Thursday, June 5, 2014

First Stop on Our European Adventure: Dublin, Ireland

I sit here writing from the plane that we are taking from Dublin, Ireland to Copenhagen, Denmark where we will transfer to a flight that will bring us to Amsterdam. 

Day 1

We got into Dublin on Tuesday morning. Flight was good, we slept a little. (decent food and lots of movies ;)  ) We had a little bit of trouble trying to find a bus to take us to the city center, but we eventually made it. We were actually not very far from our hostel (Ashfield House), but we couldn't check in just yet. It was 10am. So we walked over to Trinity College ( about a five minute walk). And rested on the steps while watching some men construct new cobblestone part of the walkway. This was much needed rest as we had been traveling with our backpacks for some time. We found a bathroom and a water fountain ( with filtered water [quite a surprise]. We then walked around looking to see if we could find me a pay as you go cell phone (not an option due to our movements through Europe and the different sim cards needed). K found a Starbucks where we could rest again, go to the bathroom, get wifi and find a bank. After the bank we found a park, which I believe (after looking at maps) was Saint Stephen's Green. This was a beautiful little park and we found nice patch of grass and laid down to rest. Man are those backpacks heavy ;) . We stayed there until it started to drizzle. We got out our rain coats and started our journey back to the hostel. We accidentally came upon Dublin Castle but didn't want to stop and take pictures just yet. After a while we finally made it back to our hostel and checked in. The man at the reception desk was very cheerful and quite helpful for people first experiencing hostel life. We got up into our hostel and could only choose two different top bunks, but it was nice to take off the backpacks. I took a shower (airplane, backpack and Dublin all over me) and K rested. We found a small backpack to carry around the city for K, as my bag was too small for our waterbottles, guidebook, and rain jackets. We then headed back in the direction of Dublin Castle. On our way there we stumbled upon Christ Cathedral. We eventually found Dublin Castle and meandered through the outside of the castle as it was too late to gain admission inside. We headed off to find dinner ( sandwiches and fruit), we were going to have a picnic dinner at Trinity College and watch a college theater production but when we got to Trinity it began to rain quite a lot. Then I decided to take the long way around the college ( quite a large campus when it is raining pretty hard). We had some difficulty getting back but we did it. When we got back to the hostel we put on dry clothes and started planning for Amsterdam. If anyone has any tips on using Eurail nowadays, we would really appreciate the advice as we are quite confused by the whole thing. With that in mind we planned on walking to Connolly train station the next morning to see if we could get any help.

Day 2

We got up and had breakfast at the hostel, a very good spread. We then proceeded to try and find the train station. We had some difficulty finding the place, but we were helped by two wonderfully sweet people. We must have looked really lost. We spoke to someone about eurail, but they were only able to specifically help us with eurail in connection to Irish Rail. They didn't want to give us wrong information about the other European countries. We were told to check out some other places, but we got the run around. 

On our way back from the train station ( realized I needed to start taking pictures with my phone ;)  ).


We figure we will just visit the train station in Amsterdam and just speak to them. Hopefully, someone who speaks English can help us. After that we got K a sweater, as his was ruined on our flight over here :( . We headed to the Gallary of Photography. On our way there we found a comic shop, which we headed into. This was quaint and very fun. The Gallary of Photography and the other photography museum we visited across the street were very insightful and we learned a lot of new things. Next we began walking and came upon the Temple Bar area. 


We took the typical touristy pictures and continued on our way, because we wanted to get to the hostel to check into our flight. The hostel staff was very nice and accommodating with finding us transportation to the airport the next day. We then headed out to the Jameson Distillery. 


Our route had us walking by the river, which was quite pretty. We had a lot of fun at the distillery and learned a lot about how to make Jameson whiskey. I was chosen to be a volunteer taster! Several people and books had told me that I should volunteer and so as soon as I saw the guide walk onstage with the cardboard tubes, I raised my hand and i was chosen! It was an awesome experience, I got to try Jameson, Johnny Walker, and Jack Daniels with ionized water in between to cleanse my palet ( really awesome tasting water, perfectly pure). When asked which was my favorite I went with Jameson ( really does have a smooth taste ;)  ). I got a certificate making me a certified whiskey taster. Yey!!
We walked down the river again and stopped in a couple of shops to look around.


One of the shops was a table top game store. They had a ton of cool diaramas. They also had classes to learn table top gaming, take a painting class, and others. They only have 10 in the U.S., mostly on East coast. 


Another shop was the Winding Stair, a book shop ( no,winding stairs though :( )


Doesn't this look like the best chair to curl up and read a book with some tea on a cold rainy day? (am I Irish or what?)

We then bought dinner, heated it up at the hostel and had a picnic dinner at Trinity College by a lawn overlooking the building where the Book of Kells is located. 



It was very nice and the sun even came out for a little bit and we basked in the warmth. Then K and I wondered around the campus and headed back to the hostel. 

Now we are on our way to Amsterdam. Until next time.

Much Love,

Taylor

P.S. Or update. We are in Amsterdam at our hotel. A long long day of traveling and an unexpected stopmtomthe countryside--more on that later.

1 comment:

  1. Taylor & Kidd, I'm reading thease backwardward & I hope you're getting my comments!!!!! Trip sounds like a blast-when I went to Europe I went with 3 Nuns fou chaporones (sp). Not to much fun!! Got caught in Italy in the bar after bed check and they called A Kathy & U Howard-the only thing in my favor was that there was a telephone strike going on at the time and the front dest did their best to make it last longer then was really necassary. The front desk people were really rooting for us!!!!We did not get sent home only 1 girl did & that was for throwing a McDodonalds frenc fry at a nuns face and she got sent home with 1 day left on the trip & had to pay her own airfare!!!!Well have fun & lots of love to to the two of you!!! Love, Mom

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