Dublin Trip Through Pictures Part 1

I didn't realised the number of pictures taken until I uploaded them into my computer. There's just so many and half of them are still with ML.

When ML and I reached Dublin, we didn't realise that it was St. Patrick's Day. The streets were full of people dressed in green hats, green clothes, and there was a street parade going on on O'Connell.There were some interesting costumes as well:
As both of us were really hungry at that time, including the fact that we miss Malaysian food, we ended up at this restaurant:
Imagine coming all the way to Dublin just to eat Penang food! I ordered Nyonya chicken and ML ordered beef rendang. The food wasn't that' great but delicious enough to satisfy our craving for Malaysian food.

We were more occupied in our food and by the time we finishes, the parade was over as well. The streets were really packed with people but to me, the parade was not that interesting. The best parade which I've been to was the one in Paris Disneyland. That was superb.

It was weird seeing people just sitting on the road side eating. But that was a common sight:
While waiting for S, we went into the nearest gift shop to survey the souvenirs first. Tried on some of the funny looking hats:



Finally, S appeared! We haven't seen her for ages. Since college for ML and since the summer before coming to the UK for me. Miss her so much! She brought us to her home which was a really lovely house as we were quite tired. We did a lot of catching up that night. So many stories to tell, so many exciting gossips to listen to. S made spaghetti for us that night. Simple but delicious.

Next day, we started our tour around Dublin with St. Stephen's Green park.The park was really lovely now. It was so green over there but the weather was still cold. Dublin is much colder than Liverpool and Manchester (according to ML).

We walked towards O'Connell after. After being stuck with 1 shopaholic in Cheshire Oaks, here I'm stuck with 2 in Dublin...haih.Should we start with this shop first? No, that one's more attractive with the 70% sales sign.
Me: Anywhere also can lah. (but nobody took notice)

They made me try on a few clothes, which I did but didn't buy.ML did end up buying a cute little dress. Luckily, that was the one and only shop we shopped at.

We came across Molly Malone statue. There's a famous song which is also the Irish anthem associated with this person:

In Dublin's fair city,
where the girls are so pretty,
I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone,
As she wheeled her wheel-barrow,
Through streets broad and narrow,
Crying, "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh!"

And the song goes on. There's an urban legend that goes Molly Malone was a street hawker at day and a prostitute at night.

We visited Trinity college after:

The college was something like Cambridge, where it had a long history and beautiful campus. There's an exhibition on the Book of Kells, which was written in 800 AD and is one of the most beautiful manuscripts in the world. We didn't visit it cause we had to pay and were not very interested in it.

Next stop was for lunch in Temple Bar area. Someone said if there's no more than 2 bars on a street, it wasn't Dublin, which was quite true as bars were everywhere.

We didn't eat in the famous Temple Bar, but in the bar opposite it as they were doing a special offer. Too bored while waiting for our food:
I ordered Tagliatelle which was something like Kuey Tiow or Ho Fun but in a different type of sauce with spinach and tuna. Delicious!Followed by coffee:ML ordered Irish coffee and it was really strong. Even I couldn't drink more than a quarter of her glass.S had to leave us after lunch to rush to hospital for her teaching. So nice of her to still accompany us in the morning. We'll be meeting her for dinner.

For the afternoon, ML and I decided to visit the famous Guiness Storehouse as Guiness is produces in Dublin. On the way:

Saw this really old barber shop
There were so many bridges connecting the city which was separated by River Liffey.

Guiness storehouse was a really hot tourist attraction. It took us about 1.5 hours just to queue up and get our tickets. The queue even started outside the building before the shocking scene below appeared:
Finally, we reached the counter, bought our tickets, and off we went:

Unless you're a big fan of Guiness, I think you'll find this place boring. Basically, there were 7 storeys of this storehouse displaying the process of how Guiness was made, what ingredients were used, collection of advertisements, Guiness World Records, finally, a complimentary pint of Guiness.Artificial waterfall

How barley, hop, water and yeast were processed to make Guiness.Familiar? I remember seeing this advert when I was younger.They claimed that Guiness gave you strength. Maybe that was how the Guiness World Record came about. Top tower finally, where we got our pint of Guiness. Luckily the lady added blueberry juice into mine. I didn't like the bitter taste that much.

The taste of Guiness was more bitter than sweet at the same time. I saw a video teaching you how to taste it. First, you have to swirl it to break the bubbles on top so that you can smell the nice fragrant. I liked the smell. Then you have to take a big gulp and hold it in your mouth for a while to enjoy the sweet bitter taste. The sweet part was all right. But once I stopped drinking, only the bitter taste was left behind which I didn't like.

That was the most that I could drink that day. I officially don't like beer!It's that way to the Storehouse!

We met S after our Guiness tour. Ate at O'Neills which was a very famous bar.
I had Irish corn beef, which I was expecting it to be minced beef but it was sliced beef served with side dishes. I got 3 types of potatoe on my plate that night. Boiled, mashes, and fried. Loved the gravy. The corned beef wasn't that nice as it tasted like beef marinated with salt only and baked. S and ML ordered Irish stew which was really delicious.
The next day, ML and I went for a day tour to Wicklow which was at the country side, up into the mountains. The sceneries were breath taking. I don't have the pictures with me yet. So, I can only show the 2 pictures I have at the moment:
One unusual food which I came across at Dublin airport before flying back was this:

Fancy eating duck noodles the chopstick-free way?

Part 2 coming soon once I have the photos. Now to start worrying about my assignments and exam.