Adventure #2: Dublin - Guinness Galore

 Adventure Summary:

Location: Dublin, Republic of Ireland

Time Spent: 3.5 Days

Reason for Travel: Tourism, Sight-seeing, Guinness!

Highlights: Private Walking Tour with a local guide, walking around the Trinity College grounds

Trip Rating: 10/10

Adventure Details:

Hello from Dublin!

Day 1:

My Dad and I arrived in Dublin on the red-eye flight from Halifax early Tuesday morning, promptly taking a cab to the Temple Bar area - a lovely, touristy area full of various pubs (including the infamous Temple Bar of course). To clarify, we did not go to the pubs first thing in the morning. Rather, we dropped our bags at our accommodation and walked around the area to find breakfast. Jet-lagged and full of excitement, we explored the surrounding area until our room was ready in the afternoon where we both collapsed on the beds for a few hours... After feeling a bit more human and less zombie-like, we proceeded to the Temple Bar to properly commemorate the start of our Irish adventure. To this day, we are both unsure why the Temple Bar is so famous... a history for another day I suppose. 

Day 2:

We started the day with a walking tour with our lovely guide, Jeanine, around some of the city's popular tourist and locally-known destinations. I particularly loved listening to Jeanine recount various histories and personal experiences in a captivating, but digestible manner as we walked from place to place. I can't remember everywhere we went, but a few highlights were the Public Gardens, Butler's coffee shop, Powerscourt, Trinity College, and the General Post Office. We spent the afternoon going through the GPO museum, learning more about the complex history of Ireland and the ongoing political disputes. To end off the day, we sat on the patio of a pub off of one of the main streets of Dublin (don't ask me where - I have no idea where we were) watching the vibrant city hustle-and-bustle pass by. 

Day 3:

Fun fact: I was originally matched with Trinity College in Dublin for my study abroad term this fall. After coming to the devastating realization that they no longer offered architecture design studio courses, and frantic communications with my university advisors and global studies office, I was rematched with Ulster University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. I promise there is a point to this backstory!

The Point to the Backstory Above: Jeanine told us on out tour yesterday that Trinity College is 'less friendly' than that of Ulster University, and given what she could gauge from my personality from our limited time together I was better suited for Ulster. Nonetheless, since we were in Dublin I figured I might as well take some time to see what could have been my temporary home for the next few months. Needless to say, it is a beautiful campus with various architectural styles (Georgian, Victorian, contemporary, etc.), but I'm not sure if I would have liked being on a campus with such high tourist traction. 

When in Dublin, you Guinness! Even though it was a Disney-ified self-guided tour through the brewing process, the Guinness storefront was interesting and fun to go through. After the self guided tour and a much needed Guinness beer in their Gravity Bar overlooking the city, we joined fourteen other tourists for a Connoisseur experience. Three and a half pints of liquid-history and a lesson on the seven steps to pour a perfect pint of Guinness, Dad and I earned our certificates for pouring beautiful pints of Guinness. How can beer require seven steps? You'll have to talk to a Guinness connoisseur or trained professional to find out ;)

Day 4: Travel Day to Northern Ireland!

Next Adventure: Northern Ireland!!