"Let your happiness be contagious ...": "These are my people. This is where I come from"

I finally got the chance to go visit the land my family came from, Ireland. I left London on Thursday, July 30th and we didnt fly back until Sunday evening. I loved every second of my trip. Dublin is one of the most expensive cities in Europe (7 euros a beer = 12 us dollars ..ONE BEER), but we also got to see outside of Dublin ..just wait til you see PICTURES. I would move to Ireland in a heartbeat. Gorgeous country, good food, and such nice people. I had alot of things I wanted to accomplish in the short weekend we had in Ireland, so being the organized person I am I made an itinerary for Amanda, Kelly, and I ..needless to say we didn't go in the exact order the itinerary told us but we did get to successfully cross everything off our list when we got on the plane Sunday night.

-----> The itinerary I made for Dublin. hahaha. ridiculous, I know.

Our hotel, the Trinity Capital Hotel was located right next to Dublin's Trinity College. Which is the oldest college in Ireland and is the home of the Book of Kells. I got a Trinity College sweatshirt for myself. I can pretend :)

------> Trinity College

Obviously the first things to do on our list were the Guinness Storehouse tour and Jameson's Distillery.

------> Amanda, Kelly, and I in front of the Guinness gate :)

-------> Making a wish at the waterfall in Guinness

-------> The Guinness Storehouse is shaped like a pint glass

------> "A drink helps me relax" had to, hahaha :)

------> Getting our 1 free Guinness at the Gravity Bar (mine had a shamrock design in the foam!!!) <3

-----> The view from the Gravity Bar

After our Guinness tour the most obvious thing to do was go straight to the Jameson's Distillery :)

------> Jameson's!!

We decided that since we had just got done taking the tour of Guinness we didn't need to do another alcohol tour so we went to the bar instead. The bar was any whiskey drink you could think of ..and me trying to get the full irish experience ordered my FIRST irish coffee (brown sugar, shot of Jameson's, coffee, and cream). VERY DELICIOUS.

------> My FIRST irish coffee <3

After Guinness and our drink at Jameson's ..we went for a stroll down the famous O'Connell street. It is the major shopping street in Dublin, where all the locals shop. Then back to the hotel to get ready for the evening. On our way into our hotel we spotted a sign "Happy Hour 2 for 1 Drinks" ..can't turn down a deal like that (mostly in a city so expensive). So Amanda & I headed down to our hotel's bar for a cocktail.

-------> Amanda & I ..my cosmo, her "woo woo"

Then comes DINNER ..we were on a mission to eat some traditional irish food. And that evening I had my first shepherd's pie. YUMM!

------> DELICIOUS :)

We then headed to a pub. I continued to drink Guinness as that seemed to be the theme of my day and it was cheaper than any other beer at the pub. We met a group of Dubliners and one of the girls gave Kelly, Amanda, and I some good advice ..add black currant to your pint of Guinness. So we did. And it was delicious!

-------> Our Irish friends :)

For Saturday we had scheduled a day long tour (9am to 5:30pm) of the coast, the countryside, and the mountains. The tour was called "Wild Wicklow" and our bus driver's name was Kev. IT WAS THE BEST THING WE DID WHILE IN IRELAND. And on this tour is when I truly fell in love! The bus made 4 or 5 stops around Dublin and then we headed to out of town. The first thing we saw outside of town was the COAST!!

------> My glimpse of the coast from the bus!!

The coast city we were in is called Dun Laoghaire. And then Kevin (the bus driver) let us out!! :)

--------> Soooo pretty <3

--------> Amanda & I even found a house.. that blue one :)

--------> Enjoying the scenery!

Then we drove up some REALLY narrow, winding roads to the top of the mountains. And although it was so windy we were positive we would blow off the mountain ..the view and the pictures were GORGEOUS and well worth it.

-----> Way down there is the Guinness Estate

-------> On top of the world :)

------> Amanda, Kelly, and I ..see how windy it is!

------> Honestly ..just breathtaking <3

Once we got all of the pictures we wanted ..we ran back to the bus to get out of the wind and were greeted w/ bus driver kev ..

-----> Kev distributing shots of JAMESON'S hahaha :)

-----> Obviously couldn't say no ..us girls w/ our Jamesons

We then headed down the mountain and to a small town, where we got lunch. Lucky for us we got our second traditional irish meal ...Guinness & Beef stew, aka Irish Stew. If you've never had Irish stew before ..it has a scoop of mashed potatoes underneath the stew and its AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS.

-------> Irish stew.. potatoes underneath!!

We then headed to St. Kevin's monastery, which is one of the, if not thee oldest in Ireland.

------> The very FIRST Celtic Cross

-----> St. Kevin's Cathedral (or whats left of it)

------> I found some CAHILLS

------> Trying to be artsy!!

After our Wild Wicklow tour, we went back to Dublin and I was on a mission to find my dad a t-shirt. He asked for a shirt that you could NOT buy in the United States. Although that sounds like a simple task, it wasn't. Finally we made our way to the Temple Bar District and found that the biggest bar in the area ..ironically named Temple Bar had a massive souvenir shop. So I found my dad a t-shirt and took a picture with the shirt in front of the bar in the middle of Dublin.

-----> The t-shirt & the Bar :)