Ahhh, the final full day of our trip. It should have been a depressing and sad occasion, but fortunately it was not. My cousin Jessica and her friend Sarah had been backpacking ALL OVER Europe for the previous 5 weeks and we all happened to be in Dublin on this single day of our trips. Talk about luck! She lives in Florida and we haven't seen each other in at least 7-8 years...and of course we would meet up in Ireland. This actually did not surprise me a bit. Everyone is much more likely to run into us on the road!
We scooted down for a really nice and simple breakfast at
Cafe Bliss before heading to the bus station to meet up with Jess and Sarah. After dropping their crazy huge and heavy packs at our place, we headed out to explore the city.
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| Random awesome building |
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| Trinity College |
We took them to the previous visited Trinity College and Dublin Castle, so they did not miss it, but also just to enjoy the beauty of the buildings again. I cannot imagine what it must be like to attend class in centuries-old, architecturally-exquisite buildings that contain more history themselves than the classes being taught.
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| Moose and Goose have arrived |
Then LOTS of meandering around the city on our way to do the tour at Kilmainham Gaol prison. So many stunning buildings to take in...it didn't keep track of the names of building or sites, so I am sorry if you are looking for that. I was just taking in the beauty and capturing the moment. Enjoy that with me.
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| Our crazy crew |
Adam sent us girls to the bar down the street to stay warm and relax over some pints while he waited in line for tickets to the prison. It was about a 45 minute wait. I married an amazing AMAZING man.
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| A toast to family...and a man waiting in line for us |
When asking the locals what we "absolutely must do" in Dublin, the one thing that every single person said
Kilmainham Gaol Prison...so to prison we went. It was AWESOME. REALLY FREAKIN' AWESOME. We concur with the locals, this is something that everyone who visits Dublin must do. There is a large museum to look through before the tours start. This is a very popular excursion, so you will have time to look around while waiting for your tour to start. Ben was our hilarious, albeit extremely hungover, tour guide for the afternoon. We all got along very well.
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| Dragons overseeing the entrance |
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| Prison chapel |
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| A peek through the keyhole |
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| Are prisons suppose to be gorgeous? |
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| The prison yard |
To cheer ourselves up from the fantastic but definitely not warm and fuzzy tour, we headed to the Guinness Brewery. We were able to bypass the tour and entry fee to the factory and headed straight up to the
Gravity Bar. This the perfect vantage point to view the entire city, as the bar sits atop the brewery and offers 360 degree views of the entire city with its floor to ceiling glass enclosure. That coupled with pints of Guinness, what's not to love?
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| View from Gravity Bar at Guinness |
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| Hello Dublin, view from Gravity Bar |
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| Overlooking the Guinness Plant |
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| Waiting for our pints |
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| Mmmm, fresh Guinness |
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| Just a prop, holding Jess's beer for her |
Warmed and invigorated, out back into the city we went to explore.
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| Abandoned cathedral |
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| Church + Bar = AWESOME |
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| Final dinner |
Our evening winded down with pints and warm food at Farrington's, enjoying awesome company, a rugby game, and bantering with the bar staff. It really was a perfect day to end a perfect trip.
Everything about this trip was amazing and we were both in mourning before we even boarded the plane to return home early the next morning. I have found myself even taking my time to do these posts because I wanted to draw out the reliving of the experience...thus why I am tying this almost 2 months after our return. But here we are at the close of another wonderful trip, I hope that you have enjoyed the journey with us!
