Dublin: Honeymoon 2014

After a day and a half in Boston, we finally left the US late Saturday night to kick off about 12 days of Honeymoon. We landed to the sunrise on Sunday morning in Dublin.

I managed to stay on the left hand side of the road while driving into the city. "Stay Left, Stay Left" is something we will have to keep repeating anytime we get to an intersection.

We dropped our bags off and walked over to a highly recommended brunch stop, The Queen of Tarts. A little hole in the wall type place where only about 15 people can eat at a time. The food was delicious, their OJ was real freshly pressed and the hot chocolate was decadent.

We are staying in an area called Temple Bar which is a bit like Faneuil Hall in Boston, with cobblestone streets and restaurants packed in tight. It is a short block away from the River Liffey which looked pretty calm in the morning.

We are also a short couple blocks away from Trinity College.  We wanted to see the Library and the Book of Kells but while taking our time to see the grounds and watching a soccer game, the line for tickets became too long. We decided to try coming back at a later time (which backfired as the line just got even bigger)

Just outside the college is Grafton Street shopping. We passed a handful of street performers along this walking only cobblestone alley and made our way to Stephens Green Shopping Center where I picked up wool gloves and scarf made by Irish retailers to keep out the windy chill.

We then walked over to Dublin Castle. The only remaining part of the original castle is the round Record Tower (built in 1228) which is now connected to the Chapel Royal. We were able to go inside to see the large stained glass windows and high ceilings.  

The Upper Yard of the castle is more modern, most of the buildings were built during the 1700's when the British were still in control and surrounding a big cobblestone square.  At this point our feet started to hate us, even with the extra Dr. Scholls.

So we went back to our hotel at about the time everyone in America was waking up. We are 5 hours ahead of the East Coast and 8 ahead of Los Angeles. So far the biggest stress has been waiting to hear which of our Fantasy Football players are playing in the games (had to wait until 4pm)

And just for the hell of it, see some more cobblestone!