My TRUE first day in Dublin started out quite peacefully. I slept in until 10:00 which helped me feel well rested from the long day of travel previously. My roommate, E, and I decided to go to Lidl, which we had been told before was an Irish equivalent to Aldi. Max also decided to come with us, so the trio of us went there, and took in all the Irish groceries. So many products were different looking than American ones. One thing I purchased was a little Cheese Roll that had pineapple and almonds. It was delicious! We then went to get something to eat before we went on our Dublin tour. We ran into Ash and Paula, so our group increased. E, Max, Ash, Paula, and I all ventured into the city, looking for cafes and other cool things to see. We went to a café called the Rolling Donut, which we all got various donuts from. I got a Blueberry Crumble donut, which was delicious.
Then, all of us being nerds, went into a collectible and record store that we passed on the way to the study center. We just couldn’t resist! It was a very cool place called Elevation, and the store owner was very nice. Then, onto the main event of the day – our Dublin walking tour. We walked around led by our guide, Dara (not sure that’s how it is spelled, but that’s how it’s pronounced LOL). He was very knowledgeable and quite clearly passionate about the things he talked about. He gave us a detailed rundown on Irish history. A big portion of what he covered was the fight for Irish independence from British rule. And at various points along the tour, we would stop and look at monuments that were related to what he was talking about. One of the coolest monuments we looked at was Wolf Tone – who he described as basically the first person to bring up Irish independence. We went through other important areas that had seen conflict. As a part of this tour, we saw St. Stephen’s green again, which was involved in the Easter Rising – a conflict between the Irish and British that started on Easter. Next, we got to see Dublin Castle. Despite several sources telling us that it wasn’t much of a castle, I still wanted to see it. So, I was glad that we got to walk around it on this tour. While it doesn’t look like much of a castle, it was still a cool building to see. And I made sure to take pictures of the castle looking parts. 🙂
We would also go to see Christchurch, which is a very cool and old church in Dublin. While Dara talked more about the troubles, we stood on a grassy patch next to the church. I thought to myself while standing there that it was very peaceful. I may go back and lay in the grass!
One last thing that surprised me is that Dara told us that there are many talks in Ireland about reconsidering the partition between The Republic and Northern Ireland. The majority of Irish Parliament are Republicans, and the Unionists aren’t happy being a part of Brexit. So, who knows, maybe something with the partition will change? To end the day, a big group of us went back to Grafton Street, which we saw earlier on the tour. We looked at shops, but most were closing. So, we all settled down at a Pub called O’Donahughe’s and most of us had our first Guinnesses in Ireland. The night ended with a good meal, great drinks, and fascinating stories. You had to be there LOL
