It's been loads of craic!

I have survived my first weekend in Ireland! Hooray! Trust me it's something worth celebrating considering I had a fever the first night I was here and my tonsils have been swollen from the time I got off the plane until today (they still hurt but are much better) not to mention trying to adjust to the time change, all I want to do is sleep!

Enough with the complaining though because I am in b-e-a-U-tiful Ireland!  For only being here 3 full days I feel like I have accomplished a lot. The first night we went to The Irish House Pub and had 3 course meal - I ordered the coddle (soup type thing that was so good), stuffed  chicken with carrots and potatoes, and to top it off I got the coffee ice cream. The only thing better than dinner was the traditional live Irish music and dance that we watched at the pub too.  It was a 4 member band and they were all incredibly talented and funny.  I didn't know if I was going to love the show since I was exhausted from flying but it was so worth it.  I was able to record some of the music and dancing, unfortunately there are 2 random heads in the way but such is life. Check the video out I'm going to post on Facebook (it won't load on here - bad WiFi) though, I think it's pretty cool!

 

The first full day in Dublin was Saturday and we started it bright and early with a walking tour.  Our tour guide was really nice but spoke relatively quite, considering we were trying to hear him over the traffic, but just seeing the sites was exciting.  It was the groups first time going out and having someone tell us what we were really looking at instead of just aimlessly walking around saying things were pretty or cool at random. Following the walking tour we had hardly any down time before we had to meet up again and make our way to the Leprechaun Museum...Yes, that's right a Leprechaun Museum.  At first I definitely felt like it was the number one cheesy and touristy thing to do but even if it was it turned out to be pretty awesome.  They had a 'giant room' with furniture that we could climb on and feel what it's like to be a leprechaun. In addition we actually got a lot of information about Irish Folklore which is really interesting.  The Irish take their folk tales seriously though; "don't mess with the fairies" is some very important wisdom given by the Irish and to protect yourself make sure you have a horseshoe in your house... fairies don't like the iron! You can thank me later.

Sunday consisted of the Guinness Brew House and the National Wax Museum; not too shabby if I do say so myself. The Guinness Brewery was really awesome! You take a tour that wraps around the worlds biggest pint class (I would have taken a picture but it's very abstract so it wouldn't have looked like anything).  The tour spans 5 stories of the brewery and covers everything from how to make the beer to learning the history about where Guinness came from to where they plan on going.



If you look really close you can see a face in the "U".
To get to the museum/tour you actually walk to the back of the building, I think this was just for looks or an old door.

 

After you make it through the part of the tour that covers how Guinness is made you get your free tester! Mmmmm

  

It's a pint of Guinness handcrafted with important symbols to
Guinness, like the horses on the top of the pint on the left.  I
t's supposed to represent the past and future of the brewery.

                                                                                          Even the Queen likes Guinness!



 

 

 One of the last things you do at the brewery is exchange your ticket to either get a free Guinness at the Gravity Bar or go to the Guinness Academy and learn how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness. Basically, I am now an expert at pouring a perfect pint and I have the certificate to show it. Don't worry I'll share a few of my secrets when I return home!

 

 

 

 

After Guinness we went to the National Wax Museum.  It was really close to Trinity College, which is where we were staying.  I'm thinking a few photos will do all the explaining that is necessary.

Madonna and are besties, nbd!

David Bowie lookin' fly.

This guy moves unexpectedly and it's creepy, trust me.

 

 

 

Our grand adventure to the Wax Museum ended the weekends festivities and left all of us with plenty of homework to finish up before we left for Cork.  I'll write more about what we saw today later! It's been grand!