Visiting The Emerald Isle
07:06
Top of the morning to you! Last week me and 9 of my friends took ourselves to Dublin for your typical post sixth form lads holiday. It was all perfectly organised by Amy - so props to her for arranging all our fun. Not to mention our beds too - of which I was at the bottom of a triple bunk bed! And yes, I feel asleep to the image of my bones being crushed by said triple bunk bed but alas, I survived to tell the tale of a sturdy giant bunk bed.
We all emerged from our homes at 4 am and gathered at the airport for our morning flight - I don't know how me managed it, in fact I even napped in McDonald's after we arrived in Dubs and again after we checked in and claimed our beds, which probably shows how I for one did not manage.
Our first adventure of the great big holiday was to Kilmainham Gaol (Jail), where we were given a tour around various types of cells with tales of inmates to go along with it. It was a very interesting tour with a grim history, which perhaps made it all the more interesting, as I tend to like that sort of stuff in an unusual way.
Moving on to day two, we went to The National Leprechaun Museum. Yep, you better believe it, Ireland has one of those. It was so much fun as our tour guide Alice was full of banter - along with tales and beliefs of the little men of course. It was very interesting to hear about the little mythical man and how the iconic Irish figure has developed over the years, and just how much the Irish treasure their culture. I'd truly recommend it to anybody going to Dublin, it's also very child friendly inside including a giant's room with giant armchairs you can climb up to sit on.
Then in the afternoon we hunted down Butlers Chocolate Factory for our very own chocolate experience. We were taught about their chocolate making history and process before being given the chance to paint chocolate elephants with white chocolate, which we then got to wrap up, take home and devour, and that to be honest was the highlight of the experience. Yum!
One of my favourite things about Dublin was how every pub was adorned with flowers and flags on bunting and poles, and interiors filled with warm lighting and mirrors labelled with an alcoholic name. Speaking of alcohol...
That afternoon we went to the Guinness Storehouse and I soaked up the experience as much as I could purely because I know my dad would have loved to go himself. It made the tour more interesting as I stopped to read some of the signs so I learnt a bit about brewing the beer, as well as how to pour the perfect pint and how to taste test, which didn't make my non existent liking for the beverage any better to be honest, oh well!
Although some figures were quite convincing, like the giant spider on the ceiling which made me cry as I huddled into Eve G and then Beth for protection. As well as that guy that made Emma cry (she - like me - had never been to a wax museum before so it creeped her out anyway) only because she was staring into his eyes and I came up behind her and went "boo", sorry again Emma it really was too irresistible.
That evening was probably my favourite activity as the bravest 6 of us took a Ghost Bus tour of the city. We expected to be scared out of sleep that night but it was so much more hilarious and jump scares than anything so 8/10 would recommend (only missing points as we really were dead set on being scared shitless but weren't). The tour consisted of being driven around the town in a dimly lit bus, with a plague infested man telling us ghost stories of Dublin, occasionally stepping out to stand outside the location of said ghost story to enhance the heebie jeebies. I even became part of one of the stories as I acted as a "shadowy figure" in the ghoulish tale, which consisted of me putting my hood up and standing by the gates of Kilmainham Jail - I'll accept my Oscar in the morning.
For the last evening we all went out to a pub next door to our hostel which had a gingerly bearded man in the corner with his guitar, smashing out all the bangers. Although me and Annie were totally pooped and left for bed while the others carry on to another Irish pub I loved the idealistic Irish atmosphere and look forward to perhaps soaking it all in again.
When day five came around (after a hella dramatic night - if you know, you know) we shopped until we dropped. Our flight home was in the evening so we had plenty of time for me to hit up Carrolls twice - I dropped and broke one of the gifts so had to return to one of the abundance of stores for a replacement, which was in fact done with a very friendly Irish man - they're so lovely and full of banter over there. I would definitely love to revisit Ireland again, before I was aggressively un-Irish but now I have somewhat fallen in love with the quirks of beautiful Dublin.
Do tell me some of your own Irish tales if you have visited or live there, or maybe even recommend some places for me to visit if I were to go again.
Cheerio loved ones - Beky x
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