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Lara and her crazy need to have at least have one holiday on the horizon. This time she spun the globe around and her finger landed on Dublin, Ireland. Convenient really, it was just a quick Ryan Air flight away... at least on paper; the train/bus tickets to get to Luton airport cost more than the flights themselves, which had Al scratching his head with disbelief that a 'London' airport could take more than an hour to get to from London itself. We packed our bags and headed off for the weekend.

Ryan Air was basic, but arriving early made the experience completely pain free and we left freezing London on a Friday evening to arrive in freezing Dublin an hour later. We were exhausted on arrival and headed straight for bed and even managed a bit of a sleep-in before heading straight into the centre and getting Irish Breakfasts. And what better to do right after breakfast than head for the Guinness Storehouse and have a pint of Guinness! We took a tour of the Brewery along with every other person in the whole of Dublin and once we reached the top we got a free pint in the Gravity Bar which had fantastic, yet slightly gloomy view over the city. The Brewery itself is impressive in size and in content and it made for an interesting morning.

From pints to prison - next on the itinerary was a visit to the infamous Kilmainham Gaol where many leaders of Irish Rebellions were imprisoned and some were executed, including the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising. It was a really insightful and interesting tour and gave a good overview of Irish History.

After the Gaol we headed back to O'Connell Street where we had hot drinks to keep ourselves from freezing and walked around the streets looking at the Christmas lights, the River Liffey and intermittently ducking into shops to stay warm. For dinner we headed into the Temple Bar area, a bar and restaurant area on the banks of the Liffey where we had a lovely dinner including irish stew, potatoes and some wine.

The following morning we decided to see some more of the sights and just enjoy walking around the city. continuing to have plenty of hot drinks and visiting shops with good heating systems! We looked at the Dublin cathedral, the Dublin Castle and then visited Trinity College, the most famous Irish Uni which houses the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript of the Bible painted by Celtic Monks in around 800AD.

We spent the rest of the afternoon before flying back to London shopping, stopping for tea at Bewley's Oriental Cafe to keep warm! We got our bags and took a taxi to Dublin Airport and arrived home freezing at 1.45am - getting up for work the next morning was not particularly easy!

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