Dublin

We left for Dublin (the capital of Ireland) on Friday morning. It is a 2.5 hour drive from Galway City. We stayed at the Abraham House Hostel, which wasn't the nicest place in the world. I stayed in a room with 6 other girls from my program and there were 2 random women in our room as well (which we didn't know about until they arrived at 7 PM and took two beds). On Friday we walked around the city and just stopped when we came across something of interest. We saw Trinity College which is Ireland's oldest University. It was tarted by Queen Elizabeth because she wanted a non-Catholic college in Ireland. Trinity College Library holds the Book of Kells, but we didn't feel like waiting for hours or paying to see this. We proceeded to go to Dublin Castle, Christ Church Cathedral and the Guinness Storehouse. We took a tour of the Guinness Storehouse and it was very interesting. Aurthur Guinness started brewing beer 250 years ago. We saw the lease that he signed for the building. Aurthur knew his company would be successful, so he signed the leave for 9000 years. We learned how to pour the "perfect Guinness" on the fourth floor of the Storehouse, which is an exact science. You have to pour the Guinness at a 45 degree angle to a certain point and then let it settle before you top it off again. I got a certificate saying that I know how to our the perfect pint :) On tour of the storehouse is the Gravity Bar which offers a 360 degree view of Dublin. It was crowded up there, but fun to see. I had wonderful salmon for dinner on Friday at a pub which I cannot remember the name of. Our entire group went to a club after dinner. I am not going to write about this insane experience. If you want to know more, ask me. Lets just say, going to one club in Europe is enough for the rest of my life!
On Saturday, we took the hop on-hop off bus around the city. We went to St. Stephen's Green, drove past the President's house (she is in the sixth year of her second term, each term lasts 7 years here), went to the Temple Bar Area, drove by St. Patrick's Cathedral, and some other things I cannot remember right now. We went out for a nice dinner at Gruel where I had a Risotto Cake with a great sauce, Parmesan cheese, and rocket leaves (similar to spinach). It was delicious. ON the way to dinner I saw all these cyclist walking around and discovered that there was a huge road bike race earlier that day. I was SO bummed that I missed it! We went to a pub after dinner and headed home for an early night.
Our bus to take us home was an hour late :(
On the way home we stopped at Newgrange. I still am not sure exactly what Newgrange is and I don't know if anyone really is. I will include pictures that might help me explain this place. People think that it was an ancient burial sight used by a tribe in Ireland. It is built out of rocks and has grass growing on top of it. There are carvings in some of the stones, which are thousands of years old. We were able to go inside this odd place, which is in total darkness. There is a "window box" which is a gap in the stones. Light comes into this tomb/cave one day a year for 17 minutes during the winter solstice. Although not much is known about Newgrange, they know that the people who built it were extremely precise with the construction and there is some type of special meaning to this place.
Overall, Dublin was not my favorite city. It was a bit dirty, crowded and over priced. I'm glad I was able to see it, but I wouldn't want to spend an extended period of time there. I am glad that I will be back there in two weeks with my Dad and Sister because I did not get to see the things that were at the top of my to do list for Dublin. Maybe I will have a different oppinion of the capital city next time...

P.S.
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD! WISH I COULD BE THERE TODAY, WE WILL HAVE A BELATED FATHER'S DAY CELEBRATION IN 9 DAYS WHEN YOU COME TO IRELAND! LOVE YOU!