Back from Dublin

Well, ok, I really got back the Friday before Easter and am just posting now.
Hubby and I decided we needed a break from routine so we did a Ryan Air search and found some really cheap flights to Dublin! I have always wanted to go to Dublin!!! So I bought the tickets online and then looked for a nice Best Western, my favorite hotel chain! LOL
We left on Tuesday April 11th. We left the kids at my aunts and she was so happy! She is my aunt and has no grandkids yet so mine are her grandkids for now. Fine with me!
We arrived in Dublin at about 7 p.m. We took a bus to O'Connell st in the city centre. The hotel is just off O'Connel.
That evening we ate in the hotel restaurant as it was already quite late. Not bad. Nothing to write home about.
The next day we started our tour of Dublin. Dublin is not too big so you can walk to the most important sites. We walked from the hotel to Trinity College. Very nice. A lovely campus with plenty of green! While there we went to see The Book of Kells.
We then went for lunch.. a girl needs a good lunch when travelling and I always get SO HUNGRY while travelling! Hubby finds this quite funny because at home I hardly eat at all but once I am on the road I eat every few hours... Sort of says something about my cooking! Ha ha! I know why I do it though... It's my love for food. I am so curious to taste local cusine that I will stop everywhere trying to get a morsel of local food.
After lunch we headed off to wander some more and see some sites... Then in the eveing we went to Temple Bar which is not a "bar" but an area of Dublin named after Lord Temple and has the most pubs in the world. Now, this is my kind of neighbourhood! They even have tours you can take. One is called the "Pub Crawl" Hubby would not let me go.. sigh....
We had dinner in a pub, duh...then went to another pub for a Guiness and an Irish coffee... so I did a partial "pub crawl". Then, being oh so tired and having feet oh so swollen, we went back to room 407 (non smoking.. damn) in our hotel.
The next day we took a tour of Wicklow with the Wild Wicklow Bus Tour! The trip took us to Glendalough where we visited a monestary dated to 600 AD. Kevin, our guide was oh so funny!The countryside was beautiful! And OH so many sheep! Never seen so many!!
We stopped for lunch in a pub (duh) in a town called Laragh. Irish stew. Oh, and a pint of Guiness.
We got back to Dublin around 6 p.m. Went to the hotel to freshen up and then.... yep, you
guessed it.... back to Temple Bar for dinner and drinks! We had dinner at The Oliver St. John Gogarty Restaurant (and bar). Lovely dinner..... Then we wanted a beer after dinner but since the next day was Easter Friday all the pubs were FULL. I think evyone was trying to fill up on beer as on Good Friday in Dublin all the pubs are closed.
The next day we went to Howth. A fishing village 30 mins north of Dublin. We went by train. The town is lovely. Lot's of fishing boats! And not those lil dinky things either but those big boats that stay out for a long time on the Irish Sea and probably the Atlantic. Had lunch in a ...... nope.... the pubs were closed remember???? No pubs on Good Friday! Had lunch in a cafe'. Fish and chips. Really nice!!
Then back to Dublin, pick up our bags from the hotel and off to the airport. I think all of Dublin was at the airport! I have never seen lines that long!
Finally, we checked in, passed the security point and low and behold: BEER. Yes, because airports are like that.... always full of surprises! So, we had one last Guiness and borded our plane...
And that's my story.
And I have never typed this much in my life.