Weekend in Dublin!

A few weeks ago, I found out that my good friend from college, Katie, was moving to Norway for work for a few years! Luckily, her timing was perfect for the trip I was planning to Dublin, Ireland. I arrived late Friday night and Katie arrived early Saturday morning - both ready to sight-see our butts off!

We started our touring about 30 minutes after Katie arrived! She found this awesome free walking tour (only pay tips to the guide at the end) that she attended London. It is available in London, Dublin, Berlin and many more! After going the wrong way three times, a nice Irish gentleman directed us the correct way to the old Dublin town hall where the group gathered. Our first stop was Dublin Castle -- which has a wide mix of architecture. This castle was once the headquarters of the British when Ireland was under British rule, King John -- the mean one from Robin Hood, and many more. For some reason all the details did not stick -- Katie and I were too busy catching up!

Dublin Castle - Probably my best picture from the trip :)

Katie and I in front of the whole castle -- the architect said "He liked the colors"

We then moved on to the Christ Church Cathedral -- where the real Tom and Jerry were found in the church organ. The tour guide also taught us about the vikings here where many Viking remains were found. Did you know that viking helmets did not really have horns on them? Many helmets were found throughout the world...but never any horns! Below is a picture of the church and the tour group laying down on viking beds in a real sized viking house on the pavement.

Viking Houses

Christ Church Cathedral

 At this point in the tour, we decided that we had gone way too long in Ireland without having a beer. On the tour's "coffee break" we had our first Ireland Guinness. It was that much better just being in Ireland.

Katie with our 1st beers!

We continued on the tour where we spent time in the Temple Bar area, and we instantly decided to return at night. The tour guide took us north over the river where we saw first the Liffey bridge and then the O'Connell bridge. Random fact - the O'Connell brides wider than it is long.

O'Connell Bridge and some Dublin skyline

The guide took us back near our hotel to Trinity College. After taking a peak at the college, we split off to have a traditional Irish meal and to move on to our Guinness Storehouse Tour! The Guinness Storehouse Tour is more like a museum compared to the other Brewery tours I have been on in the past. Being Chemical Engineers, and the fact that Katie used to work for Anheuser Busch, we also were sure to take pictures of the factory, some pipes, and some flanges outside the actual tour :)

The tour was awesome though! Complete with a small beer taste halfway through the tour, and then a full Guinness in the Gravity Bar at the end of the tour! The Gravity Bar is at the top of the pint glass shaped building (for real), where everyone is swooping in for seats near the window to get an excellent view of the city of Dublin.

Katie and I in front of one side of the Gravity Bar windows

Believe it or not we kept going, even after our many beers and ciders! Below are a few miscellaneous pictures from our adventure. Katie and I had a fabulous time and already plan to return to Dublin someday :)

Guinness Gate

St. Stephens Green

Before catching our flights on Sunday afternoon, Katie and I had one more thing to see! When we were starving for Irish food at Trinity College, we missed the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells "is an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory texts and tables. It was created by Celtic monks ca. 800 or slightly earlier." - thank you wikipedia :) Each page is extremely ellaborate calligraphy illustrating the gospels. It really was quite amazing, but unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside the library. Instead below is a picture of the banner outside the Old Library at Trinty College.