I went to Dublin, Ireland! Went the weekend after St. Patrick’s Day, and I loved every part of it. It is such a cool city. I didn’t realize just how touristy it was until after I’d been there a day. There were so many things to do and for the most part, I think I covered them. There is this thing call The Dublin Pass and I highly recommend it to anyone traveling that direction. It was £32 and it got you in free entry and let you jump the lines at pretty much all of the big tourist places. This was super convenient for when we went to the Guinness Storehouse as the line was incredibly long. I flew using Ryanair, which everyone says is not the safest and how can it be when it is so cheap? I wasn’t incredibly excited about flying in lieu of the recent crisis, but flying doesn’t scare me and I happen to like it, and Ryanair was perfectly fine. The flight was less than an hour and we got to board the plane VIP style, walking up the stairs from the runway. Naturally, I waved to all of my fans at the top of the steps and by fans I mean normal human beings who have no idea how awesome I am. So Friday and Saturday we did touristy explorations, then Saturday night we made our own “pub crawl” but we really just went to five different pubs having a drink at each and watching the crowds. The thing I think I loved most was that on every street there was live music, or performances. I love street performers and music and some of the people we saw were insanely talented. In general, Dublin is a good looking city.
Here are some of the hot spots I managed to get to:
Guinness Storehouse: This was definitely a highlight of the weekend getaway. With our Dublin Pass we got to skip the line completely and waltz right in, which was so good. This was a self-guided tour and it covered the ingredients of Guinness, the history, the company itself, Guinness around the world, Guinness in advertising, etc. I loved seeing the old commercials and advertisements. One of them said “Guinness is good for you”. Not sure who let that fly as Guinness is like the heaviest beer ever and there’s no possible way it is good for you. That’s like me saying pizza on wheat crust is healthy. On the top floor of the Guinness Storehouse there’s this place called Gravity Bar and it is a wide, circular room enclosed by floor to ceiling windows giving us a 360 view of the city of Dublin. It was a spectacular view, and if it hadn’t been so crowded, I could have stayed there all day. We got a complimentary pint of Guinness, and it was so good. I don’t really ever drink Guinness, but I could start. Did you know that Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease on the place??? Hopefully we are still drinking beer in the future.
Dublin Castle: I LOVED THIS. It’s not a large castle by any means, but it surrounded a courtyard and was connected to the most beautiful cathedral and Architecture Museum. Then when you walk around the back you stumbled right into the Dubhlinn Gardens. There were so many colored flowers and buildings, fountains and walkways. I think this was one of my favorite places. I could have sat on a bench there for hours as it was a gorgeous afternoon.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral: This place was really pretty. We even got to hear a prayer by one of the Priests there. The bell tower and a large part of the cathedral were burned down many many years ago but then re-built. One of the cool things about this building, was it had memorials inside for all of the fallen war heroes, even the recent ones.
St. Stephen’s Green: BEAUTIFUL. This is one of the largest parks (besides Central Park in NYC) that I have ever been to. There were people EVERYWHERE. There were more benches than I could count, plenty of fountains and ponds throughout where people could feed the ducks and swans. I immediately thought of the movie The Swan Princess.
Stephen’s Green Shopping Center (Looks exactly like the mall in the movie Clueless): We just happened to walk inside here, but it was massive! It had five floors and so many stores and cafes. We ate at Eddie Rockets (which is identical to Johnny Rockets in the states) and people watched.
The Leprechaun Museum: This was just the cutest of places. We had a tour guide who walked us through all the while telling us stories about the leprechauns and fairies. I loved all of the stories of trickery and how the leprechauns became the stereotype that they are now. Did you know that the image of leprechauns today, came from Walt Disney? It was unintentional, but in the movie Darby O’Gill and the Little People, leprechauns wore earthy colors and reds, but their leader wore all green. Nowadays, when you think leprechaun, you think green!
Gino’s Gelato: The best gelato in all of the land. If I go to Italy ever, I’ll probably take this statement back, but it was so good, we went for it twice! I had Nutella gelato and banana. Both equally mouth-watering and heavenly.
Dublina Viking and Medieval History Museum: Ooooh, this place was fun. It was all about the history of the Vikings and where they came from as well as what Dublin was like in the medieval times.
Dublina Tower: This was just a tower at the top of the Dublina museum. Like the Gravity Bar, you could see most everything in the city.
George’s Street Arcade and Market: Didn’t realize that this was a market until we actually got there, but I loved this little thing. It was very much like the straw market in the Bahamas, or like a condensed version of Gallery Hop in Ohio. There were some really cool things there, and I liked seeing all of the trinkets.
Temple Bar: This isn’t one single bar, it is a massive square of Dublin that hosts dozens of bars and pubs, restaurants, live music and more. It was such a cool area filled with lights and people. It was a great atmosphere.
For more photos, check out my album on Facebook or www.instagram.com/kalleighnorval
I loved Dublin, although it was expensive as shit, I would love to go back.
Keep living, I’ll write again soon!
-Kal
“Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown in your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.” –Steve Jobs.
So far, so good. 