Put a Cork in it...

Another week and yet another trip to talk about!  This past weekend, Melon, Ashleen, and I went to County Cork from Friday afternoon until Saturday night.  We took the CityLink bus to Cork City on Friday night and arrived in town around 5:30pm.  We stayed at a little hostel about a fifteen minute walk from the center of town.  The woman who owned the hostel was named Tracey.  She was a super nice lady.  She asked us if we were studying in Ireland and after we told her we were at NUI Galway she asked if we were studying the men.  Melon and I immediately pointed to Ashleen and said she was studying the men.  Tracey cracked up at that and continued to ask Ashleen if she would be invited to the wedding.
After dropping our bags in the dorm we headed out to explore the town.  We had dinner at a really neat sports bar off of the main street in Cork.  It was a cool place with lots of decorations for Cork's teams.
We hung around there for a little while after finishing our dinner before heading out to explore the town.  The three of us roamed around the city streets looking for a good pub to go to.  We passed a place that looked like a massive nightclub.  There were fire breathers outside and people with fancy clubbing clothes going inside.  We decided to pass on it for now and see what it was later on.
We ended up going to Oliver Plunkett's for a pint.  It was a very interesting bar.  There were a lot of (as Ashleen put it) 'young professionals looking to find spouses' hanging out at the bar.  It was super crowded and we definitely didn't fit in.  We finished our drinks and immediately left to go to Abrakebabra (a fast food chain that Melon was dying to try out) to get taco fries.  It was my first Abrakebabra experience and boy was it delicious!
As we walked back to our hostel we saw that the club we looked at earlier had a guest list... so that was definitely a no-go.
The next morning we woke up early and headed down to St. Patrick's Quay to catch our Paddy Wagon bus that would take us to Kinsale, Blarney, and Cobh.  The trip was unbelievable!  Kinsale was our first stop.  Mike (our bus driver) dropped us in the town and let us roam around the streets for an  hour.  Our first stop was a little bakery where we got tea and a donut.  Right across the street from it was Patsy's Corner.  It had unfortunately been closed down, but I still took a picture in front of it for mom.

(Kinsale Harbor)

(Patsy's Corner)

(Cute shops in town)

We explored a few of the shops around Kinsale and then boarded back on the bus to head to Blarney.
Blarney was beautiful!  The three of us explored around the castle and went underneath it in the caves.  We then headed up the tower to go kiss the Blarney Stone!  Those stairs were definitely the scariest stairs I have ever climbed.  They are super steep and they get more narrow the further up you climb.  Once at the top, the views were amazing.  You could see for miles around the castle.  Melon and I were so proud of Ashleen because she overcame her fear of heights and leaned backwards to kiss the Blarney Stone!  We all got great pictures gripping the bars for dear life.
Outside of Blarney there were gardens that you could walk through.  We chose to walk through the poison garden.  It had all of your medicinal plants like Marijuana, Opium, and Salvia, as well as Wolfsbane and Mandrake (like in Harry Potter!)  Before we headed off to Cobh, we stopped to grab a bite to eat and look around the Sweater Markets next to Blarney.  Nothing in particular stood out so the hunt still continues for my Irish sweater coat.

(Me and Melon outside of Blarney Castle) 

 (Melon and Ashleen going into the caves)

(View from the top of Blarney) 

(Kissing the Blarney Stone!) 

(Ashleen survived!)

Our final stop was Cobh.  Cobh is the last port that the Titanic left before sailing off for America.  We went to see St. Coleman's Church that overlooks the harbor and then we went to the Heritage Center.  The center had a really cool museum in it that was all about the Famine, slave ships, and the Titanic and its sister ships.  It was a great display that really told the full story of the Irish people.

(View of Cobh Harbor from St. Coleman's) 

 (Memorial for the Titanic)

(Cruise ship coming into Cobh Harbor) 

(Sailboat for Nani!) 

(St. Coleman's Church on the hill)

Our day ended back in Cork City where we walked around the shops before boarding our bus to head back to Galway.
For any of those hoping to go to Ireland one day I would definitely recommend going to Cobh and Kinsale for part of your trip.  Those are my two favorite towns so far.

"May your blessings outnumber
The Shamrocks that grow.
And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go"

"Give every man his D.E.W."

Today was an awesome day!  Ashleen, Melon, Hope, Erin, Mike, and I went to Tullamore, Co. Offaly.  Co. Offaly is where Erin's family is from, so going here was on her bucket list while in Ireland.  Our plan for the day was to go to Charleville Castle, Digan's Pub (Digan is Erin's last name), and the Tullamore D.E.W. Visitor Centre.
After getting off of the train in Tullamore we started on our long walk to Charleville Castle.  The castle was far, far down a dirt road past soccer fields and a really cool climbing tree (that would be visited later on).  The castle itself was beautiful, but there was a lot of construction going on around it and there were some really funky signs... like one with a person in a graduation cap.  Who knows why, but that was bolted onto a tree nearby.  This castle bears the name of a popular type of cheese in Ireland and is the picture you will find on their wrappers.  (Charleville is really good cheese!  Melon and I buy it for our grilled ham and cheese sandwiches).

(Mike being a gargoyle) 

(Part of Charleville Castle) 

(No parking on the steps?) 

(Pretty flowers)

(Me and Hope pulling a Captain Morgan)

On our walk back we stopped at the super cool climbing tree and Mike became our photographer.  He got really into it and was loving taking pictures.

(These boots were made for walking) 

(The girls: Melon, Hope, Erin, Me, Ashleen) 

(So much roomie love)

The next place we headed for was city center.  We walked all over town trying to find Digan's Pub so that we could have lunch there.  After searching for awhile, we asked a couple on the street who told us that Digan's had closed down a few months before, so instead we grabbed a bite to eat at a cheap place down the street.
The Tullamore D.E.W. Visitor Centre was our next stop on our journey.  We walked inside the old distillery and signed up for the tour and then looked around the shop while we were waiting.  The tour was really cool!  Our guide first took us through the history of Tullamore D.E.W.  It was founded in 1829 and later renamed Tullamore D.E.W. after it's new owner in the late 1800's D.E. Williams.  The company was in his family until the mid-1950s when they had to sell it to an Irish Whiskey Distillery that was trying to save the industry.  Recently it was bought by a Scottish whiskey company and they are in the process of bringing the distillery back to Tullamore where it started.
On our tour, we also learned about how the triple distilled and triple blended whiskey was made.  The process was really cool and it was neat to look at all of the old equipment.  But what everyone was looking forward to was the taste-testing.  We each got samples of three different Tullamore whiskeys:  Original (40%), Old Bonded Warehouse Release (46%), and 12-year Reserve (40%).  My favorite one was the 12-year.  I couldn't finished the Old Bonded Warehouse because it was way too strong and yucky.  Bleh.  We learned how the different ingredients, the different woods the barrels were made of, and the number of times the product was distilled would make the whiskey taste different and be more appealing to the consumer.  Tullamore D.E.W. is so popular because of its unique feature of being both triple-distilled and triple-blended.

(Tullamore D.E.W.) 

(My whiskey!) 

(Me at the tasting) 

(Ashleen, Me, and Melon at the private tasting room bar) 

(Me in the hallway shaped like a bottle of Tullamore D.E.W.)

We left the Visitor Centre with a lot of gifts for friends and family back home and began to explore the rest of the town.  While walking around we finally came across Digan's.  Although it was closed down, Erin still got to have her picture taken in front of it like she wanted to.  We also made a quick trip to St. Mary's Church down the road because it looked so beautiful as we walked through town.

(St. Mary's Church)

The train ride back was very uneventful, though I must say that the trains here are spectacular!  Very, very clean and super efficient.  And they have free Wifi!  They need more trains like this in the States.  It would be so much more efficient than the transportation we have now.
On that note, I guess I'll stop writing!

"When we drink, we get drunk.
When we get drunk, we fall asleep.
When we fall asleep, we commit no sin.
When we commit no sin, we go to heaven.
So, let's all get drunk, and go to heaven!"

On Being Daft in Dublin...

So let me first tell you what the title of this post is about.  When we went to Dublin last weekend we stayed with Ashleen's friend from home, Joe.  Joe has been working on his Irish accent since he arrived in Dublin at the end of August.  Now, for some reason, his favorite word the Irish say seems to be 'daft.'  He has this phrase he likes to say that brings out his best Irish accent.  The phrase:  "Don't be so daft with your bold ways!"  Really it is quite good, and it's catchy... so naturally we have been saying it ever since.
Ashleen, Melon, and I took CityLink bus to Dublin last Friday to visit Joe and some other friends of Ashleen's who go to Georgetown and are studying in Dublin for the semester.  We stayed with Joe at his on-campus apartment at Trinity College.  He got us an air mattress, pillows, and blankets so we were all set for the weekend!  It was awesome!

(Entrance to Trinity College)

That night we went over to Kevin's apartment where a bunch of people were visiting.  Friends from Edinburgh and Spain were there in his apartment for the weekend.  We ate dinner with them and then went out to O'Donoghue's which is a famous pub in Dublin.  It was such a fun night and everyone had a great time hanging out together.  The only bad decision of the night:  eating steak-flavored chips and cheese and onion chips before bed.  Word to the wise... never, EVER do this.  Steak/cheese/onion breath is not something you want to wake up to.

(Part of the group from O'Donoghue's)

By the time we got our act together and walked down to Grafton Street, the breakfast place we wanted to go to had stopped serving breakfast... so we did what any normal person would do... we went to Eddie Rocket's (yes... it is essentially Johnny Rocket's).  After a much needed breakfast Joe took us over to St. Stephen's Green.  We hung out in the park for awhile and people watched.  I also almost fell into the pond... but I guess that's not surprising.

(Grafton Street) 

(This guy sculpts different animals out of sand each day) 

(Entrance to St. Stephen's Green) 

(Melon, Ashleen, and Joe) 

(Pond that I almost fell in) 

(Awesome swan)

That day, we also went and saw the Garden of Remembrance as well as The Hugh Street Museum.  It was really interesting to go see these places because we won't be going back to them when we visit Dublin again with Mary and the rest of our group.

(Garden of Remembrance) 

(Outside Hard Rock Dublin) 

(Trinity College) 

(Temple Bar)

I couldn't skip Carroll's while I was in Dublin!!!  Carroll's is essentially the biggest Irish gift store ever.  Their shops are allllll over Dublin and I went into three of them!  I got Irish flag boxers, a t-shirt that says "Ireland:  Where the craic is mighty!," and a giant Irish flag.  All purchases that I feel were completely necessary and will definitely come in handy (once back in the States of course).
That night was the eve of Kevin's 21st birthday, so after the four of us had dinner at O'Neil's (and I snagged myself a souvenir Guinness glass) we headed over to Kevin's apartment again to begin the celebrations.  This time we brought with us a posse of Holy Cross girls as well as Joe's Irish friend Craig.  After the clock struck midnight we decided to head over to the Porterhouse for some celebrating.  The Porterhouse is an amazing bar!  Probably my favorite one so far.  It has three floors and they only sell their own craft beers (along with other types of alcohol... just no other beers).  Don't try the Porterhouse Red... it's not their best.

(Melon, Joe, and me at Kevin's birthday)

On Sunday, Joe took us to The Pepper Pot in the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre.  It was a cute little restaurant that had wonderful eggs and bacon!

(Inside the Powercourt Townhouse)

Afterwards, we wandered around the streets and found a market where I bought a few gifts for people as well as a drawing for myself.  I definitely need to find that market when I go back in November because I want to see what new clothing items one of the vendors has by then!
Our last stop while in Dublin was to see the Book of Kells; a must see if you are ever in the area.  The Book of Kells, for those who don't know, is the compilation of the gospels intricately written and decorated by the Celtic monks around 800 AD.  The Book is housed within the old library at Trinity College along with a few other ancient books as well as the oldest harp of Ireland.  Unfortunately, we could not take pictures, but I'll put a picture on here of the library so you can see how amazingly beautiful it is.  If Villanova had a library half as beautiful as this one, you would not be able to get me out of it.  It was absolutely breath-taking.

(How gorgeous is this?!)

I guess that concludes my trip to Dublin.  It was a wonderful weekend and I'm so glad I got to go before we have our trip there with Mary.  It allowed me to see some things that I know we won't get a chance to see while we are with her.

"May God grant you always...
A sunbeam to warm you,
A moonbeam to charm you,
A sheltering angel, so nothing can harm you."