Last-Minute Trip to Dublin!

In an attempt to squeeze one more trip into my abroad repertoire, we booked a weekend trip to Dublin, Ireland for this past week. There was a fear of "one of the biggest storms to hit the UK this year" but that theory fizzled into sun and a cool breeze so I'm happy that we didn't have to fly though that. Since Rebs went to Tel Aviv for the weekend, Mel, myself, and a few other AU kids descended upon the capital of Ireland this past Saturday morning. It worked out perfectly, our flight was at 8am out of Heathrow, we landed by 9am and were checked into our hostel and on our free walking tour by 11am!! Perfect timing. This walking tour was with NewEurope, the same company that we used in Paris, and it was aalllright, but it was free so whatever! On the tour, we saw the Dublin castle, a site of Viking remains, and Trinity College. The school was very beautiful and very old. They said it was ranked #4 in the entire world in terms of academics. On the tour, I stopped in a local Costa coffee and got a creme brulee latte which was genius!! That night we did a pub crawl with that same company again and ended up watching a "football" match between Ireland and France on the big screen in the first pub. Standing amongst actual hooligans was an experience. I felt very Irish at that moment. We walked around the section of the city called Temple Bar for a few hours that night and just had a great time laughing and wandering and I woke up the next morning having lost my voice.

The second day in Ireland, it was another beautiful forecast. I didn't bring my sunglasses because I was told it was gloomy all the time. Boy was I wrong. Anyway on that second day, we all met in the morning after grabbing breakfast and took a bus to the Guinness factory at the famous St. James Gate in Dublin. The whole factory (the part they let us see) was 7 stories high and you started at the bottom and worked your way up to the top. At the top was a glass ceiling and a bar/restaurant that provided 360 degree views of Dublin all the way around. It reminded me of Top of the Rock, only not as high obviously. The cool thing about the structure of the factory was that the whole thing was shaped like a giant pint glass. The glass walls at the bottom were narrower as in the center atrium as you worked your way up the 7 stories, the walls belled out and then back in to form the glass's shape. Very very cool looking. Included in the entry ticket price was a free pint of Guinness so naturally, I traded my ticket in for a nice 7Up because let's be real, Guinness tastes like tar with a splash of soy sauce.

After the factory, it was time to get back to the hostel, pick up our stuff, and head to the airport. Again, the flight was insanely short. I literally listened to 14 songs and we were back in London on the ground. A whirlwind of a trip, but I can now say that I have been to Ireland. Next trip: ROME in 3 weeks! Soooo excited for the sights and the amazing food in Italia.

I didn't take many pictures in Dublin so here are a few that I stole from friends.