Ireland Day 1

Okay, I am finally feeling motivated to upload some photos from my trip to Ireland & Scotland with my sisters in June - only took almost 2 months.  Oopsy Poopsy.  I took close to 1500 photos on my DSLR alone and about 600 with the trusty iPhone so needless to say I have been pretty overwhelmed.  But about a week ago I decided to just tackle about 10, at least, photos a day and have been making considerable progress.  I have also decided to share my trip with you per day rather than the entire thing.  That would be one long post and quite honestly I would never read a post that long.

So, without further adieu....

My sisters, Cameron and Melissa, and I met in Philly from our different cities and took the red-eye over to Dublin.  I am not a huge fan of flying - but have gotten so much better - so I did not sleep but maybe an hour.  I'm pretty sure a lot had to do with the excitement of my first trip across the big pond.  

Excited for our Brantley adventure. 

Early morning view as we descend into Dublin

Our reason for heading to Ireland & Scotland was to visit Melissa's (left) two best friends from college, K and Barry (and Barry's fiance).  Since there was not a direct flight from Philly to Glasgow (where they live) we chose to spend a long weekend in Dublin where we met up with K and her Belgian boyfriend, Bert.  

We landed in Dublin early Thursday June 7th exhausted and hungry.  We got through customs (WHERE I GOT MY FIRST PASSPORT STAMP!!!!), met up with K and Bert then headed outside to catch a bus to get to our hostel.  

And of course it was raining and COLD.  The picture does not do it justice but coming from sun and temperatures in the 90s to rainy and the 50s was a bit shocking.  I know, i know.  HTFU.  

Right off the bat we learned how friendly the Irish are.  We sat across from a sweet couple on the bus (after waiting what felt like FOREVER to get on the bus) who told us of different sights we should see.  They asked us where we are from.  Melissa said, "America."  The man chuckled and I said, "I know from America but what part?"  Haha that gave us all a good laugh.  

We got off the bus and immediately started looking for our apartment/hostel we would be staying in the for the weekend hoping to get rid of our luggage.  Not knowing where you are in a strange city is not fun but not knowing where you are in a strange when it is rainy and cold is just horrible.  So I just took pictures of everyone else trying to figure out where to go:)

"So I was in my map." Anyone get that reference? 

And WE FOUND IT.  If you are ever in Dublin and need a place to stay for a relatively cheap price, Dublin 1 Apartments is great.  Our apartment was just around the corner from here.  Within walking distance of anywhere you would want to see in the city and very close to Temple Bar where all the happening bars are.  

Since we were not able to check into our apartment/hostel until 3 (this was at like 10am) we decided to walk around the city for a place to grab some breakfast/early lunch.  This was the first place that was actually opened (I didn't realize bars ever closed in Ireland hehe).  We all ordered a beer - afterall we were on vacation - and stuffed our faces with delicious food.  

Glaway Hooker is a type of sailboat used by fishermen.  Get your mind out of the gutter.  

Drenched but happy with our breakfast beers:)

With our bellies full and sugar rush from the beer we headed back out into the rain to head to the Guinness Factory.

Dublin love

Dublin reflection

I love the different colors!

I also love cobble streets.

Guinness reflection.

We thought we were close since we saw the Guinness truck.  But then we remembered we were in Dublin and Guinness is everywhere (duh!).

We thought Guinness was closer than it actually was so we decided to head to another pub to get dry while we figured out how much longer we actually had, a bathroom break and more beer.  It is amazing how much energy just one beer can give you.  

Dublin sisters with delicious hard lemonade.  

Dublin cheers!

Because it was raining pretty much the entire day I was not able to break out the DSLR until it stopped and we were safely under shelter.  But WE FOUND GUINNESS!  I am not sure if it was because we were all pretty tired or what but none of us found the Guinness tour to be worth 15 Euros it was.  The only cool part was the "free" Guinness at the Gravity Bar at the top of factory with a view of the entire city from every direction you looked.  Unfortunately, it was - and I like I have been saying - it was a pretty dreary day so the view was not as nice as I would have liked.  But hey, I'll take what I can get.  After all, I was in Dublin drinking a Guinness in the Guinness Factory.  Doesn't get any cooler than that (even if the Guinness was 15 euros).

Crowded Gravity Bar. 

Isn't this old guy the cutest?  I'm not sure what it is about old people who appear to be alone but I just want to go up and give them a hug.

Cameron and Melissa's new friends.  Apparently these guys go every Thursday dressed up as Monkeys.  Who knows.  

After the tour we unanimously decided to pick our stuff up and finally settle into our home for the next 2 days.  After a long day of walking around in the wet and cold I was happy to be in dry clothes in a warm place.  We ordered pizza (which had corn on it!) and had a few beers until we decided to finally head to bed.  Unfortunately, for the jet-lagged three Brantleys and due to the loud drunken foreigner screaming outside our window we got up just three hours later wide awake.  We stayed up for about an hour, crawled back into bed and did not wake up until the 11am the next day.

Jet-lagged Brantleys 

Stay tuned...