Ireland, Part 4

This is the final installment of my Ireland trip. Click here for Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 for a recap!

Day 9: Naiomi and I got up early on Day 9 and headed to Dublin. We dropped off our car at the airport and checked into our hotel around 11:30. We stayed at the Castle Hotel, it was recommended in Rick Steve’s Dublin guidebook and it was fantastic! I would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting Dublin and would stay there again. After checking in, we hit the streets of Dublin. We walked down O’Connell Street and through the Temple Bar area and past Christ Church Cathedral to the Guinness Museum. By the time we arrived at the Guinness Museum, we were starving. We only made it through 3 levels of the museum before we said forget it and headed upstairs to the restaurant. So although we did not learn why Guinness is poured a certain way because we skipped that part in favor for sustenance, I did have the most delicious Guinness stew and Guinness slaw. AMAZING!! We ended our tour with a Guinness in the 360 degree view room on the very top floor. The views of the city were amazing and I am most definitely a Guinness fan now!

After the Guinness Museum, we did some shopping and headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. On the way to back to our hotel, I randomly ran into my sorority sister, Rachel, on the street. Turns out we were also staying in the same hotel so we went out to a pub that night to catch up. It was a great first day in Dublin!

Day 10: We woke up on our last day in Ireland and hit some major tourist spots: Christ Church Cathedral, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Trinity College and the Book of Kells, and we couldn’t miss another stop at Murphy’s Ice Cream. We just couldn’t resist! We also went to the Whiskey Museum. It’s only been opened for about 2 months but it was great! It goes into the history of Irish Whiskey and came with a whiskey tasting at the end.

For our last dinner in Ireland, Naiomi, Rachel and I went to Arlington Hotel to watch Celtic Nights. Celtic Nights is an Irish music and dance show. It was so good! I went through a phase in childhood when I wanted to be an Irish dancer. My mom even bought me a how-to VHS and I taught myself the first 8 steps… I have since forgot. Anyway, this was the perfect way to end our Ireland trip!

Day 11: Fly home. The longest travel day ever! I was sad to leave the homeland, but it felt great to land in America and see my parents.

Overall, this Ireland trip was amazing! Everything I imagined and more! Sure, it took a while to figure out how to put the car in park and turn on the shower in the first hotel and understand some of our cab drivers, but it was so incredible! I have now been bit by the travel bug and cannot wait to start planning more trips in the future! Thanks for following along with me 🙂

Sláinte!

-Kelly