Ireland

Day One

We got up early and did last minute things then left at about 11:15. We travelled up to Holyhead. We found that the online booking form had got out times wrong! We were booked to leave from Dublin, and get to Holyhead…Not what we wanted. The ferry place switched the times for today and Friday for us and we had a three hour wait. Things weren’t going to plan, but this just spelled out: Adventure!

As we waited for the ferry, I indulged myself with asking lots of half annoying questions, to satisfy my boredom and curiosity. We checked in at 16:30, and boarded the ferry, another chance to ask lots of questions! Then after a short wait, we were off! Skimming along the Irish sea! We walked around the deck, went around the outside deck, and around the duty-free shop, then found we had nowhere else to sit… After finding a new table, we enjoyed the magic show and I learnt some Objective-C.

We came off of the Ferry and onto a bus, this took us to the Dublin bus station. It was a short walk to our hostel. When we arrived we were shown to our room, a small, brightly coloured room with two bunk beds. We made ourselves at home, then went out for a walk. While walking around I took great pleasure in taking lots of pictures…We went in The Temple Bar, where I had my first Irish pint of Guinness, it didn’t taste hugely different…

We found dinner in Burger King, then headed for home. Once we got back to the hostel, we got ready for bed and laid our heads on pillows at about 23:30.

Day Two

An early start with breakfast at 9:30, we were out and on the bus for around 10:30, touring the sites of Dublin. I took lots of photos of bits and bobs. Then we arrived at the Guinness storehouse.

The Guinness factory is a marvellous place, €10 to get in for students. In days of yesteryear, you would receive a pebble, but today you get a little admission slip… We made our way around the storehouse, from bottom to top, seeing how they pick the ingredients, and how they mix them to make Guinness. There was some history on the founder and on the advertising too. At the top of the storehouse, is Gravity Bar, where you may trade in your slip for a free pint of Guinness!

Next we went to an Asian exhibition which was good.

After this we went to the Jameson distillery. We had a guided tour with a free shot of Jameson’s at the end. Faye and myself had previously been chosen as tasters, at the end of the tour, us and four others were sat in front of the rest of the group with several different whiskeys in front of us…Three Irish whiskeys, one Scotch, and one American bourbon. We tasted them all and selected our favourites, then we were given a certificate for our hard work :P

After this, we headed home for films and food.

Day Three

Today was culture day! We woke up early and walked around town finding cultural places that were free. We were disheartened that we had to pay for all the churches, but we found lots of other things to do.

We got home early with some chips and watched Die Hard I & II, after that we went out to the pub across the road from us, which was nice and had live music, but one of the barmen didn’t seem to like us. A trip back home and a couple of episodes of Black Books and we were all asleep.

Day Four

After a late start we went to meet Faye at St Steven’s Green, she had been to an art gallery. We wandered around the shops for a bit, where I found a lovely green, leather coat; I was very tempted, but at €30, I thought I might come back later… We carried on shopping, finding some gift shops where I bought a Guinness Toucan figure and some other stuff, then we made our way back to the hostel.

After an hour or so, me and Faye wandered out to have another look at the jacket. After finding it again, I decided I didn’t like it as much as I though I did. Saving myself €30, I bought a Starbucks coffee and enjoyed a quiet sit down. We wombled back to the hostel, popping in the odd shop here and there. When we got back in, we sat and watched Die Hard III, then went our for some drink.

We went to the first pub which looked like it was hosting OAPs night, it was good, €4.50 for a pint of Guinness, there was also a Birthday going on and we were offered cake! The second pub was better still, Guinness for €4.40! Faye’s pint was €3.70, which she was happy with as she had previous paid €5 for lager!

We got home and enjoyed a couple of episodes of Black Books before falling asleep…

Day Five

On the fifth day, we got up and cleaned up the room, had some breakfast and went to wait for the bus. An hour or so later, we were on the bus to the ferry port. At the ferry port we waited to check in then waited to board the ferry. A couple of hours on the ferry and we were back off to Aberystwyth. The adventure had ended!


 |