May 7th: Day Two
For today, the group had a scheduled walking tour of Dublin planned. It was out first event and activity of the trip, so I was super excited to get into it. Our tour guide was very friendly, and was very knowledgable of the city and its history and dark past. He took us to some historical spots, where we learned more history about the city we will be staying for the next two weeks.
My favorite stop of the tour was St. Stephens Green Park. We learned the history of the wars that took place in and around the park, along with information about the statues in the vicinity as well. It was really interested to see bullet holes in the memorial arch at one of the entrances of the park. It is kind of surprising they kept them there, but it is also a daily reminder of Irelands harsh past.
After the tour, me and Kira briefly stopped back at the apartments to eat dinner, to later go back to St. Stephens Green Park with Maddie. Me and Maddie wanted to go take some photos of the scenery and animals we saw on the tour, where we spent a good amount of time in the same two spots taking some photos of the birds, especially the two swans that hang around the lake.
Later that night, me, Kira, Maddie, Sydney, and Ryan, went to a local pub down the street to try our first Guinness, which we were all not a fan of, definitely a one a done type thing! We hung out, watching a soccer game, and later went back to the apartments and parted ways to end the night.
