Irish At Heart...

Our trip to Ireland was everything I had ever hoped it would be! Between the lush green landscapes, the ancient castles, the colorful buildings (and their notoriously colorful doors), the quaint little fishing villages, the pubs, the music, the infamous sheep, the friendly people with their distinct accents (oh how I love those accents... even thought they're slightly difficult to understand! :)), and the list could go on... Basically, it comes down to the fact that I've wanted to visit Ireland for as long as I can remember, so this trip was like a dream come true for me! :) Brian, on the other hand, was not looking forward to the trip quite as much as I was... He has had some not so pleasant encounters with Irish people in recent years and it's kind of left a sour taste in his mouth towards the whole country... So, needless to say, it took ALOT of convincing to get him to agree to this trip (and I could only manage to get him to agree to a long weekend, not the 2 weeks I was hoping for)! :) But, I'm happy to say, that after spending a long weekend there, he's had a significant change in attitude and he's now talking about going back to explore more of the island at a later date... Mission accomplished!! Yippee!! :)

During our time in Ireland, we tried to cram in as much as possible... And, in my opinion we were pretty successful! We managed to explore the city of Dublin, the city of Kilkenny, and the tiny fishing village of Howth... Not too bad for only three days! :)

So, without further ado, here's a quick peek into our Irish adventure... Enjoy!!

Christchurch Cathedral... Absolutely stunning! :)

Ruins (dating back to 1163) on the grounds of the cathedral...

The infamous St. Patrick's Cathedral... :)

St. Patrick's Park...

Inside St. Patrick's Cathedral...

I love the tile design on the floor!

Handmade seat cushions hang from the back of each chair...

The Dublin Castle...

Built in the 13th century, it was the center of British power for more than 7 centuries, until the Irish government took it over in 1922.

Guarding the castle! :)

I loved the colorful buildings we found around the castle!! :)

A view of the castle from the park...

After exploring Dublin Castle, we stopped for a quick lunch break, where we tried some Irish stew... Yum! :)

The Temple Bar... :)

After our traditional Irish lunch, we headed out for a tour of the Guinness Brewery...

The waterfall...

This is the section where they explain the ingredients that go into making Guinness beer...

Water is one of the main ingredients... Hence the reason for the waterfall! :)

This display showed how they used to make all of the barrels by hand... Pretty impressive!

One of my favorite Guinness ad campaigns... I don't know what it is, but I love the toucan!! :)

Looking down into the lower levels... When standing in the middle of the building, if you look up, the structure is designed to look like a pint glass... Pretty cool! :)

The tour ends at the Gravity Bar... This is where you can sample a glass of Guinness beer and enjoy a 360 degree view of the city... :)

Our perfectly poured Guinness beer...

Brian became quite a fan of Guinness during our trip! As for me... Not so much! :)

We visited Trinity College - the oldest university in Ireland... What a gorgeous campus!! (Although, I still think that Michigan State's campus is one of the prettiest!! :))

That evening, we headed out to check out Dublin's nightlife...

The General Post Office... Built between 1815- 1818, this building has seen its fair share of difficulties. It was destroyed during the Easter seige in 1916, and shortly after being restored, it was destroyed again during the Irish civil war in 1929. When you walk by, it's possible to still see many of the bullet holes scarring the front of it.

The Ha'Penny Bridge...

Dublin at night...

The Temple Bar District...

The following day we headed to the city of Kilkenny...

Our first stop was Kilkenny Castle, which was built in the 12th century.

And, of course, I made Brian pose for a self-portrait while we were there! :)

Wandering around the castle grounds...

Kilkenny was filled with the cutest little cafes, so we stopped for lunch at one of them. The granola bar and cappucino was delicious!! :)

While in Kilkenny, we opted to check out the Smithwick's brewery tour... What a fun tour that turned out to be! :)

The brewery has an old monastery (dating back to the 12th century) on site.... Nice!

Exploring the monastery ruins...

Don't you just love my bright blue vest that we had to wear on the tour?! :)

The tour ended in the old storage cellar, which has now been renovated into a bar, where they serve free samples of the Smithwick's beer...

My new favorite beer... This stuff was delicious! :)

After our tour of the brewery, we headed to the Black Abbey...

It's the site of a Dominican church that was founded in 1225. No one really knows the reason behind the name... Many people claim that it was because the Dominican monks wore black capes over their wight habits, or because the Black Plague claimed the lives of eight priests back in 1348.

Black Abbey...

The ancient headstones in the cemetery surrounding the church...

The village of Kilkenny...

This was by far my favorite place that we visited!! I loved how charming it was! :)

Heading back to Dublin on the train...

Brian picked up some Guinness for the trip. :)

After arriving back in Dublin, we headed out for a late night stroll...

Needless to say, Dublin has quite an interesting late night scene... Wow! :) Here's just one of the many crazy things that we saw that evening... This girl and her friend (not pictured) were pouring lighter fluid into their mouths and then blowing into torches... Ultimately making it look like they were breathing fire. Now, let me preface this by saying that we've seen people doing this in other cities that we've visited here in Europe. But, this was the first time we've seen girls doing it... Needless to say, Brian was extremely impressed. :)

On our last full day in Ireland, we headed out on the DART train to the fishing village of Howth.

Fish was a popular item in this town! :)

Heading up to the Howth Castle, we came across this ancient monastery that was completely grown over with weeds...

The Howth Castle grounds...

It was such a pretty area! :)

While Brian was taking pictures, I decided to have a little fun with my camera... I changed the settings to accent certain colors... In this picture, I pulled out the pink in the tree... Now that I have an amateur photographer for a husband, I'm starting to get braver and much more creative with my picture taking! :)

Our last night in Dublin was spent with our friend, Sarah, and a couple of her friends. Sarah is the niece of my friend, Val... Before we left for Ireland, Val put us into contact with one another... Throughout our visit, Sarah was extremely helpful and full of tons of information about Dublin! So, on our last night there, she and her friends took us on a real Irish pub crawl through the city! What a fun night that turned out to be! :)

As we headed to the airport the next day, we came across this sign... And, I couldn't help but to get a picture with it... It says Moore St. Mall... I definitely think it's a "sign" that I found it while in Ireland... It looks like I really am Irish at heart! :)