Except for the travel there and back, I just had the best weekend in Dublin visiting Karissa. It started off a little rough with my train to the airport being cancelled, but once I made it to Irish soil and in close proximity to a plethora of pubs, everything got infinitely better.
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| Dublin City Hall |
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| Dublin Castle |
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| wall built behind Dublin Castle to block the Queen's view of the slums during her visit |
It was a trip of firsts (taste of Guinness, hostel experience, being in a country where they drive on the opposite side of the road), and I had so much fun. We started out Friday morning at a coffee shop where I had a mocha and a bagel, neither of which exist in France or are extremely hard to come by, so I was already loving Ireland. Then, Karissa had scoped out a free walking tour, so we spent a good part of the afternoon hitting up the most well known spots in Dublin. It was great to have a guide since I knew absolutely nothing about the city before going, not including some minimal Wikipedia research.
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| Christchurch Cathedral |
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| Temple Bar |
We saw Dublin City Hall, Dublin Castle, Christchurch Cathedral and walked through Temple Bar, Trinity College, and St. Stephen’s Green. Dublin is a cool city, and it was so different from what I’ve gotten used to seeing in France. The architecture, food, and people were such a departure from the European-ness of France. Not that I don’t love where I’m living, but Dublin was refreshing, maybe because they speak English.
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| Trinity College |
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| St. Stephen's Green |
After the walking tour, we continued walking around some more, did some shopping, and found a cute restaurant for some soup and brown bread (traditional Irish food). That night, we went on a traditional Irish music pub crawl and went to three pubs (this fact was a bit shocking to my host dad who, upon hearing about my weekend, said, “So did you remember your night? Dominique, did you hear that? She went to THREE pubs!”). Two Irish musicians led the group on the pub crawl, and they played music for us at each one, explaining a little history along the way. We met some girls from Wisconsin and continued onward after the official tour was over to another pub called O’Donaghue’s. At the last one, I tried Guinness for the first time. It wasn’t my favorite drink ever, but when in Dublin…
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| Artsy picture |
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| GUINNESS |
Saturday, we decided to go back to a couple of things we had seen on the walking tour to explore a little more. We went back to Trinity College first to go into the library and see the Book of Kells, decorated copies of the four gospels dating back to the early 9th century. I was mostly excited to see the library, though, because it served as the basis for the Hogwarts library (love me some Harry Potter). We also went to the Chester Beatty Library to see the collection of Qur’ans dating from the 9th to 19th centuries and some of the earliest Gospel and New Testament texts. Beatty was an American who lived in Ireland and left Dublin an amazing collection of religious paraphernalia.
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| Trinity College |
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| St. Patrick's Cathedral |
After the museums, we went to walk around a little market in the Temple Bar area, and then we went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which, like Christchurch, was so different from the cathedrals I’ve been seeing in France. We couldn’t go inside but the outside and the surrounding park were beautiful. We headed to O’Connell Street (the main drag) next and walked around some more before it started to rain (should have been more prepared for that in Ireland). We went back to the hostel to refresh, and then headed back out to walk around some more.
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| St. Patrick's Cathedral |
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| Park outside the cathedral |
As we wandered, we walked by a pub, heard some live music, and it sounded like fun, so we stopped in for some cider. The pubs in Dublin were all so lively and fun, and there was always good music. Irish people certainly know how to have a good time. From there, we went to a restaurant in a hotel that had a free Irish dancing show. I love watching Irish dancing and have always wanted to learn how to do it.
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| River Liffey |
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| O'Connell Street |
Unfortunately, I had to leave on Sunday, but we went out to brunch since my flight and Karissa’s bus back to Galway weren’t until later. We went to this adorable place called Queen of Tarts where I had an omelet and coffee followed by the most delicious blackberry and apple crumble (I couldn’t refuse a dessert at Queen of Tarts).
It was so great to see a familiar face, speak a familiar language, and hang out with one of my best friends for the weekend. I’ve gotten so comfortable in France that it was nice to experience something totally different.
Too bad my welcome back to France was a canceled train and a travel nightmare. I literally ran all over Paris to find a way back to Dijon. Thank the Lord I found my friend Sylvia who is in our Dijon group and her train back was running late, so I had time to get to her station. I finally made it back to my house around midnight. I had almost resigned to having to spend the night in Paris, and although it’s not the worst place in the world to be stuck, I was so happy to get back to my bed after a super fun but super exhausting weekend.
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