Seeing the Sites of Dublin!

With our first day in Dublin, we decided to hit all the sites! It was from one place to the next for us. Good thing they are all within a 10 minute walk from each other! Our first stop was Dublin Castle, which was only a few short blocks from our hotel. Honestly, I did not know much about this site before visiting it, which goes for most of the places we hit today. Upon arrival, we weren’t planning to take a tour as we like to save our money for more important things, like scones, but the Castle just so happened to offer free tours on the first Wednesday of the month! Good thing we planned to visit it on the first Wednesday of the month…

We learned so much about Dublin Castle and the past rulers and presidents who had been in there. So glad we got the tour! From here we headed over to St. Patrick’s Cathedral which is absolutely beautiful! The church is huge and equipped with a lovely garden in front. The whole site was magnificent!

Next on the list of today’s events was St. Stephen’s Green which is a gorgeously green park lush with trees, flowers and grass and equipped with quaint pathways, fountains and bridges. It was beautiful and quite possibly one of my favorite places in Dublin. The parked was littered with people walking with friends, sitting with loved ones, or out for a stroll with their families. The people watching was almost as good as the natural beauty of the park itself.

St. Stephen’s Green is right at the end of Grafton Street. This is one of the biggest streets in Dublin that is lined with nice shops and always crowded with people. While walking down the street we stopped to listen to a band that was promoting a new CD! There were street performers everywhere. It was definitely a fun place to walk, window shop, and people watch.

When we the end of Grafton Street, we went a few blocks further to Trinity College. This is a very old, very beautiful college in the heart of Dublin. It is weird to think that so many people visit it as a tourist attraction, when there are actual students attending classes there. The campus reminded me of something out of “Dead Poet’s Society” with ancient stone buildings and a calm, prestigious mood. Knowing how much we are loving Ireland, Claire, Tiffany, and I all agreed it would have been awesome to have studied abroad in Dublin and attend Trinity College. Maybe next time ;)

After four sites, we were all tired and in need of an afternoon reading break in our hotel. We are all loving our books! We read until dinner time, when we headed out and found a place called “Against the Grain” for dinner. I got a blended broccoli soup which was delicious and thankfully not too heavy, served with brown soda bread. Claire joined me in ordering soup while Tiffany enjoyed quite possibly her favorite meal in Ireland – Sheppard’s pie!

Tonight after dinner, we set out to find Whelan’s bar which was the bar used in the filming of the movie P.S. I Love You. Knowing how much we all like are obsessed with that movie, we had to check it out!

 Unfortunately the bar was a bit of a let down. The live music was a heavy metal band, and the crowd was much older. Where’s the cute Irish boy singing to us American girls with his acoustic guitar? I guess some things only happen in the movies.

Shout out to Lu-Li - Happy 17th Birthday sister!

Galway Girls

Today, Tuesday March 6, was another day in the lovely town of Galway. Not having anything planned, we “putzed” around (as we liked to say), most of the day, going into shops, and taking in the town. Maybe we had a little too much fun in some of the shops…

 

When lunch time approached we had many options as there were many cute eateries along the streets of Galway. We settled upon a cute vegetarian café  - up my alley much? The drizzly day called for soup and there is no shortage here in Ireland – they are all delicious and so hearty.  I got the soup of the day –  blended vegetable – and a whole wheat apple, raisin, and date scone. Although the soup was good, the scone stole the show! I think it may have won the prize of best scone over the entirety of the trip? And with at least one scone consumed daily, that’s saying something!

After a delicious leisurely lunch, we were back on the town. After stopping into a bookstore, we all decided to buy books to read: The Help for Claire, Sarah's Key for Tiffany, and P.S. I Love You for me, as recommended by the other two. For as we aimed for this trip to be more of a vacation, vacation books are necessary! All excited to get started right away, we headed back to our hostel for a cup of afternoon tea and some relaxing with our new books. Our hostel had a great common area and kitchen with free tea and coffee! I could go for an afternoon tea and reading break every afternoon in Ireland.

Tonight we left quaint Galway and headed to Dublin where we will spend the remainder of our trip. Something about Ireland just seems to agree with us and we are all loving it. I guess we’re Galway Girls at heart!

Claddagh Rings and Irish Things

A new day brought with it a new city in Ireland to explore. On Monday, March 5, we said good-bye to Molly and thanked her for her wonderful hospitality as we left Limerick and moved on to Galway. Galway is the cutest Irish town! With only two main cobblestone roads lined with small shops, pubs, and bakeries, Galway was small and charming. The buildings were old and authentic, and as we walked through the town we encountered many musicians playing Irish tunes on the street corners. Walking through Galway was like a dream, the city so quaint and picturesque. I definitely could tell I was in Ireland!

After dropping our bags off at our hostel, we headed to the Irish Claddagh museum. The “museum” is actually more of a single room, but fun and informative none the less. Here Tiffany, Claire and I learned about the initial makings of the ever so famous ring in Claddagh – which is very close to Galway. By the end of the day we all had Irish Claddagh rings and even purchased some for friends back at home. Unlike Claire and Tiffany, mine was not new this trip but a present from the my mom and her mom (Grammy). They got it when they took a trip to Ireland back 1998. I love mine and wear it every day so it was very interesting to learn the history behind it.

During the day, there was of course a break for scones. I think it is mandatory that when in Ireland, you must have at least one scone daily. I will be taking full advantage of this rule!

As evening approached, we were all eager to check out an authentic Irish pub, and enjoy some live music. Upon recommendation from our hostel, we went to one right in town that had some authentic Irish music. In the pub, there were four or five musicians playing traditional Irish instruments such as the fiddle, the flute, and the bodhran which is like a small hand drum. It was so cool! And you can’t go to an Irish pub without having a Guinness in your hand. We all tried our first ones! Although I am not one for beer, I s surprisingly loved this! It was not heavily carbonated, and had a coffee after taste. Delicious!

Cliffs and Cupcakes

After a great night’s sleep at Molly's, we were up and ready to go to the cliffs of Moher this morning which is about a two hour bus ride from Limerick. Upon planning our trip, Claire, Tiffany and I purchased four day bus passes to travel around Ireland as we knew we'd be hopping around to different Irish cities. This was a great decision, for our bus pass not only made it easy to get around but the buses are a great way to see the gorgeous countryside of Ireland.

The Cliffs were beautiful! We all enjoyed walking along the coast line, snapping photos, and taking in the beautiful scenery around us.

When our stomachs started to grumble, we headed to the small village at the Cliffs of Moher. The “village” consisted of only a handful of shops which were embedded into a hillside. Looked like hobbit houses to me! There we escaped the chilly wind off the sea and found a restaurant with huge windows that overlooked the cliffs. We all enjoyed vegetable soup at a restaurant while sitting by the window overlooking the breath taking scenery. What a wonderful way to enjoy our lunch. All feeling the need for something sweet after lunch, we got cupcakes! I picked out a coffee flavored cupcake – they don't have these treats in Italy!

Our bus picked us up at the perfect time - we had enjoyed the cliffs, it was starting to get chilly, and we were ready to enjoy a relaxing night at Molly's. Before arriving back in limerick, we picked up ingredients to make tortilla pizzas for dinner. Definitely making these in our apartment next year!

After a satisfying dinner we rented “P.s. I Love You” on iTunes and ate delicious honeycomb ice cream on Molly's bed. Because this movie takes place in Ireland, you have to watch it when you're in here! ‘Twas a lovely way to end our day and continue with our relaxing vacation :)