Two weeks ago Lauren, one of my best since junior high, was over here visiting. The day she flew in we took the train down to Dublin! It was both of our first times in the Republic of Ireland and we had so much fun! In picture above, the first of many taken while she was here, we on our first train and we both look very tired but happy!
After an "interesting" night in our hostel we headed to O'Connell Street for some grub. Of course, for our first breakfast in Ireland we had to have some potatoes. Yum!
We wanted to make sure we saw as much of Dublin was we could, so we took the "touristy" route and bought all day passes for a "hop-on hop-off" tour of the city. Money well spent! Before we realized just how cold and windy it was, we sat on the upper deck of this cool double decker bus.
One of our first stops was the Dublin writer's Museum. It was really cool seeing fist edition novels and letters from writers I've been studying in school. The fact that Lauren and I both thought this stop was interesting sheds some light on our dorkiness. :-)
Across the street from the Writer's Museum is this fun statue of the famous writer Mr. Oscar Wilde, or as our bus driver dubbed him, "the queer in the square." (It rhymed when he said it).
In the middle of the city is a remebrance park dedicated to those who fought and died for Irish freedom from Britain. It was so beautiful and all of the flowers had just started to bloom.
Of course, we would not have been able to experience Dublin to its fullest without a stop at the Guinness factory storehouse.
Guinness is currently celebrating its 250th anniversary this year. Which let me assure you is a VERY big deal over here. I absolutely loved all of the vintage poster they had on display. The two pictured below especially made us laugh...
These lovelies were "free" with our tour...yum!
The next day we visited Trinity College. This place is absolutely steeped in history and it was so cool to be able to walk around the campus.
Perfect timing!
We were also able to see the Book of Kells which is an illuminated manuscript that's over 1200 years old. It is regarded by histroians as one of the greatest treasure in Celtic art.
Couldn't pass up this photo opportunity.
The university's main court yard. So amazing!!
After Trinity College we decided to take a tour of Dublin Castle. This building was absolutely amazing! It was built in 1204 after King John of England demanded a strong castle for protection against the Norman Invasion in 1169. Today it is still used by government officials, which unfortunately for us, meant that some rooms were "off limits," but it was still a really cool tour.
Our super cute tour guide standing in front of the throne...
A shot of the dining room, minus the table. You can't see them in this picture, but on the wall opposite of where the president would be sitting (the one with all the windows) there are mirrors. Back in Ireland's more troublesome times, death threats to the president were quite common. Mirrors were installed so he could keep an eye on all of his guests at all times.
There was a fire that destroyed almost all of the castle in 1673, the picture below shows the only part of the original castle that survived.
The picture below is of The Spire of Dublin. This sculpture was built in 2002 and is the tallest sculpture in the world. It was built to try and improve the "street scape" for the famous O'Connell Street, which some people believed had declined because of fast food joints and the presence of the IRA. Even though this sculpture is pretty cool to look at and has won some architectural awards, the security guard we stopped and asked for directions just called a giant waste of money. Oh well...
A funny picture we snapped form our bus tour...notice the Guinness!
A cool shot of St. Patrick's Cathedral built in 1192! Unfortunately we ran out of time to take a tour here, but I just love how medieval this building looks!
One of our last stops of the day was here, at the National Gallery of Ireland where we got to feel very fancy looking at some very interesting Irish art.
On our last day in Dublin, we decided to get out of the city and become the ultimate tourists by taking a bus tour through Wicklow National Park...(a la Hilary Swank in P.S. I Love You!!)
First we had to get out of the city, which seemed to take forever, but our tour guide had some fun stops along the way. I was VERY excited for our first stop! The water-tower looking building I'm standing in front of below is actually a Martello Tower. The British built towers like these all over the coast protect themselves in case Napoleon decided to invade Britain via Ireland. During James Joyce's time people could live in these towers very cheaply and he actually wrote his most famous novel "Ulysses" in a Martello tower while exiled from Dublin. I learned about this last semester so I was very excited to see this tower in person!
Lauren and I standing on the cute but COLD Dun Laoghaire coast. Even though the water was freezing we saw people swimming!!
Check out these studs!! Michael Phelps watch out!! Apparently, they swim year round because the salt water is "good for their skin"...so is lotion?
Next, we dropped by Bono's house!! Well...his gate anyways. Still so cool!!
Then we popped over to say hi to Enya and her house/castle.
Finally we made it to the park!!
In the park is also the ruins of an old abbey complete with cemetary and watch tower!
Lauren being cute on a bridge.
More of the gorgeous scenery!
One last look!
The next day we headed back up to my neck of the woods! We didn't get a chance to do more exploring until Friday because both of us had some work to do! Lauren had a mid term to take online and I had a paper to write, the pictures below are evidence that said work was acutally completed!
On Friday we visited the Giant's Causeway (still my favorite place I've been to in Ireland so far!) and Dunluce Castle.
Doesn't it looks like she is standing in front of a green screen?!
This particular spot in the Causeway is called the "organ" because the basalt columns appear to be forming the pipes of an organ.
Standing on the boot left behind by Benandonner...
Hard to believe Dunluce Castle was only 15 minutes away by taxi! To learn more about this amazing castle and its turbulent history, click on the link. My favorite story is about the demise of the castle's main kitcken. Apparently one night during a dinner party, all the guests heard a screams and a loud crash. When they looked out the window they saw that the kitchen had fallen into the ocean!! Thus the price paid by coastal caslte landlords...
Later that eveining, I dragged Lauren to Derry. Even though were were both so tired, I really wanted her to see this cute little city!
Showing some bronze statue love...
On Lauren's last full day in Ireland we went to Belfast! I always have the best time when I visit this awesome city, and this time was no exception!! Here Lauren is standing in fron of the Opera House. FIngers crossed her brother Ryan will sing here one day and we'll get to go back!
Of course we had to visit the Wheel and City Hall!!
Our last picuture of the both of us!!
I'm so glad that Lauren got to come out and visit me! It was so nice having someone from home over here, even if it only was for nine days. We got to see and do a lot of really awesome stuff and I loved hanging out with my best friend again. I can't wait to see her when I I get back in June so we can have more fun times states side.
Thanks again for visiting Laurs, I love you!!!
2 comments:
You guys sure accomplished a lot! I'm jealous but so glad that Lauren could come keep you company for a while : )
it seriously looks like you're carrying a green screen around with you and editing your way through this trip. i can't believe how gorgeous this is, you're very lucky my friend!
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