The Emerald Isle

It's been a bit of a hectic week, but I've finally found time to put up the Ireland portion of my spring break. Kari, Mitch, and I spent roughly two days in Ireland (half of Tuesday, all day Wednesday, half of Thursday). I had been there once before, but it was Kari and Mitch's first time. Luckily, they were interested in seeing a lot of the sites I missed out on last time I was in Ireland, so it was a great trip for all three of us.

We got to Ireland, and all Mitch wanted was a Dr. Pepper. Loser.

Kari and I at the Jameson Distillery

In front of the fake fire; Jameson Distillery

Cheese and meat platter at The Porterhouse in Dublin. The brown cheese is made with beer, and the pink cheese is made with wine. Yum!

Our first night in Dublin, we went to visit the Jameson Distillery where they make Jameson whisky. It happens to be my favorite whisky (sorry, Jack Daniels. I still love you, too), and I was really excited to see the distillery. After a really interesting tour in which we learned all about how whisky is made, I volunteered to be a part of a whisky tasting test. I tested Jack Daniels, Jameson, and Johnnie Walker. It was really fun, and I was able to actually appreciate the different tastes compared to one another. For the record, scotch is gross. As the taster next to me said, "It's like biting into a cigar. Yuck." After the distillery, we went into the Temple Bar district to visit The Porterhouse, an Irish pub that had been featured on a food network show that Kari loves. The food was incredible, and it was definitely worth the visit just for the food. More important, however, was the fact that The Porterhouse brews their own beers, and for 7 euro ($12), you can sample three of their beers. They have three different stouts, three lagers, and three ales. I tried one beer from each category, and they were all really good. After dinner, I crawled back to the hostel to get some sleep.

Flat Amanda at Malahide Castle in Malahide, Ireland

Kari and I near the ruins of a church; Malahide

Kari and Mitch looking adorable by the coast; Malahide

During our full day in Ireland, we took the DART (a kind of train) to the nearby town of Malahide to explore the castle and the coast. The castle was absolutely gorgeous. It was originally built in the 1200's, and there was at least one member of the original family living there consistently till the 1970's when they made the castle into a museum. It was a really well preserved place, and it was fascinating to see all of the furniture that the museum has collected to create an accurate historical portrayal of various rooms. After visiting the castle, we ate lunch at an Irish pub and then strolled along the sea. After our stroll, we headed back to Dublin to visit the Guinness Storehouse. Although it is no longer used as a brewery, the Guinness Storehouse lets you tour the original site of their brewery and learn all about the beer brewing process. You also get a free beer. Rock on.

On our way to the Guinness Storehouse; Dublin

It's hard to see, but there is a shamrock poured into the head of my beer; Guinness Storehouse

St. Patrick's Cathedral

"Bear ye one another's burdens"; St. Patrick's Cathedral

Stained glass depicting scenes from the life of St. Patrick; St. Patrick's Cathedral

On our last morning in Ireland, we headed to St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was an incredible structure. The "new" part of the cathedral was built in 1270, and the older parts date back another 100 years or more. It was built next to a well, which the builders believed to be the well St. Patrick used for baptisms. Having taken a class on St. Patrick at college, I was fascinated by the gravestones on display inside that are believed to trace back as far as St. Patrick. After ogling the incredible history, we headed back to the airport to catch our flight back to London. Next up, Spain!

This post brought to you by the letter "I"

And the "I" stands for I WENT TO ENGLAND AND GOT TO SEE MY BIG SISTER!!!!!! Yes, it was exciting enough to necessitate my extreme use of exclamation marks. As you might have noticed, I have been missing lately. I spent two weeks traveling Western Europe for spring break. I am now officially broke but happy to have seen what I saw. The first week I spent with my big sister and her husband. We were based in London but also popped over to Ireland for a few days as well. Week two found me in Spain enjoying flamenco dancers for my birthday and eating till I popped. Seriously, tapas are amazing. And serrano ham. And calamari. ...Anyways, that's for another post. This post is dedicated to my trip to England with my big sissy. Next up, I'll post our Ireland pictures. Then, I'll put up my trip to Spain. Spain will probably also come in two installments. Over the course of two weeks, I took nearly 600 photos. I'm trying to winnow them down, but I think I'm going to need four good posts to get all the best ones in. Without any further ado, I present ENGLAND:

Buckingham Palace

Our first day in England was spent mostly just wandering about and seeing as much as possible. Mitch, my brother-in-law, had never been outside the U.S. before, and big sissy and I were determined to inundate him with Europe before the week was over. On that first day, we tried to hit the biggest tourist sites that you just walk past and wave at: Big Ben, Westminster (we wanted to go in to Westminster, actually, but there was a line around the block and a hefty admission fee; we just took pictures...), Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square. I'm sure there are more, but I can't really remember them at the moment. In addition to the walk-by sites, we stopped in to see the National Portrait Gallery and the Tower of London. I had never been to the National Portrait Gallery, but it was well worth the stop. It houses some of the most famous paintings of England's monarchs and VIP's.

Anti-war protests; Trafalgar Square

Big sissy and her hubby; Tower of London

Me with a big gun; Tower of London

Flat Amanda trying to make the guard laugh; Tower of London

I have neglected to mention one other traveler who made their way through Europe with me. Flat Amanda has become my newest traveling companion. I've been taking photos with her across Western Europe, and I will add photos of her in Bulgaria as soon as I can. After reading the book Flat Stanley, the tale of a boy flattened by a falling bulletin board and then mailed around Europe to see the sites, my cousin, Amanda, asked me to take Flat Amanda along to see Europe. We became best buddies.

Beautiful view of the Thames; Tower Bridge

During our last day in England, we split up for the morning. Kari and Mitch went to Hampton Court Palace, and I went to the Globe, a reproduction of Shakespeare's outdoor theatre. I spent two and a half glorious hours wandering around and soaking up Shakespeare. In addition to a tour of the actual theatre, my ticket allowed me access to the Globe museum exhibition on Shakespeare. The exhibition houses a variety of displays that explain everything from costuming at the original Globe to how they built the replica. Interestingly, they chose not to use modern tools to build the Globe. They hired expert craftsmen to build the Globe using the hand tools that would have been used in Shakespeare's time. The Globe is held together by wooden pegs, not nails, and each post was hand cut and carved. Incredible!

Flat Amanda visits the Globe

I'M AT THE GLOBE!!!!!!

Big sissy and I with a piece of the Berlin Wall; Imperial War Museum

Our last stop in England was the Imperial War Museum, a favorite of both mine and big sissy's. Dad brought us here when we were munchkins, and we continue to make the pilgrimage. It is, after all, the best museum in the whole world. At least, in my opinion, it is.