Dublin-Friday & Saturday

This past weekend I traveled to Dubin with Meghan, her parents, younger brother, and grandma.  We had a great time!  I could have certainly spent more time in Dublin.  On Friday morning we made our way to Dun Laoghaire, a town just south of Dublin.  We stayed at the Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel.  This hotel was very nice!!

After checking in we walked just down the road from the hotel to this lookout of Dublin Bay on top of Victoria Hill.  Even though it was foggy, it was a great view! Just down this valley and to the right is one of Bono's (from U2) houses!

On Friday night we had a great dinner at the hotel restaurant.  After this we had drinks and listened to music in the lobby bar.  We ended the night with a trip to the hot tub!

On Saturday afternoon we made our way to Dublin.  We stayed in an apartment in the middle of the Dublin city centre.  Our first stop that afternoon was the Guiness Storehouse at the St. Jame's Gate Brewery.  This brewery is still fully operational and is the largest brewery in Europe (64 acres).  It was founded in 1759 by Aurthur Guiness.  The Storehouse is the 7 story tourist attraction attached to the brewery.  

Below is the infamous 9000 year lease that Aurthur Guiness signed for St. Jame's Gate Brewery for just 45 pounds a year!

As we walked through the storehouse we learned about the different ingredients of Guiness and the process that they take to create that perfect pint.  We also saw all past Guiness bottles, glasses, and advertisements.

At the top of the Storehouse is the Gravity Bar.  This is the bar where we drank our complementary pint of Guiness.  I've had a few Guiness' now since I've been in Ireland and I seem to like them more and more with each pint that I try.

The Gravity Bar has glass walls which showed a 360 degree view of Dublin!

That night we went to the Arlington Hotel for drinks, traditional Irish music, and a little Irish dancing.  Watch the video below!  The Arlington Hotel is in a district called Temple Bar, the most famous row of pubs in Ireland.

More tomorrow.  It's past my bedtime.

More of St. Finbarr's Cathedral

Last weekend I finally made it onto the grounds of St. Finbarr's Cathedral.  This is the cathedral right outside my bedroom window.  Here are some pictures!

Some of these tombstones date back to 1806.

It was absolutely stunning inside!  It was huge.  Each and every wall had so much detail to it!  The stained glass was also amazing. 

I haven't had much to share this week because it was my last week of class! I had four finals and a presentation.  I've been more scholarly these past few days than I've been in these past few months combined.  I have one test and one paper left of the semester, both of which will be done in May.  Meghan's parents, brother, and grandma have been here this week and Meghan and I are going to Dublin with them tomorrow morning!  I'll have lots to share when I get back.

Enjoy your weekend!

St. Patrick's Day!

The long awaited St. Paddy's Day post has arrived!  Here we go...

This past weekend my friend Laura from Iowa State came to Cork with two of her friends.  They are all studying abroad at the University of Limerick in Limerick, Ireland.  

When walking around the city centre on Thursday afternoon I noticed that many vendors and children were selling shamrocks on the side of the road.  When Laura and I stopped at the English Market for food for the weekend we asked the cashier why they were doing this.  The cashier told us that people buy fresh shamrocks to pin to their shirts and hats on St. Patrick's Day. 

We went to the Spailpin Fanac on Friday night to listen to some traditional Irish music or "trad".  This guy was great!  

We were up bright and early on St. Patrick's Day morning!  We drank mimosas with a 3 Euro bottle of champagne. Classy!  Some Irish wear green on St. Patrick's Day however most of the gaudy stuff is worn by the tourists.  I picked some where in between...

All of the major streets in Cork were shut down Saturday-Monday.  The streets are filled with food, jewelry, and clothing vendors from all over the county. 

Patiently waiting for the parade to start!  We arrived early to get a good spot.

Bagpipes in action!

Look at these little hurling players, so cute!

St. Patrick himself...

After the parade we went to a pub called Old Oak to watch the rugby match against England.  We started our afternoon off with a green pint of Carlsberg.  

After a nap and a good meal we went out again for round two!  Left to right: Steph, Sydney, Laura, Meghan.

The streets remained closed on Sunday and Monday for live music and more vendors.

Petrol

Unleaded gas (or petrol as they call it) is on average 1.60 Euro in Ireland right now.  This price is for one liter of petrol.  If I convert this to gallons, it's about 6.06 Euro per gallon.  With the current exchange rate, this puts gas at $7.94/gallon!

Almost everyone drives manual cars here.  Buying an automatic car here is significantly more expensive.

I have a friend, Laura, from Iowa State that is studying abroad at the University of Limerick in Limerick, Ireland this semester.  She is on her way to Cork right now to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with me!  We are getting ready for a crazy weekend here.  In addition to Patty's Day there is a huge rugby match against England.  Cork has a big festival from Saturday to Monday with a big parade, live Irish music, and dance.  Monday is a bank holiday due to St. Patrick's Day which means I don't have school! I hope you all have a great weekend and St. Patty's Day!

Giant's Causeway

On Saturday afternoon the four of us drove up to Giant's Causeway.  We took the scenic route that drove us along the coast.  It took us about three hours.  As usual, the scenery was absolutely beautiful!  Unlike the bus situation, Davin was able to stop along the way when there was Kodak moment.

Walking to Giant's Causeway...

Giant's Causeway is an area long the northern coast of Northern Ireland that has around 40,000 basalt rocks.  These columns were formed about 60 million years ago from cooled volcano lava.  However, legend has it that these rocks were created by giants, hence the name.  What makes these rocks remarkable is that most of them are perfect hexagons.  Some of them are up to 40 feet tall!