We were very happy with RyanAir and both of our bags were under the 10kg weight limit so our 2 hour flight was smooth. Once we landed, we took a bus into town and started to explore the area looking for breakfast. We found the perfect spot on Grafton Street, which is the busy, shopping, pedestrian lane between Temple Bar and St. Stephen's Green. Then we dropped our bags of at our wonderful Bed&Breakfast, The Cliff Townhouse, and went for a stroll through the park. We ended up at the mall and got a little carried away with spending (tkmaxx is just as dangerous as tjmaxx!) but eventually grabbed our first Guinness in Ireland (how exciting!) and then heading back to the room. We got dressed up and went out to dinner at a wonderful tapas restaurant and then we got to watch Riverdance at the Gaiety Theatre! I used to watch Riverdance on VHS at my grandparents' house, so I couldn't resist buying tickets to see it in person- it was the perfect way to spend our first night. We picked up some gelato, and made our way back to the room for some rest!

On Saturday, we planned to hit all of our sight-seeing within Dublin. Luckily, the breakfast at our B&B was the most delicious breakfast I have ever had in my entire life and it kept me full for the entire day (no offense to my mom and all the wonderful cooks who have made me breakfast in the past); we started with fresh fruit and organic yogurt, then a pastry platter with fresh homemade jams, and then a full Irish breakfast with an over-easy egg, black pudding, brown bread, sauteed mushrooms, sausage and bacon! MMmmmm I love breakfast food :) We started at the Archeology Museum, worked our way up to Trinity College, and then made the long walk over to the Guinness Factory. We left there pretty buzzed and meandered our way to the old Jameson distillery where we booked a tour and sat down for lunch. Our food was delicious, but our Jameson on the rocks was what really kept the day moving in the right direction. Next, we each enjoyed a specialty cocktail made with Jameson and then went on our tour, which ended with a tasting for me, and a Jameson and Ginger for both of us! As if we hadn't had enough, we decided to buy a tasting tray with a couple we had met, and we got to try samples of both 12 years, an 18 year, and a 25 year. We finally left with our goodies and caught a taxi to Temple Bar where we attempted to explore... but we ended up back at the room napping instead! We woke up for a late dinner and ended our night like an old couple yet again- back in the room catching some sleep!

Sunday was our Wild Wicklow Tour and we started early! It was a welcome change to get out of the city for the day and we got to see some beautiful sights outside of Dublin. After eight hours on the bus, we were ready to be back at our room, but we changed clothes and headed out to explore Temple Bar. We pub hopped for a few hours, hitting up some of the better-known joints in the area, and then went home to rest up for our last day of vacation.

For our last day in Dublin, we decided to check out Kilmingham Gaol, which was the most informational tour we did during our stay. We had to wait a little bit to get in, but the hour tour was worth the wait! It was kind of eery, but definitely interesting to be inside a jail that was once filled to the brim with women, men, and even children. After our tour we found a nice little cafe to have lunch and wait out a passing storm.  We tried to explore a few more places, but the Natural History Museum was closed and both of us were pretty tired of walking all over the place. We finally caught a bus back to the airport and relaxed until our flight home. We got back to Frankfurt Hahn at about 11 pm and made the 3 hour drive back to our house where we fell into bed and crashed until work the next morning!

Cody and I both thoroughly enjoyed our trip- but were reminded that we aren't city people at all! I got so sick of being bumped into and walking in a crowd all the time; I feel like all my time in small towns has given me some sort of anxiety about crowds, haha! I was so excited about all the options when we first arrived, but after the first night of wandering around trying to pick a restaurant for an hour, I decided that I would much rather have 6 great options than 60 unknown options! We have both turned into bumpkins, hehe :)  As cool as Dublin was, the next time we check out Ireland, we will stick purely to the countryside!