Ireland

Last Friday afternoon my roommates and I headed to Dublin for St. Paddy’s Day weekend. We left at around 1:30 for London Gatewick Airport where we would be flying with RyanAir, which I had heard many horror stories about so I was nervous about what was to come. Luckily the flight went smoothly and we were only in the air for about 45 minutes so it was a quick and easy journey. Once arriving we met up with one of my roommate’s sorority sisters who is studying abroad in the Netherlands. We then proceeded to find our hotel which was very close to the airport and not hard to find. The first night we just decided to walk around a village near our hotel and get some dinner at a local pub. We were all starving by this time so it was a great way to welcome ourselves to Ireland. We decided to go to bed early since we had an early start to our day on Saturday due to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade that would be going on in downtown Dublin. 

First dinner in Dublin!

The next day we woke up and headed to the bus stop near the hotel to make our way into Dublin. After waiting for over 30 minutes there was still no bus and some people were beginning to walk away and give up. Luckily as we were about to leave the bus stop area the bus finally stared coming towards us. We headed onto the bus and made our way into the city. Upon arrival we were met with huge groups of people all decked out in green St. Patrick’s Day attire. We immediately found a souvenir stand and purchased some scarves and hats. We then made our way to the side of the road where the parade route would be coming down and got a good spot near the front.

Waiting for the parade to start

Once the parade started their were your typical parade participants such as marching bands (all from American universities), bag pipes, dancers etc. Although once the floats started coming around the bend it became apparent that this was a parade like no other. The floats were bizarre to say the least; many of them involved giant paper Mache animals being moved by attached metal wheels which would be driven by a person sitting in the back of the float or helping to push it along. Many floats were very avant garde and artistic, nothing I have ever seen before at a parade. It was definitely the most creative parade I had ever been too and you would never know that it was St. Patrick’s Day themed. As the floats went by people would hold signs up with the name and theme of each float. I think they all went over our heads but they were still cool to look at.

After the parade was over we decided to grab a bite to eat and explore the city. There were many beautiful churches and cathedrals throughout the city as well as the obvious tourist attractions such as The Guinness Factory and the Kilmainham Jail. While walking to these touristy spots we were able to see Dublin Castle and the Christ Church Cathedral. On the way back we stopped at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the park which was a very fitting way to end the day. We then decided to check out Temple Bar, the most popular bar in Dublin. The alleys surrounding the bar were chaotic to say the least. People were definitely getting into the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day. The inside of the bar was completely packed but it was worth it to get the chance to check it out. Afterwards we found a McDonald’s nearby to see if they made Shamrock Shakes in Dublin. Luckily they did! I never would have thought that I would be drinking a shamrock shake in Dublin On St. Patrick’s Day.  We explored some more bars in the area until we eventually called it a night. It had been a long day but totally worth it. 

Dublin Castle

Christ Church Cathedral

 

 

Guinness Factory!

The craziness in the streets of Dublin

The beautiful city at night

St. Patrick's Cathedral

The next challenge was finding the bus stop to bring up back to the area where out hotel was located.

 After walking for quite some time we found a bus stop that we thought was the right one, unfortunately after asking the bus driver (who was off duty) he told us we were going in the completely opposite direction. Luckily he was nice enough to walk us to the right bus stop because he according to him it wasn’t the best area to be wandering around at night. He was very friendly and showed us exactly how to get home. He also told us how much he doesn’t like working this weekend because of all the crazy drunk people running through the roads. We didn’t blame him and we were very grateful that he took the time to escort us to the correct bus stop.Once we were at the bus stop, waiting for it became the next challenge after failing to catch the first one that went by (due to no one signaling for it to stop, super smart) we sadly watched it drive by preparing ourselves for the next one that came by. After what felt like hours of waiting we finally caught it and headed back to the hotel.

 It was a fun trip to Dublin and I would love to come back someday and explore the countryside more!