The Emerald Isle: The Beginning

When I woke up on June 17^th, I was more than elated to know that the trip of a lifetime was just around the corner and that when we woke up on the Thursday, June 18^th, we would be in Ireland! We did have a few small hiccups with our plane being delayed two hours. It did not make us happy campers to sit in the stuffy and chaotic Chicago airport, but regardless, we arrived in Dublin without issue and our adventure began!

Ready to see Grandma Sue

Two hour delay

Our "guidebook"

Ireland from the plane

Dublin

Our first rule was to drive on the left, since that was plastered in a large sign on the passenger side of my window. Brad was a bit anxious, and don’t let him fool you otherwise. We arrived at our B&B in Clontarf, Innisfree. The owner, Maeve, was wonderful and her husband was also kind and considerate. We enjoyed talking with them and she made sure we had excellent breakfast each morning of our choosing and fresh brewed coffee. The only downside I thought was the sloping ceiling in the shared shower, which Brad said he had to shower on his knees and that made me laugh. All in all, the B&B was a 3 minute walk to the bus route to downtown Dublin.

We did take up the Hop On/Hop Off Buses that litter downtown, which are double decker buses that stop at or near various tourist locations in Dublin. You can actually sit and do the entire route, which is something like 22 different stops. Or you could fall asleep since you are jet lagged, which is what Brad and I ended up doing the minute we started the tour the first day. Oops.

Double decker view

The next day we headed back to Dublin bright and early, where we visited Trinity College, where the book of Kels is housed. The library at the end of the tour is impressive both in the architecture and design, as well as the plethora of books. Harry Potter fans would love it, knowing the movie was filmed here.

Old Book (not the Book of Kels---no photography allowed in the exhibit)

Cool spiral staircase

Trinity College

View of the second floor

We enjoyed the Irish Whiskey Museum directly across from Trinity College as it gave a unique overview of the history of Irish Whiskey and those big wigs that contributed to its production.

En route to Stephen’s Green, Brad made us stop to watch a street performer, which ended up being quite comical as he made Brad be a part of his act. There were three other guys who were also chosen and they had to prove their “maniless” in a variety of specified ways from grunting, showing off their muscles, and in Brad’s case, being a bit flamboyant. It was quite comical to watch, as the performer, Russ, picked on Brad the duration of his show.

Stephen's Green

We did stop off at the National Heritage Library to investigate my family roots, as it has been something I have been getting into as of late. Luckily for me, I have a unique name of McGilloway on my grandma’s side and they seem to be central to Donegal (DONE-EH-gAWL, not Don-Eh-Gal as I pronounced it with laughter from the natives. J), as the other name, Brogan, is also in that same area but found in Dublin and Galway. So I have clues, just no answers. I will probably have to make another trip to the specific parishes to really dig any deeper, as the majority of the records were destroyed.

Places we ate we loved: O’Neill’s (Best fish and chips!) and Against the Grain (Brad claims it was the best burger he has had ever.).

Against the Grain

O'Neil's Fish and Chips

In love with this beer!

TEMPLE BAR

We spent two nights in Temple Bar and got a proper feel for the rowdy and energetic crowds that line the streets each and every night. Music is in every single pub and musicians line the streets. We “winged it” the first night by pub jumping and joining in with a variety of trad sessions. There was everything from classic pub songs to favorites by John Denver and Johnny Cash. The last night in Dublin we did a Musical Pub Crawl which we had wished we had done earlier, but found it still fun and interesting, nonetheless.