Exploring Dublin
This is the third week in Ireland, we had a school trip up to Dublin from Wednesday to Saturday. We left on Wednesday morning around 7 Am. At first, we went to Newgrange.
It was marvelous to see how ancient people managed to build this. It was huge when you look at it from the outside, but when you go in, it was just a long passage to only one chamber. It was shocking how it was well preserved and lasted for 5,000 years. The guide told us some the history behind Newgrange and showed us how the sunshine gets in to the chamber. The only thing bad thing was it was raining that day, so I didn’t really stay long to actually walk around, we all just walked in a circle and left.
After Newgrange, we headed to Trim Castle.
We had a tour guide who took us into the castle and taught us the history behind the trim castle. It was pretty cool that we were actually able to get into the castle and walked up to a different level to see a different part of the castle. It is hard for me to imagine how people stay warm in a stone castle. Most parts of the castle were still function-able. It is hard to know which part of those historical sites are actually authentic and which part is made afterward.
After the Trim castle, we checked in our hostel around 4 pm. Our class divided into 2 groups, and our group when to a pub afterward and got some food and drinks, then called it a night.
We decided to go to the Guinness warehouse for a beer tasting, I am really excited to go to this event because this is the biggest tourist attraction in Ireland. It was also definitely one of the top things on my to-do list while in Ireland. It was so huge inside, to a point that I literally don’t remember how many floors were inside the building. It was really wonderful that one of the things to do in Guinness warehouse was learning how to pour a perfect pint of Guinness. The “bartender” taught us how to pour a perfect glass of Guinness and gave us a certificate.
This is my certificate from Guinness warehouse.
We walked around the warehouse for like 2 hours-ish. We got to see how Guinness was made and what is used in making Guinness, and the famous commercials of Guinness over the years. The top-level inside the Guinness warehouse is the gravity bar. When you are up there, you could literally see the whole city. It looked so beautiful, and we were so lucky it was sunny that day.
After Guinness warehouse, Kylee, Nicole, Jordan and I went to the national botanical garden. With our OPW card, we did not need to pay for an admission ticket. There was a lot to see inside, and I am glad there were so many greenhouses in the garden because it was cold outside.
Whenever life plants you, bloom with grace.
Going through the garden, reminds me of this quote.
We did not stay in Botanical Garden for long, we walked over all the greenhouses and left afterward. It was so beautiful inside with all the flowers that were blooming. I could only imagine how pretty it will look alike during spring and summer. Afterward, we went to the Nature history museum. We just walked around really fast, didn’t even make our way through the whole thing, because we had to go to the national gallery museum to meet up with our professor at 4 pm. He took us to see some important paintings that he really wanted to show us.
Our literature teacher treated all of us a play at the gaiety theatre called The Lieutenant of Inishmore. The play was good, but the Irish accent was so thick, I could barely understand the story plot. The accent was just so distracting, and I was just like confused.
The show was from 7:30 to 9:00, I was so tired after the play. It was such a busy day.
The next day, we went t Dublin castle. It is also my favorite part of this trip.
We started the tour in the dungeon. It was quite interesting because it was a stilled “river” running down the castle. Those wall in the dungeon was the oldest site in the castle. Then, the tour guide took us to the Gothic church, it was soooo beautiful there. The well-decorated wall, well-craved statues, beautiful wooden furniture. and the breathtaking ceiling, everything in the church was so stunning. I am not a religious person, but I just admire how pretty it is and it speaks its history. Standing inside the church, your thoughts just took away.
After the church, we finally went to the castle. It was so big inside, but there was only few rooms that we are able to enter.
Next stop—-Leinster House. Leinster House is the seat of the Oireachtas, the parliament of Ireland. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to take pictures inside Leinster House. The hallway looked solemn inside with all the pictures of the primary minister of Ireland’s history.
We went pub crawl on Friday night. It was a fun event. Nicole, Ronald, Lex, Kylee and I was late to the first bar because we read the sign wrong and though it was at a different time. There were so many people doing pub crawl, while we were walking down the street trying to find the first bar to meet up with the event founder, there were more than 60 people passing by the street, and we though it was some kinda protest going on.
The next day, we went to Kilmainham Gaol. It was a quite different experience that I don’t know how to describe. The history of Kilmainham Gaol just weighs so heavily on my mind. The tour guide told us about what happened during the great famine, and all the people wanted to go to jail to at least have something to eat. He took us out and told us about the last four people that were killed by fire squat, and in the museum in Kilmainham Gaol, you could see the last letter that they wrote for their mother. Reading those letters was really depressing.
After kilmainham Gaol, we went to Clonmacnoise monastery. We did not stay for long, we watched a film about Clonmacnise about 20 mins and walked around for about 15 minutes.
After this trip, there are a few more things that I noticed that were different in Ireland. The pharmacy here sells more cosmetic than medicine, and you can’t get makeup remover in a convenient store, but you could in a pharmacy. The beacon here is more like ham. I love the bar there, they often time play some old music play 90’s and 80’s and love old music from that time period.
Flora in Europe 