The Last Hurrah for Crinkly - Euro tour (9/7-?) Day 3 Kilmainham Gaol tour and beers at Porterhouse (9/9)

Grab breakfast at the hostel then go to the doctors office to try and get an appointment and they have nothing in the next couple weeks which sucks so I go back to the hostel to lay down for a bit and relax until its time to walk back across town for my tour appointment at the Kilmainham Goal. Pretty cool building with a sordid past. 

This is the photo I think everyone gets to know from the prison.

Crinkly getting a taste of the jail life

Crinkly enjoying his new found freedom

Such a beautiful building, shame its horrid past

Love spiral staircases!!!!

Its getting dark in here

Church near the hostel

This is what I think of when I think of the housing in this part of the world

Found the good ole GPO

Wax museum in a bad ass building

At porterhouse so Crinkly could meet some cousins and I could enjoy some footy on tv

Dark beers for the win

Just me enjoying a good beer making Crinkly jealous. 

Also I learned that France helped the Irish rebel against the British as well; makes me want to look into French history and see just how many of the previous British colonies they helped free. Viva la Libertie! (Dont speak french so spelling most definitely is wrong hahah) This jail was also the motivation/inspiration of one of my favorite Irish songs, Grace (if you havent heard the song and you like beautiful songs, do yourself a favor and look it up just make sure you have some kleenex nearby - just thinking of the song as I type this gives me goosebumps). Walk back to the hostel to do some work while its raining a bit. After it dies down, I go for a walk around the north side of the river which has a lot more of what I think about when I think about UK architecture. Stop at Boodum to grab a bite of Irish Mexican food (IshMex as I will call it for right now) which isnt that bad; for how far they are from Mexico, I expected it to be so much worse. Then I was thirsty so I walked down to Porterhouse near the Trinity to try some stouts and porters before heading back to the place to shower and chill a little bit while planning the next fun filled day.  

The Last Hurrah for Crinkly - Euro tour (9/7-?) Day 2 Phoenix Park exploration (9/8)

 People at the reception told me not to put my key card near my phone so I put it in my wallet. My wallet has a magnet in it and these doors require that magnetic strip to unlock the door but either they didnt know this or didnt think to tell me as I woke up in the middle of the night to go pee and as I was trying to get back into my room with my key card, it doesnt work. 

One of the many beautiful bridges to cross the river running through Dublin

Not a bad view

Made it into the park and was greeted with some pretty flowers

Irish President's? house

Protected with a moat... pretty cool hahah

Unsure if I was supposed to be walking towards the house but they kept it mowed so I guess its ok

Entrance to the US Ambassadors residence in the park

Crinkly checking out the cross on the hill

View from the cross at the field below

Old fort in the park

Memorial in the park

This garden would be much prettier earlier in the season

Park entrance gate near the Kilmainham goal

Artistic sculptures were scattered through out the garden behind the modern art museum

Found the Guinness factory but didnt go in. rather enjoyed the art outside :)

Flags hanging

I go down to the front desk and has a sign saying hell be right back. After more than 30 minutes the guy comes back and I finally get my key card reprogrammed so I can get back into the room to get back to sleep. Sleep in a bit since I lost an hour of my life trying to get my key card figured out and I was tired from the day of travel yesterday. Grab a small breakfast at the hostel before it closes down (was minimal but at least its something). Walk across town to eventually get to the Phoenix park and start walking all through it. Find the Irish Presidents residence, the US ambassadors residence and what not before heading south and getting out of the park. Check out the World War monument and park nearby and then try and get in the Kilmainham Goal museum however because of covid it is by reservation only (free but have to reserve a spot) and all the day's spots have been taken. So I reserve a spot for tomorrow and then start walking back to the main city area, passing by the Guinness brewery and tour area; there is a long line waiting to get in and it is way over priced so I didnt go in and check that out. Get back to hostel and chill for a little bit to rehydrate after the long day of walking around before heading out to get a doner from abrakebabra which is always tasty (I miss Doners :) ). After walking around a little, I wind up at Stags head for my daily dose of a few guinnesses before heading back to the place to shower and head to bed.

The Last Hurrah for Crinkly - Euro tour (9/7-?) Day 1 Arriving in Dublin (9/7)

 Go to the airport early to avoid traffic since my parents are taking me up after lunch. Get through all the security relatively quickly and get to the gate then use the airport wifi to do some research for the trip while I wait to board. Plane is relatively empty for what I was expecting but I guess a pandemic will do that. Watch wonder woman before taking a nap. Wake up when they are passing out food (I have a 6th sense for food :) ) and it is ok then I watch Kong v Godzilla and Honest thief which are both really enjoyable movies. 

Beautiful day to be seeing the town

Clearly they deal with a bunch of people getting hit by cars cause this is painted everywhere... saved me a few times hahaha 

People just lazing around... cool to see them enjoying the green space

Thought this spiral stairwell tower was pretty cool looking. 

Street art

People enjoying the day in a different park.

Im kinda a big deal...

Any Texas peeps recognize this?

More awesome street art

One of the many bridges through town

View looking into town... 

Popular names abound

When in rom... ehh Ireland. 

Get into Frankfurt and walk around the airport a little then get to the gate and there is a long line as they are checking documents for everyone at the gate. The airport has no AC or its off cause of covid so Im sweating a bit. Get on the plane, if you want snacks you have to pay for them (unsure if thats a covid thing or if thats just the way things are going for all airlines). Finally arrive in Ireland with a pretty full flight and get to immigration which takes 1.5 hours to get through as there were not many agents and one of them was occupied for no joke like 45 minutes with one dude. Unsure what was going on but yeah not being from the EU really hurt then as they got ushered to the front of the line. Finally get through, get my bag then get over to the bus which I took the express as when I looked it up that was the only option but once I was in town, found some city busses that were much cheaper and just as good (as is usually the case). Get into the city and find my way to the hostel and chill there until it is time to check in. After putting bags in the room and getting settled, walk around the temple bar area to many of the churches which all require money to enter unless you are going in for service (I am used to churches just being open so that was a little annoying). Enjoy the weather and walking around but was unable to get onto Trinity to see their library cause of covid (had to have a student/employee ID to get on campus). Eventually wind up at Hogan's for a Guinness cause I am in Ireland so why not :) . After that, head over to Umi to get a falafel wrap for dinner which I take back to the hostel to eat there. Feeling better with grub in my belly, I head up to shower and get ready for bed rather early but its been a long day of travel so definitely deserved haha