Redheads and Guinness....Welcome to Dublin!

Two weekends ago a bunch of us traveled to Dublin, Ireland for a few days.  The city itself is beautiful and the surrounding countryside is gorgeous.  Such a fun city, but extremely expensive...a six euro beer, 8 euro meals at McDonalds... not quite sure how anyone could afford to live in the city of Dublin.

Dublin City sunset, River Liffey

Had my first experience in a hostel.  Very inexpensive but you get what you pay for.  Five of us bunked up with three random Asians, but it was a bed to sleep in.  On the upside, breakfast was provided each day.  We arrived Thursday night and went to this pub/club called Fitzsimons in the Temple Bar area (returned to it Saturday night as well).  It had great live music, had a dance club in the basement, and bars at each of the five top floors with a roof top we spent some time outside on.  We lucked out with such amazing weather, sunshine and high 40s low 50s.

Friday we toured the city visiting the main landmarks, including the City Hall, th Dublin Castle, Christ Church, St. Audden's Gate, and St. Patrick's Cathedral.  All were very worth seeing, many having been built centuries ago.  St. Patrick's Cathedral was beautiful, built in 1192.  The highlight of the day was taking a tour of the Guinness Storehouse, home of Guinness.  Spending about three hours inside checking out each floor of the factory, we concluded our tour with a complimentary pint of Guinness up in the Sky Bar, overlooking the entire city through its all glass walls.

Saturday we took a Wicklow Bus Tour just outside of Dublin which took us along the coast and up through mountain sides to truly witness the beauty of Ireland.

Sunday we woke up for 11 a.m. mass at the St. Patrick's Cathedral.  It was great experiencing a mass service in Ireland....so very different from our services back home.  Very straightforward and serious, did not feel warm or welcoming, very uninviting to audience participation.  As negative as that sounded it was worth it, seeing the remarkable design of the church's inside made it completely worth while.  After church, we walked a little ways to the old jail of Dublin and took the tour of Kilmainham Gaol (prison), which was built in 1796.  Later that day we walked through Trinity College, known for its beautiful campus....very pretty indeed.

And you can't go to Dublin without wearing a little green....