dublin

Brenda and I went up to Dublin for quick weekend trip and it was a lot of fun. Dublin isn't one of my favourite places, actually I'm not the biggest fan of it. I've been three weekends now and while I've had fun each time and enjoyed it, but if you are coming to Ireland I wouldn't say spend a lot of time in Dublin. I prefer the west better, and the way I see it there isn't much to do in Dublin and there is very little that makes Dublin special and it isn't a pretty city.
But Brenda and I had a great time!

Saturday we met at the ungodly hour of 6.30 to catch the 7am bus up and getting into the city at 11 so we would have most of the day - if we waited the next bus wasn't until 9 and we wouldn't have gotten up until 1. It was nice going to a city you know your way around enough and Brenda had been up a lot too, so we dropped off our bags and set off for Trinity. She had never seen the Book of Kells and the Long Room at Trinity so we decided to start there. The Book of Kells is pretty cool, I wish you could see more of it they only actually have 2 pages of it on display. But it is a gorgeous illuminated manuscript from the 800s and considering how many times the monastry has been pillaged, burned and destroyed amazing that the book is still surviving. And the Long Room at Trinity is incredible. Holds over 200,000 of Trinity's oldest books and also has the oldest harp in Ireland (their national symbol) as well as an original 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic - which started the Easter Rising. And I want a library like this.

putting my sneaky photo taking ability to work again - long room - trinners

After walking about Trinners for a bit we headed to St. Stephen's Green for lunch. The weather was nice so we grabbed rolls and went and sat and enjoyed the sunshine. The person at the deli counter was definitely laughing at me - they didn't have any tuna for my usual staple for my roll - tuna, mayo, sweetcorn, lettuce and cheese. So I went with a curry chicken, butter, lettuce and crutons. I was like whatever, I saw the crutons and decided why not? Plus I've seen some people put even wierder combos on theirs. Whatever. It was yummy. After lunch we headed to the National History and Archaeology Museum and saw the coolest thing ever. They had an exhibit on Bog Bodies. Bogs are amazing at preserving and it is almost like they've been mummified and they've recently (2003) found a few in Ireland - they are over 2000 years old and just incredible. They have 4 on display and one still has hair, another's hand is perfectly preserved and they were just so interesting. After that we wanted to go to the Natural History Museum, but it was being renovated, so we went to the National Gallery and admired some art. And then we went and said hello to Oscar Wilde's statue and then headed back for a bit of a break before dinner.

Brenda and I outside the National Gallery

Of course it was pouring when we headed to dinner, but we found an amazing Italian restuarant and had a fabulous dinner. We spoiled ourselves with a bottle of wine - I love Chilian red wine! And again the waiter laughed at me - I ordered chicken in a white wine mushroom sauce, and when he saw me picking out the mushrooms - he was like are you ok? I explained I like the sauce and flavour but I don't like the actual texture of the mushrooms. I'm weird when it comes to food. And then we headed back and I had a bottle of Malibu that needed to be drunk - so we sat around talking and laughing while enjoying the Malibu. It was around now when her Mum called letting us know about the paper, so of course that made us even more excited! After we were happy we headed out to Temple Bar and had fun dancing in a pub/club.

Sunday we slept in and headed out to St. James Gate for Guinness. Neither of us had done it before and it was pretty awesome. While it was slightly expensive €11 for students. It was worth it. The museum/how it was made part was great. Very awesome. I loved the advertisement section and the history. It is the 250th anniversary of Guinness this year, so lots on that. We chose to pull our own pints instead of drinking it in the Gravity Bar, but the view of Dublin was amazing from up there!

pulling my pint

our pints - they could have used a bigger head

After Guinness we walked along the River Liffey and took some pictures and then headed up O'Connell Street. And just walked around the city and enjoyed Dublin. And I had to get my picture with Molly Malone - whose statue is like tits magee.

molly and i

So we caught the 5 bus back to Cork and of course it was late... and raining and cold while waiting, and for some reason the bus just made me sick. Major headache, grrrr.

So can't belive I only have 2 weeks left. So much going on - I pretty much have plans everynight.
Hope everyone had a great weekend :)