I went to Dublin, Ireland (a city that was settled by Vikings) for the second time this weekend, but this time with AIFS instead of my camp friends. The trip to Dublin, as I should know by my many trips to the airport, takes about 2ish hours, but a bus full of friends makes for a good time. As soon as we got to Dublin, my friend, Savannah, and I went straight to Murphy's ice cream shop. My first time having this ice cream was in Dingle, and it is still the best ice cream that I've had since being abroad. We also had amazing pizza from a little Italian place that I don't remember the name of. On Saturday the day started off with a walking tour! I got to see the Dublin Castle, Molly Malone's statue, Christ Church Cathedral, and the City Hall. My favorite part about the city of Dublin was how all of the doors were very colorful.
The tour guide dropped us off at Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells is a famous illuminated religious manuscript that dates back to 800AD. It was pretty cool seeing all of the paintings and books that were handwritten, but my favorite part was seeing the Old Library because I am a book nerd. I also really enjoyed seeing the Trinity College campus. I love books and looking at old books, but I REALLY love Christmas. Guess what, it was christmastime in the city! Everywhere was decorated for christmas: the streets, shops, and buildings.
Again, for the second time I went to the Guinness Storehouse. It was nice being able to see and read things that I had missed the first time around. For instance, there was a tasting where everyone learned how to 'properly' drink Guinness, but I think it still tastes horrible. I loved looking at all of the old advertisements for the company where their slogan was: 'My Goodness, My Guinness!" because they were all very old fashioned.
After all of the touristy things were over, Savannah and I just did normal American things. We went shopping in Dublin, ate more ice cream (no judgement zone please), and went to the movie theater to watch 'A Bad Moms Christmas' (a very funny movie). The next day we went to a diner for breakfast and had pancakes and bacon! Not real American bacon, but the weird European bacon that looks and tastes like ham. I am very excited to travel to Madrid, Spain for my next trip to visit my cousin, Grace!