Dublin, Ireland

This past weekend, Ellis and I traveled to Ireland!  We thought it would be nice to see a lot of green grass since there is not very much in Rome. 

We arrived Friday afternoon, and our first stop was to the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin. We toured the old brewery and got to sample the beer.  We also went up to the Gravity Bar which is a circular room on top of the building with windows all around which allow you to see most of the city of Dublin.

We ate fish and chips at a pub near our hotel. They had live Irish music, which was nice to hear while we were eating and relaxing.  We immediately fell in love with the Irish song "Galway Girl".  I have not been able to stop singing it since we left Ireland. 

We woke up at 7am Saturday to catch the tour bus from Dublin to the countryside.  The tour took us to Wicklow, Glendalough, and Kilkenney.  The mountains, valleys and lakes were so beautiful!  They were covered in GREEN grass, sheep, cows, and yellow dandilions.  We saw medieval castles and round towers.  Our tour guide was halarious as well.  He told us all about the histories of the different places where we stopped, how his girlfriend had just broken up with him the night before and he even sang many different songs for us along the way!  It was such a relaxing and enjoyable day trip.

Our tour bus

We arrived back in Dublin around 6pm Saturday evening.  We quickly showered and then headed to the popular Temple Bar area of Dublin.  It is just across the river and filled with lots of local pubs, restaurants and shops.  It is such a neat little area of the town and a very happening spot.  Almost all of the pubs had live music, but our favorite place was The Temple Bar.  They had two men playing guitars and singing great songs that were both Irish and American, which was loads of fun!  Ellis and I knew that it was the right place for us to be because there was a picture of "Lady Martha Temple" painted on one of the outside walls of the building.

Now I am back to the work and grind of school in Rome, but it was so nice to be able to get away from Rome for a more peaceful and relaxing weekend in Ireland!