LIVE your LIFE: Welcome to Dublin! (September 7)

So I was saying, early flight...3 hours of sleep!! I finally finished packing and got to bed by about 1:30 am. And woke up at 4:30. In the morning. TOO EARLY. I got ready, called a taxi, attempted to deliriously carry on a conversation with the taxi driver as he asked my plans in Dublin and insisted I drink my own pint of Guinness at the Guinness Factory. He was really nice, but to be honest it was WAY too early and I couldn't understand half of what he was saying. Understanding accents takes effort sometimes! And that's asking a lot at 5 am. I mean, come onnnn. So anyway, I got to the train station, met Romain and his friend Maxime, and we hopped on the train to get to the airport. They fell asleep right away, but I fought to stay awake - thankfully, because 45 minutes later we would have missed our stop if I wasn't looking out the window checking for signs! We got through security at the airport and got on the plane...thankfully with my bag. Let's just say I didn't take time to condense my bag in my hurry to pack the previous night so I was pushing it on the "one carry-on item 20 cm by something by something and no heavier than 10 kg." And hey, it fit under the seat! (Somehow!)

....AND we were off to Dublin! As soon as the seatbelt signs went off, they went right back on to prepare for landing. I think the flight was only 45 minutes or something! We landed, had to take a bus into the city centre, and FINALLY were there.

First things first, coffee. Second, hostel. There was no way I was lugging my backpack around Dublin. It was too early to check in, so I stored my bags. Compared to my London hostel, this place was niiiiiice!!!! The lobby was huge and so nice, there were tons of really nice rooms, there was a bar and a kitchen and it was great. It was a youth hostel, so I think only young people could stay there - or at least I only saw young people around. Just as we were about to leave, there was a guy with a "free tour" shirt on just like the tour I went on in London. We decided to tag along and join the 3 1/2 HOUR walking tour. It was a good tour with lots of information, but MAN our legs and feet were tired after that! Not to mention the fact that we'd gotten hardly any sleep! But I'm glad we went. :) Lots of history and sightseeing!

Ready for our tour!

Dublin Castle

So many different styles of architecture in one picture

This is the "weeping alley" in P.S. I Love You, as our tour guide described it. When she is crying in the bar and goes outside to cry alone, this is where she is. But fun fact, the bar she was in is actually 15 minutes across town. Oh, the magic of Hollywood.

Dublin Cathedral...that is really a Protestant church now, and the Catholic church just refuses to acknowledge it. So there is technically not a cathedral in Dublin. Another fun fact. See, tour guides are full of information! That's him in the red, by the way.

Love the cobblestone & moss!

Pretty colors!

Temple Bar area

Temple Bar

Trinity College - our tour guide went there, and made sure we knew!

Trinity College

St. Stephen's Green - "Famine"

Irish History

Some more history in the park! St. Stephen's Green

Three and a half hours later, our tour ended. We were exhausted! We found a cafe to rest in for a bit, then continued on our way!

Grafton Street

I loved this street! It's for foot-traffic only and for SOME REASON reminds me of New Orleans. Okay, that statement is not valid because I have not been to New Orleans. Let me re-phrase. Grafton Street reminds me of the New Orleans area of Disneyland. Using this and my perception and knowledge of New Orleans, I have come to this conclusion. :) Anyway, it was great. There were street performers, mostly jazz. It was such a fun street! Hard to describe though. I guess you'll just all have to go visit!

Grafton Street

Back to Trinity College

Trinity College

Dublin City Centre

Sometimes you're the bird, sometimes you're the statue.

Earlier in the morning, we noticed that the Old Jameson Distillery backed up to our hostel. So, on the way back to our hostel, we decided to go there and have ourselves a little whiskey tour! We had to wait around for awhile, so we wandered around the shop and the two guys wanted EVERYTHING because EVERYTHING in there would make them feel manly. Oh, men. We waited and wandered and took pictures with/of everything there.

Tour time! Finally, our tour number was called. We watched a movie clip in a comfy theater, then walked through the distillery. It actually is not still a running distillery, but it was remodeled as one was in the past so we could see everything. It was really interesting.

At the end of the tour, the tour guide picked a few female volunteers for a Whiskey tasting. We were seated at a long table with three kinds of whiskey in front of us. Once-distilled Jack Daniels, twice-distilled Scotch whiskey, and three-times distilled Jameson. He taught us how to taste whiskey correctly, which involved smelling it, sipping it....and letting it SIT in your mouth. That part wasn't so fun!! We tried Jameson first, and it wasn't too bad. Can't say I enjoy keeping hard liquor in my mouth to taste. Next, Scotch. Eh, a little worse. All the men found it entertaining to watch as the women twisted their faces at the...lovely...taste of whiskey. And finally, third, the American whiskey. Let me tell you - NOT something you want to let sit in your mouth! I'm sure all of us ladies had the most delightful faces while we tasted this one. We had to say what our favorite was and the Jameson really was the best compared to the others. The guide left the room and returned with personalized certificates since we were now officially Qualified Irish Whiskey Tasters! Then everyone on the tour got a free drink. I won't tell you what my mixer was because apparently "you're not allowed to mix Jameson with anything but ice" but hey - they were serving it with some mixers! Get mad at the distillery, not me! :)

Whiskey Tasting

Certificate!

Qualified Irish Whiskey Taster

Once we left there, we were hungry and ready for dinner. We heard Dublin was SUPER expensive so we were on a mission to save money. We went to the supermarket right by our hostel, bought some sandwiches, and ate them on the grass outside. Then we were exhausted and our plans of going out didn't seem quite as appealing anymore. Instead, we stayed in the hostel and spent the evening hanging out in the bar there, socializing, watching football, and playing some pool. It was a LONG day!