We caught a train from Newbridge up to the capital city, Dublin, our final stop in Ireland. Lauren’s cousins Pamela and Patrice were kind enough to offer for Rachel, Lauren and I to stay with them in their appartment for our first night. Through no accident our first night was New Years Eve so we all went off to a local pub. Irish pubs are just like I imagined warm, old fashioned, noisy, typically family run and most of the time had some live music playing in the corner.

Our hotel was in Temple Bar, a popular street promoted as the nightlife district. It was also a good central location to get to around the many sites of Dublin.

Temple Bar

We managed to pack in quite a bit of sightseeing around our short time in Dublin, though it was even interesting just exploring through the cobblestone streets. We walked through the grounds of Trinity College, saw the 300 year old library, shopping through Grafton St, Dublin castle, and the Cathedral.

Cobblestone streets

Trinity College grounds

Trinity Old Library (300 yrs old)

The highlights of Dublin for me at least would definitely have to be sitting in a warm pub of a night warming yourself up with an Irish stew and a pint of Guinness. And of course visiting the Guinness Storehouse for the tour. Learning about both the complex brewing process and the history of the company itself was surprisingly interesting and not to mention I also got the opportunity to pour my own pint!

Me pouring a pint of Guinness

We left Ireland on the 3rd January 2015 for a 7.5hr flight to New York.