Bon Voyage: Ireland

So, after 10 days with my parents, I think the easiest way for me to do this is doing a separate entry for each place we went, so here goes!

On Saturday, I flew to Ireland to meet my mom and two other ladies that went on the trip, and was SO happy to finally see her! We had a quick lunch and then a driver took us around Dublin to do some sightseeing from the car since it was freezing. We went to St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was beautiful, and then went to a castle, an alley where U2 recorded music, and many other Dublin sights! That night, we all headed to a wonderful dinner at 37 Dawson, it was SO GOOD!

The next day we did the typical Dublin experience and went to Guinness factory as well as the Jameson Distillery. The Guinness factory was absolutely amazing, but the drink was disgusting. I think I have only had one Guinness before the factory, and don't think I will ever drink it again! Mom had been there before during a previous Ireland trip, so she took pictures while I became a Guinness certified pourer at the Guinness Academy! Basically, they showed us how to pour the perfect glass of Guinness, and we got a certificate and everything! The Jameson Distillery was not as cool as the Guinness factory, but the product was SO much better. It took you through the process of how the Irish Whiskey was created, and at the end you got to sample a Jameson and Ginger (yum).

Sunday night, we headed to Merry Ploughboy's restaurant, which actually has a stage for traditional Irish entertainment! We had dinner, and then the Merry Poughboys came on stage and sang some Irish songs. They were so good, and I officially love Irish music!! During one song, I got called onto stage for not participating in the clapping, so they embarrassed me a little, and then gave me a free CD! One of the singers had actually just come back from Charleston, so he came over and talked to us some after their performance. After them, the Irish dancers came on stage to perform a few numbers. It made me super nostalgic thinking about my dancing days! Well, they said they were going to be doing audience interactions, and I got called on stage AGAIN! This time, I had to dance with a male Irish dancer, so although it was fun, I traded seats with mom after I got off stage and thankfully didn't get called on stage again! We got back to the hotel and mom and I stayed up until 3am talking and catching up, which made us exhausted for our flight the next day, but allowed for some good bonding time :)

The next day, we had breakfast and got ready to head to the airport to fly to Scotland! My dad and the husbands of all the ladies in Ireland were there playing golf, so we joined them for 3 days there! I think Ireland is my favorite place I've been thus far, it was so beautiful and has so many lively people! Their accents don't hurt anything either!

Stay tuned to my Scotland post :)