As we had been out and about, bouncing from pub to pub until about 3am, it was a bit difficult to roust me from slumber (Cue theme of the week – Garrett was a trooper!).  When I finally joined the land of the living, we ambled out and through the quiet streets of Dublin.

One of the great things about Ireland is that everyone is incredibly health conscious – gluten free was a huge thing (woohoo!), and finding fresh juice was never an issue.  We stumbled across little markets with fine foods and beautiful clothes as we made our way to a cute little restaurant Garrett’d heard about for breakfast.

 

As there was no real agenda for our second day, we spent it leisurely strolling along the river.  There were a lot of little things we came across along the way: sculptures, graffiti, great photo shots, Oktoberfest, monuments, etc. All in all, a wonderful, relaxing day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

After our pleasant ramble, we decided to hit up the National Leprechaun Museum (ok, I decided to hit it up, and dragged the hapless G along. He was such a good sport.).  Yes, Ireland has a Leprechaun Museum. DUH! It was a kind of kitschy time, but fun nevertheless.

  

  

 

 

 

After our adventure as Leprechauns, we headed back across the river to The Brazen Head – Ireland’s oldest pub, originally founded in 1198! We each got a pint and tucked into some absolutely mouth-smacking worthy dinner. My Beef and Guiness Stew was the only meal I wasn’t able to finish the whole trip because there was SO. MUCH. OF. IT! And oh, how I want a bowl of it right now.

 

 

After dinner at The Brazen Head, we grabbed our bags from the hotel and headed to the train station, where we caught the 9pm down to Cork.  There had been a huge Irish Football match between Kilkenny and Kerry that afternoon (their equivalent of a Super Bowl – my flight from NYC had been packed w/ Irish guys heading back just for the match!), and the train was packed.  We ended up sitting next to a Kerry girl (very happy since Kerry won over Kilkenny), and two funny guys – one of whom kept trying to hook up his friend with me and the other girl. Between the five of us, the conversation made the trip seem like no time at all, and one of the guys we’d met gave me inspiration for a new set of characters and story.

Day Two = Another Success.