Edinburgh Day I

Mike and I took probably the tiniest plane I've ever seen from Dublin to Edinburgh. It was pretty cool though, we got to get on the plane from the tarmac, which I've never gotten to do before. 

Look at all that leg room!

  

The view of the clouds

Then we checked in to our hostel: the High Street Hostel, which was in an amazing location--just a 1/4 of a block off the Royal Mile. 

The lobby

Our room which we shared with 16 others.

Me and Mike's bunk bed. Can you guess which bed belonged to who?

For dinner we decided to go to the Royal Mile Tavern, which is a great pub that gives discounts to backpackers.

We decided to be really brave and try the traditional Haggis Balls. I still don't really want to know what was in them (I believe it's a combination of sheep stomach and some other things), but they were actually delicious, I could have eaten a whole plate of them!

 After that we called it a night in anticipation of our first full day in Edinburgh!

Dublin Day III

Our last day in Dublin was actually Valentine's Day, so to do something romantic, we went to Kilmainham Gaol, the ancient Irish prison famous for it spolitical executions! 

This room is actually quite famous. It's been used in many movie scenes. Also, the room has amazing acoustics so wardens could hear if prisoners were scheming, even if they were whispering, so many famous bands have recorded there 

Towards the end of our tour, the guide told us about some famous people who had come to visit, casually mentioning that Martin Sheen had come to visit just the day before! And then I think I died a little bit inside. I wanted to cry, I can't believe we'd missed him! 

After the prison we went to Phoenix Park, a giant park on the edge of city with a zoo and botanical gardens, among other things. While there, Mike and I had a photo-shoot with the Wellington Monument. 

Having a little trouble...

There you go.

To add to the romance, we went for a tour of the Guinness Storehouse.

At the end of the tour, they gave those of legal drinking age free pints of Guiness! 

Some people just can't hold their liquor

My favorite part of the tour though, was the enclosed rooftop bar that you go to to get the free pint. It had wonderful, panoramic views of Dublin.

To be totally honest, my favorite part of the day was the walk over to the storehouse: Mike and I bought a sleeve of cookies and systematically ate the whole packet. It was amazing. 

All in all, Dublin was absolutely lovely, and we hated to go. Above all, I loved roaming the streets and taking it all in. And, I don't think Mike and I did a bad job of navigating through the city on our own. 

See? Look at what a good job we're doing at reading the map! 

Goodbye to Dublin, and hello to Edinburgh!

Dublin Day II

On our second day, we started out at Dublinia, an interactive museum about Dublin's history. Mostly, it was about Vikings. 

 There was tower at the end of the exhibit that you could climb to the top of and get an amazing view of the city. I was so proud of myself that I made it to the top. 

Dublinia is attached to Christ's Church Cathedral, so we went there next. The building was absolutely gorgeous, and it even had a really cool underground crypt. 

Then we headed over to Dublin Castle, which is pretty much a city hall more than a castle. But the interiors were very lavish and pretty, and our tour was very informative. 

This statue of Justice was made  as a satyr, making a comment of the government.  She is not blindfolded, and smiles at her sword. She also has her back to the street and faces the palace instead. Our tour guide told us the quote that the artist had to accompany the statue, "The Lady of Justice, mark well her station. Her face to the Palace, her arse to the nation." 

This ancient abbey is adjacent to the palace, back from the medieval age. 

 After the tour we stopped for some lunch at a place that reminded me of the Pink Rose called Queen of Tarts. It was very girly, so Mike was a good sport. 

But he couldn't complain at having their delicious tea and award winning scones. 

 After lunch we went to Saint Patrick's Cathedral--another stunner. Apparently, St. Patrick himself used to baptize converts right there in the garden. 

Then we decided to walk along O'Connell Street, probably the busiest, main thoroughfare in Dublin.

We stopped along the way at a very touristy shop called Carroll's and had a bit of fun

This is just the post office, no big

There are some gorgeous bridges that cross the river Liffey, the view at night with the city all lit up was very pretty

 For dinner we went to The Brazen Head. The oldest pub in Dublin---established in 1198!

The food was absolutely delicious, I had a seafood chowder with Irish soda bread, yum!

And so concludes day two.