Anniversary Trip to Republic of Ireland

Day 3 & 4

August 6, 2015
Day 1: Maynooth, Ireland
Jack and I have our 22nd wedding anniversary coming up in a couple weeks and he happen to have a four day weekend so for our last trip of the summer we decided to go to Ireland.  We went with our friends Elizabeth and Chris.  Our flight was a little later in the evening so Chris and Elizabeth came to pick us up and we drove the 2 hours to Munich.  The trip was short and we landed, rented a car and drove to Maynooth to stay at St. Patrick's College.  I have a couple pictures of the clouds from our plane.  Seriously, it looked like an ocean of white with the most beautiful colors in the sky!

Our first night was very interesting, the Maynooth Campus Accommodations misplaced our booking.  Luckily they found us rooms.  They were cute and clean but unfortunately the bathrooms and showers were the university ones and we had to share them with whomever else was staying in the rooms.  I didn't get pictures of the first room we stayed in since it was very late and we just wanted to get to sleep.

The front of St. Patrick's College

The back of St. Patrick's College

The campus

The campus

The campus

I just loved the ivy on the walls

Maynooth Castle

Maynooth Castle was kind of a bonus!  It was located directly at the end of main street Maynooth, right at the front of St. Patrick's College.  It is the impressive ruins of the Fitzgerald’s castle, built in the late 12^th and 13^th century by the Fitzgerald family.  The Fitzgeralds were extremely powerful in the area and were appointed Earls of Kildare by the King of England which was later upgraded to Duke of Leinster.

In the early 1500’s Maynooth became the most significant center of political power in the country due to the presence of the Fitzgeralds and also because of it’s location.  This Medieval castle is mainly untouched and left in its ruins but there is a visitor centre on the premises which offers free tours of the grounds while giving a history lesson of the castle and area.  We didn't take the tour.  

After a nights sleep we were re-charged at least and jumped on a bus for Dublin!  We chose to take a bus to Dublin so that we could all enjoy a couple beers rather than force someone to be a designated driver with a car driving on the opposite side of the road and on the opposite side of the car! :)  

We started at the Guinness Storehouse of course but saw some cool things on the way!

Anna Livia sculpture

Anna Livia is a bronze monument located in Croppies Memorial Park in Dublin,  Ireland. It was formerly located on O'Connell Street.  Designed by the sculptor Éamonn O'Doherty, the monument was commissioned by businessman Michael Smurfit, in memory of his father, for the Dublin Millennium celebrations in 1988.

The monument is a personification of the River Liffey (Abhainn na Life in Irish) which runs through the city.  Anna Livia Plurabelle is the name of a character in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake who also embodies the river.  In the monument's original location, the river was represented as a young woman sitting on a slope with water flowing past her.  Dubliners nicknamed it the Floozie in the Jacuzzi, a nickname that was encouraged by the sculptor.  The monument was removed from its site on O'Connell Street in 2001 to make room for the Spire of Dublin.

The Molly Malone statue, or Tart with a Cart, in Grafton Street was unveiled by then Lord Mayor of Dublin, Alderman Ben Briscoe during the 1988 Dublin Millennium celebrations, declaring 13 June as Molly Malone Day. The statue was presented to the city by Jury's Hotel Group to mark the Millennium.

Since 18 July 2014, it has been relocated to Suffolk Street, in front of the Tourist Information Office, in order to make way for Luas (new metro system) track-laying work to be completed at the old location. 

As we approach the Guinness Storehouse

I loved the face above the entrance

This just about makes my husband cry

Jack & me in front of the Guinness Gate

Chris & Elizabeth in front of the Guinness Gate

I think these signs were so big so even if you have had one too many, you can still make it inside!

I thought this was a pretty cool wall

Since Liz and Chris had done the tour on St. Patrick's Day, Jack and I went ahead while they got us a table in the restaurant.

A little sea of barley!

We both just wanted to jump into it!

Essential water!

This was a very cool way to display the key ingredients of Guinness

Germany is one of the areas they grow hops.  I see it everywhere around where we live!

The original lock box where they kept the recipe for Guinness...I am assuming!

They really made the old equipment into cool displays

Arthur Guinness...a personal hero of the Fortune Family

Mike putting in his information for his Guinness Pouring certificate

The Guinness's settling

Cheers!

Oh ya!  I loved the store!

When we had gotten our certificates, we went upstairs to the restaurant, ate something small and had a beer.  Then we headed to the Jameson Factory.

They had a very cool bagpipe band playing as we walked into the alley

Very cool!

Again, very cool equipment.  Looks like art!

Old wash still

Cheeky monkey by the Feints still

Old Jameson barrel

The Jameson factory was awesome...and delicious!  After this tour, we walked around a bit, stopped randomly and the boys had beer while Elizabeth and I went to the Sweater Shop for a couple scarves then went to find more food.

After finding some really beautiful wool scarves that I had first seen last winter on Liz, I finally have one of my own!  She of course found a truly unique and amazing blue one and a couple for her loved ones back home.  I got mine in red!

Chris and Elizabeth suggested a very cool place for lunch.  O'Neills Bar & Restaurant was very neat.  We fueled up and continued on to the Temple Bar.  Beer was pretty much the theme of the day!

O'Neills

I loved all the wood (pic from website)

They even had cool decorations (pic from website)

The food was alright but the atmosphere was great! (pic from website)

Temple Bar

Other half of Temple Bar

Yep!

Guinness!!!

Chris & Elizabeth at Temple Bar

Me & my guy at Temple Bar

Our handsome gentlemen in front of Temple Bar

It was starting to get late and we had a full day planned in Northern Ireland so we grabbed a taxi and went back to Maynooth.  Our second night was much better since they upgraded us to rooms with bathrooms attached.  :)

Our room the second night

It was a little overkill to have two beds for just two people but we were happy to have a clean room with a hot shower!  We turned in and rested up for Northern Ireland!