Dublin

Our trip to Dublin got off to an early start. With three hours of sleep under my belt, we headed for the airport. I was hoping to catch some z’s on the plane, but soon learned that wasn’t going to be possible as our trip was only 40 minutes long! Once we arrived in Dublin, the passport control people didn’t seem so keen on Ian and Jessica. Maybe it was because we were American, but we were certainly getting questioned a lot (unlike everyone around us) before they decided to allow us into the country. It was kind of funny. Once we got into town we dropped our luggage at our hotel (which was much nicer than I expected) and headed out. We spent the better part of the day wondering around and getting our bearings. Then we headed back to the hotel for a much needed nap. After the nap, we headed out to dinner, where I managed to fall flat on my butt in the middle of the restaurant…it was great! After dinner we hit up the Temple City Bar, which I think is supposed to be famous for something…I am good with my history! It was full of people, most of which seemed to be tourists. The next day we went and visited the famous church in town. Some of the ruins at the church date back to the 1200’s. After the church we went over to the Guinness Storehouse…the home of Guinness. There we took a tour and learned about how beer is made. The highlights were this crazy waterfall in the middle of the building and the view of the city from the top of the building. That night we went to the movies and saw Quantum of Solace. It was probably the biggest and nicest theatre I have been in (at least in a while). At the beginning of the movie, there was an advertisement to visit Scotland…I thought this was funny. The advertisement made it seem a lot more exciting than it really is! Once the movie was over, we had the privilege of making the trek back to our hotel in the pouring rain complete with strong winds. Thankfully we were both in good moods and the walk didn’t spoil that. This morning, we headed out to the large park in town, where we rented a tandem bike to ride around. The bike rental guy said the park is three times larger than Central Park in New York, so I am guessing it is a pretty large park! Ian and I got off to a rough start on the tandem bike, but soon became pros at riding together. Apparently I enjoyed the ride better than Ian because when I suggested we buy a tandem bike, he quickly responded “no”! After the bike ride, we strolled around town a while before heading to the airport. All in all, it was a good trip. I am sure the people of Dublin wouldn’t like to hear this, but I think their city is a lot like Edinburgh!