Cha bhi luathas agus grinneas an cuideachd a' cheile.

The time has come to tell you about our trip to Ireland! If you notice the title of this post... it is not just merely jibberish, but rather it's Gaelic... some crazy language the Irish rarely use. The meaning of that sentence remains a mystery to all of those who are not curious enough to look it up, haha. I'm so evil. ;) So we went to Ireland July 11th, exactly one month ago today. Therefore, my memory is a little hazy of all the fabulous details, but I will do my best. We flew into Dublin, the capital of Ireland, on a Monday afternoon/evening. We first checked into our hotel room and then focused on dinner for a very hungry girl named Lisa. We ended up going to this pizza/bagel place that served the best pepperoni pizza ever!! I know, it's not very Irish-like, but so delicious! That evening was fairly low-key due to the fact that we had an early rise the next morning with much to do. We basically just walked around the city, checked out the scene, went to a local pub, slept.

Day #2 began by taking a tour of Trinity college founded by Queen Elizabeth I in 1592. Up to the year 1973 all its students were Protestants, but today most of the 9500 students are Catholic. On this campus lies one of Dublin's prime attractions, The Book of Kells. Anyone ever heard of it? It's a 9th Century manuscript of the Gospels, renowned world-wide for its rich and varied illustrations. You can find this book on display in the Old Library for all to see. After all that excitement was over, we took in "The Dublin Experience," a 45 minute movie giving an introduction and the background of the city. It was very educational.

Next, we headed to the infamous Guinness Brewery, a Dublin must-see for beer and non-beer drinkers. The place was 7 stories tall and quite impressive. They seriously must have hired a top-notch Interior Designer for this project. You can tell by the very effective lighting and cool, trendy materials used. :) There's even a waterfall in one part of the brewery! Another neat design feature is the huge atrium in the shape of a pint glass! So clever. Here's a little snippet I stole from the website, to share with you: "Imagine a family name that, within 250 years, has become a globally recognised brand. At GUINNESS® STOREHOUSE, we take you to the very heart of what makes GUINNESS® beer so unique. Experience the people, the process and the passion behind GUINNESS® as you trace the journey of this fascinating and world-loved beer." Sounds pretty thrilling, huh? Oh, I have to put this in here too. I just read it and it's a great quote. "All great stories begin somewhere, and ours begins with Arthur Guinness who staked his future on a rundown brewery at St. James's Gate. The year was 1759. The rest is history. And it's all waiting to be discovered as you explore 250 years of brewing heritage and walk in Arthur's footsteps." Ooohh... fascinating. Anyways, the brewery was a lot of fun and really interesting.

Afterwards, we headed back into town for dinner and more fun. This night's activities included a Musical Pub Crawl. We were to meet our musicians and guides for the night at an Irish pub in town at 7:30 PM. There were two guys, one Irish and one British, that were in charge of this thing. They began by giving us an explanation of traditional Irish music... what it is, its background, what's popular, etc. After talking a bit they would then play some songs for us. One guy played a guitar and sang while the other guy played an accordion. They would talk, play, talk, play. After a few songs, they'd pack up and all 75 of us who signed up for the Musical Pub Crawl would travel to the next pub where they would set up and play another 5 songs. We went to 3 pubs total and got to hear about 15-20 songs. It was very fun! A real cultural experience and insight into the Irish lifestyle. At the very end, they were asking if anyone in the audience had a song they wanted to sing or perform. Two people from Arizona (oddly enough) got up and sang. And then a 3rd volunteer from Baltimore said he knew how to do an Irish dance. So the two musicians played a song while this guy from the crowd danced for everyone. It was so cool! It all ended at 10:00 PM and the two guys recommended going to a pub where they were heading next. So Brandon and I went along and there were 7 Irish people performing including our 2 guides. There was one drummer, two violinist, one flute player, 2 guitarists, and one accordian player. Just sitting there and soaking in the music and atmosphere was such a neat experience!

On our last day, we decided to see the countryside of Ireland. We booked a day trip with some tour company and met them early that last morning to head out. There were lots of beautiful sights as you will see from the pictures. We went to a monastery called Glendalough as well as a stop near where they filmed 90% of the movie Braveheart. Although Braveheart is supposed to be set in Scotland, it's a little secret that the majority of it is actually filmed in Ireland. Who would have guessed?! Heehee. After our enjoyable day trip we headed back and prepared to leave. Tear, tear... :( We went to the airport and headed home. Ireland was wonderful and provided a fantastic time for us!! We only had time to just scratch the surface of what this beautiful country has to offer, but from what we saw, we loved it! :)