Ireland - Day 1

Over Thanksgiving week I *finally* went to Ireland. I was so excited...as I have been wanting to do this trip for years. After a lot of planning, and having a good friend from Officer Training School join me, off we went. Our trip consisted of 2 days in Dublin, a train ride to Cork City, spending a day in County Cork - or to be more specific, Blarney village (where Blarney Castle is located...duh!) :o) Our last day was in Waterford.

But right now I'm only going to talk about Dublin. I could spend a week alone just exploring the streets and sights of Dublin. The city reminded me a lot of Boston, and many others I have shown pictures have also commented on how similar Boston is to Dublin...which makes sence seeing who helped design and build Boston!

We stayed at a great hotel at the very end of trendy Temple Bar. But of course, we had to make two VERY important stops.

Day one in Dublin was stoping at the Guinness Factory.

Though at this specific factory that we toured in doesn't produce Guinness we still had a great time. The self-guided tour ended at the bar at the very top of the factory with a beautiful 360 degree view of Dublin. While enjoying our free pint we had fun people watching and watching the clouds move in across the city.

We also walked around Trinity College. The campus is absolutely beautiful! I know we only saw a very small portion of it and I would love to go back in the late spring or early fall.

The buildings were very interesting in the architectural designs. I walked around the campus a little bit both during the day and again the first night - venturing out by myself.

At Trinity College is the Book of Kells are beautifully and awe inspiring books that are decorated copies of the four gospels written around 800 AD.

As I was walking around the college that first night, a golden light caught my eye. So I walked over to check out where the light was coming from. As it turned out - it was just the light from the tennis court and parking area that peaked my interest. I loved how the light shined through the tree and off the building....hope you enjoy it to.

After a fun first day I decided to call it a night. My friend decided to stay in the hotel while I was out walking around that night. It was so peaceful even though there were tons of people out walking around and enjoying the evening.

Thus...the end of day one.