Ireland

Ireland was amazing. It was the perfect combination of nice people, good beer and a beautiful landscape. I am in love.

My first day in Dublin was mostly walking around looking at cool buildings. We walked through the old Viking district of the city, which was pretty awesome. It’s not often you get to think to yourself, “Wow! A super long time ago there were some Vikings standing here!” We also saw a church which was built sometime in the 13th century, and it looked it. That is so old! I think it was striking to me because it was so small and normal looking that it felt really intimate. There weren’t any tourists around, it was just the two of us and a few locals sitting on a bench in the small garden. Churches were such a central aspect of people’s lives during the time this one was built, and when you’re there alone with the stones and the trees the history is almost palpable. I think that is the coolest feeling. We also toured the original Guinness brewery, which is still operational. Arthur Guinness, the founder of the brand, signed a 9000-year lease on the property. Crazy! So if the company continues to enjoy the global success it has seen so far, they could be there for a while. Anyway, the brewery was really neat and the beer even better.

Ireland has made me a Guinness convert! We went to dinner at a pub/carvery (place where they serve good food cafeteria-style) and I ate a cod fillet with chips (fries) and a Guinness. The next day we were on a tour where we stopped at another carvery and I had Guinness and beef stew and a pint of Guinness. It was one of the best meals I’ve had since coming to Europe, and that’s a pretty big deal coming from a girl who can’t remember the last time she ate beef in the States! I drank Guinness all night on the pub crawl we went on, and the Irish were quite glad to see it. As far as I can tell, if you drink Guinness or Jameson, the Irish love you. Or really, if you drink at all.

Our first night at the pub/carvery there was a duo of Irish men playing guitar and singing traditional Irish ballads (folk songs? I’m not totally sure what the proper term would be) and it was so neat. Everyone was clapping and dancing or singing along, the perfect embodiment of what I had imagined an Irish pub would be like. You don’t think that things like that could really happen because it is so cliché, but it happened. It made me wish I could sing along too!

The second day we took a bus tour out to the edge of the city (to the coast) and out through the countryside. I can’t put into to words the kind of beauty that I experienced at all of the different places we stopped. If you’ve never been to Ireland, you should put it on your list of places to see. It was breath-taking. I have included a few pictures, but they could never do the experience justice. I was astounded. Though that seems to be the story of my life these days…

This weekend I am going on a day trip to the chateaux (castles) of the Loire Valley. I can't wait!