While on a two week vacation in Ireland & London, I kept track of what we did and my own thoughts in order to help me remember. Two weeks is a long time! I realized other might benefit from my experience, or at least enjoy my photos. This should not serve as the definitive guide to Ireland, just my own wandering trip. 

Day 1 – Dublin, Ireland

Our trip to Ireland really started after we had landed and were on the Air Coach bus from the airport into Dublin. We dropped at the stop per the hotel instructions and asked the driver for directions. He told us to go the opposite direction of our hotel and we wandered around for about 20 minutes before we figured it out. Everyone said directions in Ireland were generally fun!

 On our way to hunt down our hotel, we walked through St. Stephens Green. I knew right away that it was a park I could spend more time exploring it if we had the time.  The sun was shining and the park was filled with couples and children running around. It made me excited to start exploring.

 The hotel, the Fitzwilliam Townhouse, is just outside the main city and not too expensive, but close enough so we can walk everywhere. The room is clean, although it is a 5-floor walk up. We showered up and headed back out. We walked down to Grafton Street, the main shopping street (think Newbury if you are from Boston) and wandered amid the crowds down to the tourist center. We picked up some driving maps (great) and the Heritage Island Explorer Touring Guide (waste of money) and then headed to Temple Bar.

 Temple Bar is as touristy as everyone says. We stopped at a very large, noisy pub and had our first pints of Guinness among the other tourists. My first impression is that it is lighter and more bubbly that Guinness at home. We moved on from that pub, and found a place with the Manchester United football game on. It wasn’t as crowded, but they served food. We had a bowl of vegetable soup and some bruchette that was amazing. It might have been that we were starving, but our first food in Ireland beat all expectations.

 We had underestimated the temperature and were chilly at this point, so we walked back to the hotel and picked up our jackets. Back out, we hit up James Toners, a definitive Irish Pub filled with Irish! I learned that cider is the way to go and we enjoyed yet another pint. We would have stayed there, but the only food was cans of Pringles.

 We headed across the street to Foleys for dinner. Foleys was exactly what we needed. Quiet, cozy and comfortable. Jared got another pint, and I realized they way to go is glasses (half the size of a pint) if you are planning to hop from pub to pub. Dinner again beat all expectations of “Irish food”. I had an Indian Chicken Pie that was spiced perfectly and served with a mango chutney and a salad. Jared ordered his first fish and chips with came with “mushy peas”. We were both skeptical, but they turned out to be the best part of his dinner! They were fresh peas, served up like mashed potatoes. There must have been cream added because they were scrumptious.

 We landed back at home around 11, had some tea and hit the sack. The room has no AC, which I knew when I booked it. I didn’t think it would be a problem, because it’s in the 60s.  The room was fine with the window opens, but it was certainly loud on the street. I am looking forward to the country quiet after the city.