We are back from our trip to Ireland. It was absolutely fantastic. It was a great vacation. It was so relaxing and calm, just what we needed. We enjoyed the Irish setting, history, and food. It snowed the whole time we were there, which made it that much more gorgeous.
Our hotel was amazing. It had a "bar" on one side and a restaurant on the other. In the mornings, we got a full Irish breakfast free. At night, if we were tired and just wanted to go to the room, we knew we could still have an authentic Irish meal with the restaurant right there. The bar was amazing, too. We ate there on our way to check-in at the hotel. It was pretty amazing. I got some hot wings and nachos. Absolutely nothing Irish about those, but I have to say those were the best nachos I have ever had. I am not sure if it was because I am pregnant or if they were really that good, but before we left I had to have them one more time, which I did. We tried a lot of food, and we enjoyed every single bit that we had.
We did the Hop On Hop Off bus tour since we were only there for a few days. We bought a public transportation pass to last us while we were there, and I bought us passes for all of the things we wanted to do in advance. This has worked well for us because we can skip the lines and plan ahead. I am such a planner that all of this is a must for us. It ends up saving you quite a bit of money in the end because you get 10-20% off on the sightseeing and some free for purchasing so many at once. It also allows you discounts to different shops, cafes, pubs, etc.
The first day we kept it simple. Since we flew in that morning and were running off of 4 hours of sleep, we decided to not try and make a big deal of it. We got "lost" in the city and just enjoyed being there. We actually even took a nap and ordered room service for dinner from the restaurant downstairs.
On the second day, We went to some Cathedrals, viewed their treasures and crypts. We went to their Christmas markets. On the same day, we toured the Guinness Factory. We enjoyed all of this. The Guinness Factory took us a while because it is 7 stories, but not only that, we ate there because I could not get the complimentary pint of Guinness, so instead I got a Guinness hamburger and Guinness Chocolates. Mr. Man got his Guinness, which he is not a beer drinker but he enjoyed it. He said it was really smoothed compared to any beer he has ever had. He also said it is much better than the Guinness he has had in the states.
The next day, we went straight to the Jameson Whiskey Factory. We were there at 9am. Leave it to the people from Louisiana to get their drink on bright and early in the morning.... :o) I must say that I am so glad we did this because they pick 8 people in the group to do some official whiskey taste testing. They choose 4 boys and 4 girls. There were 5 girls in the group, with me being the 5th. There were exactly 4 men in the group, so everyone got to do the taste testing. But everyone got a complimentary glass of whiskey. You could choose to have it with cranberry juice, coke, ginger ale, or straight. Of course, I just took lots of pictures and sat back and watched all the Americans down lots of whiskey. Yes, our group was almost all Americans. There was one girl from Germany, and that was it. We got to the end of tour and all the taste testers got their complimentary whiskey and 3 other shots of different whiskeys with one being Jameson, another being an American one, and another being a Scottish one. They went around the table discussing each of the whiskeys, then had to taste each one. At the end, they had to chose which one they enjoyed the most. Now going back to Mr. Man and I not being drinkers at all, Mr. Man has not gotten a taste for any type of alcohol, especially beer and whiskey. So they were both very fresh to him. He had tried some of them before, but he had not had any in an extremely long time. Everyone in the room that taste tested chose Jameson (of course!). Since they did, they all got a nice certificate with their name stating that they were official whiskey taste testers with Jameson. That was pretty neat. After the tour (for those of you wondering), I asked Mr. Man if he really liked the Jameson better. His reply was similar to the one of the Guinness. That is it was the most smooth and subtle tasting one of them. After that, we went to some museums. One included Dublina and the Viking World, which was the story of the Viking's World. Another one was one of the Irish military, which discussed many different battles and wars. Another one was of the Dublin Castle. That was most of our day there.
To be honest, I am probably forgetting a lot of what we did. Once I look over the pictures again, I will probably think of a whole lot more that we saw and more stories to tell.
I can tell you that it was a great trip, mostly focussed around alcohol since it is a party town. But overall, it was a nice, relaxing visit. We knew it would be for us since we are "pub crawlers." The snow made it much more stunning. The atmosphere was absolutely fabulous. The people were so friendly and welcoming. The history was extremely interesting. Every thing about it was great.
So, I know I say this every time, but I do plan on posting some pictures once I get them uploaded.
I hope everyone else had a wonderful Thanksgiving, too!
