37.

37 – Go to Ireland.

Well, on the 1st of February this year, Tom and I had been going out for 6 years (woop), so we decided to go to Dublin for a few days to celebrate. I’ve been before and loved it, and Tom had never been to Ireland before, so it seemed like the perfect place. My mum and dad drove us to the airport in Birmingham on Sunday morning. We spent quite a long time there due to a combination of getting there very early and the flight being delayed for about half an hour due to snow. The flight itself was fine, and we found my bag immediately we got off the plane, which was nice. We quickly found a taxi, and our driver was very nice, although he had a very strong Irish accent, which was quite hard to understand at times, and him and Tom talked about rugby all the time. It seemed we’d come a day too late as the previous night Ireland had beat France at the rugby, so it was a shame we missed that. I was a little apprehensive on the drive to the hotel, as some parts of Dublin look awful, but it got increasingly nicer as we neared our hotel. We were dissapointed when we got there as the entrance looked really run-down. We tried to get in and couldn’t open the door (!), but then took a short walk down the road and found the real entrance, which looked much more like what we were expecting. The hotel was gorgeous; really extravagently decorated. This was the first thing you saw as you entered:

Obviously, Tom wasn’t sitting there when we went in, but I thought this would give a good indication of how big these chairs were. We checked in and went up to our room, which was also gorgeous:

The second two pictures give an idea of what it was like after we’d been there for a few days. Unfortunately, I seem to have only taken pictures of the bed, but I assure you the rest was lovely too! The first night we just relaxed in the room for a while, I had a shower and then we went out. We had a wander around and eventually found Temple Bar where we had dinner in a restaurant called Fitzers. It was very nice, but Tom and I both managed to choose things that were exceptionally difficult to eat. I had a huuuge burger, and Tom had spaghetti with a very creamy sauce, much of which ended up splattered on the table. I then had a lovely lemon tart and Tom had an apple crumble. It was all very nice and actually quite cheap. After that we had another little wander and ended up in a pub called the Oliver St John Gogerty. It was quite cool and apparently often has traditional Irish music sessions, but on the night we were there it just had a lot of rock ballads blaring out. It was fun though, but we were both pretty tired, so retired to the hotel after just one drink.

We got up about 9 the next morning and went down to breakfast in the hotel, which was good, but there was a distinct lack of tea. After breakfast we decided to go to the Dublin Writers Museum, which involved walking quite a way to the North side of the river. We walked along O’Connell Street and saw some interesting things, like The Spire (literally just a massive spire), and the bullet holes in the post office. Eventually we got to the museum, which I found really interesting, although Tom made me go too quickly, and we weren’t allowed to take any photos. Afterweards we walked all the way back to Grafton Street and went and had something to eat in the Bewleys Cafe, which was really very nice and had amazing lemonade. After that we walked all the way down Grafton Street looking for the statue of Molly Malone, only to discover we’d passed it ages ago without even noticing. We walked back and had a quick look and then went to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. Unfortunately the real book was away for restoration and there was only a copy, but it did mean admission was half price and I still enjoyed the exhibition. I found it really interesting and thought the artwork was just stunning. (I think Tom was less impressed). After that we went back to the hotel to relax for a bit, then that evening we went to the cinema. We saw Frost Vs Nixon, which we both quite enjoyed, but I think Tom was a little disappointed as he’d really wanted to see it and had quite high expectations. We had dinner that evening in a restaurant near our hotel called Mona Lisa. It was nice and we both ended up having three course meals, as it was such a good deal, but we both struggled due to too much popcorn and sweets. I had to leave half my profiteroles as I was just too full, which was quite upsetting as they were really nice.

Tuesday morning we got up and went down to breakfast again, which was complete with tea this time, and also with a man complaining about sausages. After breakfast and a shower, we set off on a long walk to the Guinness Museum, which we were both really looking forward to. It was really good fun; it’s quite a good museum, starting off with the ingredients, then how Guinness is made, transported, advertised, etc. Here are some picture of me and Tom standing in front of a mini waterfall (showing the spring water used in Guinness):

At the very top of the museum there’s a huge round bar, where there are panoramic views of the city:

We got to exchange our tickets for a free pint of Guinness or a soft drink. I was the only one in the bar not drinking Guinness lol. I did try a sip of Tom’s, but I really don’t like it, so I was happier with my lemonade. After the museum we walked to a little cafe called Queen of Tarts, where we had some lunch, which was very nice. We then walked back towards our hotel and spent what seemed like forever wandering around looking for the Natural History Museum. When we eventually found it, it was bloody well shut, but we did go and see a nice statue of Oscar Wilde, which was nearby:

After that I was completely exhausted and simply had to go back to the hotel and sleep. That evening we went back to Temple Bar to eat, but the place we had intended to go to was completely full so we ended up in a Hard Rock Cafe. It was actually quite good, especially as neither of us had ever been to one before. I had another massive burger and Tom had a club sandwich, and afterwards I ordered a chocolate brow

nie sundae, and when it came it was the biggest dessert I have ever seen. It was a nice meal though, and probably the most expensive place we ate, but it did come with more rock ballads, and a car suspended from the ceiling. It was quite late by then so we went back to our hotel for our last sleep before we left.

Wednesday morning we got up earlyish to pack before we left. Neither of us wanted to leave, so it was quite sad. We checked out and then our taxi driver turned up almost immediately. He was another nice guy, but turned out to be a Liverpool fan, so I got nothing but football and rugby all the way to the airport. The airport was a bit crappy and we had some horrible food, but the flight itself was again fine. We then went to Birmingham New Street where we were getting the train home. Unfortunately we missed the first train because I was having a wee, but eventually we got home, walking back to my house in the pouring rain. And so it was over. It definitely went too quickly, but I had a really lovely time, and I’m very glad we went there.

Lovely.