AIRELAND (Ireland) Part 1 - It starts in Dublin

Ohhh “Aireland”. So lovely. So green. (Well, actually not really so green since they’ve had a warmer-and-drier-than-normal summer). So more-than-expectedly awesome! I’m already having live music withdrawals. I don’t think I’d properly prepared myself for the sheer volume of live music that occurs there on a nightly basis!!!

I digress. Let me start at the beginning. (A very good place to start!)

Mumford and Sons announced their concert with Ben Howard and Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros to be played in a huge park in Dublin before they announced they would be playing in London. Decision made. I’ve never seen Mumford. I’ve never been to Ireland. Who wouldn’t want to see Mumford in Dublin!?!?! Simultaneously my good friend Michelle was trying to plan a visit to see me, and we were in discussions about where we should go. Ahem. Connect the dots peeps, we’re going to Ireland!!!

So we started planning this trip, and decided we’d fly into Dublin, rent a car and hit the major hot spots driving in a counterclockwise fashion and then fly out of Cork.

What I thought the trip would look like was this.

The idea was Dublin > Galway > Ring of Kerry > Cork

 What it actually ended up looking like was this.

Dublin > Galway > Doolin > Milltown/Killorgan/Killarney > Day stopover in Dingle > Cork

May seem similar to you, however, some of those stop-offs we made resulted in some very unexpected overnights…..

DUBLIN

Gotta be honest, I don’t have a LOT to say about Dublin other than it’s got great nightlife. Since Dan was flying back to Chicago that week, and since he’s IRISH and has never been, he joined Michelle and I for the first leg of our trip in Dublin. The 3 of us flew in on Sunday, checked into the dingiest hotel we could’ve picked (we knew that ahead of time) with the loudest birds possible squawking out our window (we didn’t know that ahead of time) 

I don't actually think these were the birds. They look too nice...but you get the idea.

and really piss poor water pressure. Let's make sure you all know that just because I'm traveling, does NOT mean I'm doing it high class. J

Quality hotel man!

Sunday was the gig. It’s in a huuuuge park a bit out of the center of the city. And it was way far into this park with no way to get there besides walking. So…we embarked on a 1 hour walk to get to the concert. 

It actually ended up being more like a mini festival in my opinion. And it. Was. Incredible!!! 

I have to post videos because honestly it was just such a fantastic show. I’ve never seen a crowd so excited. And Dan kept boosting me up on his shoulders (something I’ve never done before) for as long as he could handle my bony butt so that I could see. It was pretty amazing.

This video is super short, but you can see how into it everyone was.

This one just shows how good of a show they put on.

Here are some of the photos from the show. 

I really love this one for some reason.

Last, they ended playing Galway Girl - a traditional Irish song - with all of the other bands who played. It was really cool!

Monday. What to do in Dublin. Hmmm. We weren’t really into the touristing stuff.  We realized that you don’t learn much Irish history in school. And without knowledge of the history, it’s a lot less exciting to go see things. They sort of lose their meaning. And we all slept in pretty late, so we sorta just roamed around the not-so-charming streets of Dublin for a bit. 

Our hotel was directly across from some monument that was suuuuuper high.

We went into a crypt under a church with bodies that were hundreds of years old and their skin was still preserved!!!

I think this was the church actually. Or maybe it was just pretty. Who knows!?

This was Trinity College where the original manuscripts of the New Testiment are housed.

I... don't remember what this was either. But it was pretty!

Michelle and Dan both insisted on the Jameson tour – which is sort of funny because the distillery is actually in Cork now, so it’s just a recreation. But whatever.

The inside was actually designed/decorated in a way that looked really cool.

We had great whiskey cocktails. Mommy, I got a Whiskey Sour in your honor!

Then at the end of the tour, Michelle and Dan both volunteered to be whiskey tasters. They sat alongside the other brave souls and sampled Jameson, Jack Daniels and a Scotch. For like .2 seconds I was jealous I didn’t volunteer. And then I tried a sip of their straight Scotch, cringed, made a grossed out face, and went back to sipping on my Jameson and Ginger.

Evening time was much more fun. The Temple Bar area was our end destination. It’s known as being a pretty touristy area, but honestly who cares!? It’s known for that because they have a zillion bars all playing traditional Irish music there! Perfect! We did decide to do a bit of a pub crawl heading over there though.

Just checkin to see if the phone worked in there...

Then we walked along the river and popped into this small local bar. I don’t even remember the name, but it was so cool. It was like the local dive for the 40-60 year old blue collar workers who just want to drink Guinness and sing/listen to others sing Irish music. Side note – EVERYONE drinks Guinness there. It’s a stereotype for a reason. It’s true. 

Guinness on top EVERYWHERE. Over 60% of every bar crowd is drinking Guinness in Ireland. 

So we are sitting in this small bar and they just randomly have people coming up to the microphone singing. It was really cool! Then we start over to a few of the recommended pubs in Temple Bar for some live Irish dancing

live music and (eventually) some dancing of our own! 

This is what happened as the night progressed....

And this.... :)

The next day, Dan had to leave for the airport to fly home. Gotta say, it was a pretty sad way to say goodbye. Thankfully I had Michelle there to cheer me up. So we made our way to the rental car place to pick up our car, drive on the LEFT side of the road, and start the official road trip. Eeeeek!

Stay tuned for PART 2…..