Wow – I certainly did not intend to go almost two months without updating this space. Not sure if I’d use the word “busy”. Maybe purposely ignoring it in favor of actual writing and scrapbooking would be more appropriate. However, coming back with a bang with a post from our trip to Ireland and the UK. Very picture heavy as I believe trips should be, so brace yourself. This trip was possible thanks to some very awesome grandparents who took care of Sheff for a week while B and I escaped.
We went into this trip with a very aggressive itinerary -as in, we just didn’t stay in one place for very long until we hit London. But we saw a TON of cities and a lot of cool things, so let’s begin shall we?
We left out of ATL heading to Dublin on a Monday night, and we landed around 10am in Dublin. I’m not a great sleeper on airplanes, but I got about four or so hours, and was feeling pretty ok when we stepped off the plane. We caught a cab to our hotel, and luckily they had a room available when we got there. We were actually really lucky with that throughout our trip. After that it was off to explore! Our first stop was the Guinness brewery, of course. They have an observation deck on the very top, and that is where you get your Guinness purchased with the price of admission. And that Guinness tastes completely different than the stuff we get in the States – it’s a lot smoother and a lot less bitter. We definitely had our share of it on this trip! After the brewery, we headed to Brazen Head Pub for fish n chips, of course. I believe this supposed to be one of the oldest pubs in Dublin, but I can’t remember. And the portion was big enough for B and I to share. After lunch, we walked around mainly in search of caffeine, but stumbled upon the street that housed the Temple Bar. I also believe this is the most famed bar there, but it was super crowded, and we had reservations at our next destination that we couldn’t miss. The street that housed the Temple Bar was super cute, though, and looked so good, even in the rain.
Our next destination was to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells and the Long Room. The Book of Kells contains the four gospels on the New Testament, written on calf-skin and believed to be one of the oldest books in the world. It was absolutely beautiful, and I have no idea how they have kept it intact. No pictures allowed of the actual book, but after you see it, you walk into the most beautiful library I have ever seen known as the Long Room. It contains so many medieval texts, some of them in some very fragile states. The library is still used by students of the university.
For that night, B had made a tasting reservation at the Jameson distillery. It honestly was a great experience, and our tour guide was amazing. She knew so much about the whiskey/alcohol industry, and she made it a lot of fun. However, I’m not that big of a whiskey lover, so I tried them, and then passed the remainder over to B. It was right about then that I hit a wall and was ready for bed. I honestly can’t even remember if we ate dinner that night or not. I was OUT the second my head hit that pillow. It was a good thing we went to bed early since we had a train to Belfast to catch in the morning!
Our train to Belfast left at 930 in the morning on Wednesday, and we got there pretty early to make sure we knew what was going on. Luckily they had a cute little cafe in the station so we got some coffee and split a sausage roll. It was a couple hours trip up to Northern Ireland, but it was a really pretty trip. I got halfway through a book before we got there. Once there, we took another cab to our hotel. This hotel we only had for six hours during the afternoon and into the night – more on that later, but they did let us store our luggage. After that it was off to explore. The best part of this whole trip was that with the exception of a few things, we really had no plans, no itinerary. So we just walked around to see what we could see, and would pop in whatever place looked fun. The first place we stopped was called The Crown Bar. Little did we know that it was actually the oldest bar in Belfast, or the oldest building. Either way we stopped in for a quick beer just because we could. After that, B found a really cute little place for lunch that had the prettiest drinks – and the most delicious! Then we walked around to a beautiful cathedral, but unfortunately it was locked, but did stumble upon a WWII museum that was free and really interesting to walk through. After another beer at the Duke of York Bar (it was on the street with the colorful umbrellas in the pic below), we headed back to the hotel to get dressed for dinner.
For dinner, we lucked out and found a really cute place. B got a boxty (which I think Ireland is known for), and I got the fish n chips, because when in Rome…. After dinner, we walked around the city. It was so beautiful at night. And it was so peaceful – very much a different change of pace from Dublin that we really loved.
So, the reason we only had the hotel for a few hours in the afternoon was because that night we were taking a ferry over to Liverpool. An overnight eight hour ferry. I don’t get motion sickness very often, but when I woke up at about 2 am in the morning, that boat was rocking! I eventually fell back asleep, and at 630 in the morning we were in Liverpool!
If you stuck around this long, you’re probably related to me so thanks family! And if there’s a straggler or two, thanks to you too! I’ll have part 2 up soon!
Your pictures are so pretty! I love those hanging umbrellas. An 8 hour ferry ride? That seems so long. I can’t imagine waking up to that rocking boat. Awesome that you were able to fall back asleep.