Where else but Ireland for St. Patricks Day?!

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At the very end of my Germany trip, but old roommate came to Germany to visit me. Initially I was trying to plan an awesome trip to Italy for the week she would be there, but one night - after drinking at an Irish pub, I realized she would be visiting during St. Patricks Day. What choice did I have? We had to go to Ireland! Ryan Air is amazing and we had roundtrip tickets to Dublin for under $100 each. We flew into Dublin to stay in the city center on the outskirts of Temple Bar for about three days, including St. Patricks Day. My roommate was the planner of the two of us at the time and I was more relaxed and figured I'd see whatever I came across. We saw a ton of churches, a castle, and tried to see the Book of Kells (the library closed early on St. Pats - imagine that) but weren't able to. Then we went to the Guinness Brewery for a tour. I'm not even a beer drinker, but I loved it - getting to pour my own beer and taste samples. Our hotel was right on a main parade route and we were able to sit in our room with beer and just watch the parade from our window without the crowds. How perfect! Dublin is definitely a place to see on a non-holiday trip - the bars and restaurants were WAY too crowded and you couldn't get in, move, or hear yourself think! I also wasn't a fan of mixed drinks there - you got a TINY pour of rum, then had to buy a can of coke separate - weird.

From Dublin, we took a rail tour for the remainder of our week there. We stopped in Cork, Killarney, and the Dingle Peninsula. We kissed the Blarney Stone, saw where the Titanics's last port of call was, and saw the gorgeous Dingle Peninsula. I honestly have never seen such pretty hillsides and cliffs (as of yet 😊 ). I took about 600 pics in Ireland and the ones I took there just couldn't come close to capturing how blue the water was and how green the land was. I wished we had more time there - I've always wanted to see Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland, but with the time constraints, we just couldn't go there. Someday I'll be back and that will be my first destination!

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