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Published: June 27th 2009
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The Church Restaurant
An old church converted to a restaurant.
Grandpa--you told me about this in an email, and I just happened to run into it. For those that don't know, I have been back in the States since April and have been working in Council Bluffs since May. Of course am just now getting my blog updated; mostly because I don't have internet at home to post them and also because I am a hard core procrastinator. It also takes quite a bit of time to upload pictures and videos, so bear with me as I try to finish these up!
For the days before and the day of St. Patrick’s Day I went to Dublin, Ireland to celebrate the holiday in style. I left on Friday night for the airport in Birmingham because my flight left really early on Saturday morning. I spent a sleepless night in the airport; all the comfortable spots were taken by the time I had arrived! I picked a chair and table in Costa Coffee, the 24 hour shop in the airport and after drinking my tea and reading for what seemed like forever, I just passed out at the table. Needless to say I was quite tired once I arrived in Dublin. Because of the holiday and increased tourism, the line through customs was super long! I
just read in line while waiting. Next I got on a bus to take me to Dublin city center and find my hostel. It was not that difficult and I arrived there around noon. I spent the rest of the day walking around Dublin and seeing some of the city. First I walked toward the river Liffy and the Temple bar area to have a look around. I also visited Christ Church and the Guinness Storehouse that afternoon. The Guinness Storehouse had a self-guided tour that I walked through with explanations on the brewing process along the way. There was also a large collection of memorabilia to be seen. There were special activities in the storehouse for the St. Patrick’s Day weekend, like pulling a pint, so I thought I should give it a try. I’ll have you know that I am an excellent bar tender…well at least I can pull a perfect pint of Guinness! I have a certificate and everything! The Zero Gravity bar is at the top of the Storehouse and is know for its 180 degree view of the city. I just so happened to meet a girl that was also traveling on her own and
we decided to meet up again later that night. There was a Backpacker’s Pub Crawl around Dublin that night and so we met up in front of Trinity College and went out on the town. We had a great time and hung out with a couple of people from Canada, two from the US and one from France.
The next morning I was up kind of early to go on a tour of Wicklow Mountains National Park and the central area of Ireland. I pre-booked a tour on a mini bus so we could travel on some of the narrower roads of central Ireland. I would definitely suggest this because large tour buses are less personal and they can’t go onto the narrow roads that make up most of the country. This next little blurb is a basic rundown of what the tour included and the route we took. The tour started heading south out of Dublin along the coast through Dun Laoghaire and Dalkey (home of Bono, Van Morrison, and Enya!). We then went inward towards the Wicklow Mountains and passed through peat covered bogs with streams running through them. We made a couple of stops along the
way; once to walk along the road down into a valley bordered by steep mountains and covered in wildflowers and sheep. We also stopped in the middle of the road to get out and get a closer look at peat bogs, here we stopped and saw the land where P.S. I Love You filmed their Ireland locations! Our next stop was Avoca Handweaver’s Establishment where I went to an Irish pub for a carvery lunch of Guinness Stew. It was so delicious!! Nearing Glendalough we were told of a monastic settlement that included seven churches of which there are still ruins today (Braveheart wedding scene was filmed here! Sorry about all of the movie trivia, but I think those random facts are the ones I remember the most—what can I say I LOVE movies!) The monastic settlement is now part of the Glencree International Reconciliation Center and has walking trails, two lakes and the preserved churches. We spent about 2 hours there so we were able to walk around on our own, hike the trails, and view the stone churches. This is the last thing we did for the day and after hiking around I was quite tired, but once
Viking Boat benches
?? it was just in the middle of the city, don't know why back in Dublin I made an effort to look around for a bit. I walked the grounds of Trinity College and the grounds of Dublin Castle. The castle wasn’t as amazing as some others I had previously seen, but the gardens were kind of neat. The most exciting part of my day was when I saw a guy getting arrested by the Dublin police. He was not just arrested—he was slammed down on the ground and cuffed then thrown in the back of the cop car. It was pretty entertaining!
The next full day I spent hanging around Dublin. I first went to a coffee shop called Bewely’s, it is supposed to be very well known throughout Dublin and had excellent coffee! It was the first cup of Colombian coffee I had had in a while so that might have increased its amazingness. Next I made my way along the streets of Dublin’s shopping district passing people selling clover plants and other paraphernalia for St. Patrick’s Day. The National was my ultimate destination for the morning, but I took my time getting there. On the way I walked through St. Stephan’s Green, which is a large park with a
Christ Church
(to the left) lake and walking paths lined with flowers. I hung out here for a bit and watched the ducks then headed on my way. The museum was nice and had quite an extensive collection of Irish, French, and Italian art. The History Museum was closed for the day so I made my way to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. There was a garden here as well. The cathedral is quite large, like most churches in Europe, was covered in stained glass, and boasts its own collection of military monuments and graves denoting key figures of Ireland’s history. I returned that night for the Evensong service, although I am not Catholic, it was quite interesting. Evensong service is where all the verses are sung. It was a neat experience.
The last day in Dublin was St. Patrick’s Day. I am kind of sad I was not in town for the night festivities, but since it was like a giant party all weekend I don’t think I missed out on too much! There was a great big parade in Dublin on St. Patrick’s Day morning, which I was really excited to see. I left the hostel early so I could have a good spot
along the parade route; I ended up being front and center for the whole thing! I had to camp for about 2 hours but it was worth it. My friend Sharon and her friends arrived on that morning in Dublin and met me near the end of the parade. We just met up for a bit because I had to catch the bus back to the airport. We ended up hanging out in Madigan’s Pub for a couple of hours and then separated for our own journeys. It was kind of stressful to find a bus back to the airport with the schedule being mixed up because of the holiday, but I managed and made it with time to spare. I actually met a couple of guys that were visiting Dublin for St. Patrick’s Day from the University of Nebraska. It was kind of neat to run into them; I seem to always meet the most random people! Anyway the trip was a success! Enjoy the pictures!
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