Happy 40th Birthday V!

Today is V's big day - the big 4-0! We went to the Tourist office and booked a day trip for the following day. From here we continued down O'Connell St, stopping along the way to check out shoe sales, heading to the other side of the Liffey River to Grafton Street.

The Spire:

Clery's one of the World's first department store - built in 1853:


The Luas train:

One of many double-decker buses:


Molly Bloom, selling her cockles and mussles "She's Ireland's national treasure chest."

PMW and I went to Trinity College and to the Old Library and hopes to see the Book of Kells, while the other girls continued onwards to Grafton street for a little shopping. Cameras were not allowed in the Old Library ... sorry no images, but it's very grand with its arch ceilings, wood-work, long corridor and its many tall skinny windows. We didn't get to see the Book of Kells because it wasn't available ... on tour or something. The Book of Kells was written around 800 AD and is an illuminated manuscript containing the four gospels.

Images of Trinity College:

PMW and I stopped at Bewley's for tea and a bite to eat. We each ordered a bagel and it was one of the largest bagels I have ever seen. We easily could have shared one.


Grafton Street:


The five of us meet up and head to The Duke for an afternoon pint and a bite to eat.

C and PMW went off to George St Arcade for shopping and to admire the James McAvoy look-a-like who worked at the cupcake place. PM went off shopping, while V and I went off on her secret mission. What was the secret mission? V decided before the trip to get a tattoo in honour of 40th birthday. The tattoo is on her wrist decorated with purple cherry blossoms. It's very pretty.

After the big tattoo event, we went out for supper. We had reservations at the Clarence Hotel, which is owned by Bono and The Edge from U2. The restaurant was understaffed and as a result, the service was slow, however, the food was delicious. I finally got the chance to have traditional Irish stew. The sauce was lighter than I expected but still yummy. After supper we decided to stop at one of the pubs in Temple Bar - Farrington's, for a drink and then go to Stevenson square to hang out with Irish locals. We spent the night drinking at Farrington's and hung out with some lovely Irish guys. They were quite charming. We also continued collecting 40 birthday kisses for V. It was a great evening!

Where are the Irish?

After a late night of drinking and having fun, we were off to a late start on our second day. While C and PMW were off wandering around, V, PM, and I spent the first part of the day looking into day trips outside of the city and looked for a nice restaurant for V's 40th birthday supper.

Today we did something very Irish, we went to the Guinness Storehouse to see how Guinness was made. On our way there, V, PM, and I took a little detour crossed the Ha'Penny Bridge to look at a couple of shops, then we back to the other side of the Liffey River.

We came upon Dvblinia and Christ Church Cathedral and stopped to take some pictures.
Dvblinia:

Christ Church Cathedral:

After we headed over to Guinness. We discovered one of the key ingredients of Guinness, the fifth ingredient is Arthur Guinness because without him there would be no Guinness beer. Your ticket includes a taste of Guinness at the tasting station and a pint of Guinness at the Gravity Bar, which provides a 360 view of the city.

After the Guinness Storehouse, V and PMW took off on a secret mission. PM, C, and I went back to the apartment, then PM and I went shopping on Parnell St and bought some goodies such as Butler's chocolates. We went back to the apartment and where PMW cooked a delicious supper. We are starting to wonder if there are any Irish folk in Dublin as we seem to be surrounded by foreigners wherever we go. Our taxi driver told us to go to Stevenson Square as that's where the Dubliners hang out.

Top of the Mornin' in Dublin

The last weeked of January 2009 will be spent in Dublin, Ireland to celebrate friendships, good-times, and V's 40th birthday.

There was a snowstorm the day of our flight to Ireland and all day at work, people would come up to me and ask if my flight was cancelled or what will I do, some even looked scared to approach me in fear of me biting their heads off. However, after delays, de-icing we were finally in the air to Newark, then to Dublin.

I must say, I liked Dublin as soon as we hopped in to a taxi that could fit all five of us. Ottawa needs more cabs like this. Our taxi ride provided us with sights of the city on our way to our apartment that we rented for the weekend. It has two bedrooms, a pull-out bed, kitchen, and two washrooms.

We spent our first day orienting ourselves in the city by walking down O'Connell Street and through Temple Bar.

We stopped at Oliver St John Gogarty's pub in Temple Bar for our first official drink of the weekend.

After V's curry dish and baguette (the grocery store around the corner has fabulous baguettes) for supper, we went out for a drink or two or .... First, we went to a pub called Madigan's or as C puts it, "the big pub of no fun!" because no one was there. We decided to head back to Temple Bar and ended up at The Auld Dubliner. As it turns out, Dublin's Temple Bar TradFest was on the same weekend and Irish music was played by musicians in pubs and on the streets.

Pictures from Temple Bar.