Day 1 Dublin, Ireland
DUBLIN~Day 1
On Sunday, April 21st, we had a lovely Easter hosting our 12 family members at our home for our annual Easter Brunch and Easter Egg Hunt. It was great fun. The following day, Jeff and I flew to Ireland!
Our 9 hour non-stop flight from Seattle to Dublin was smooth sailing. When we arrived, we were greeted by a beautiful, sunny morning in Ireland's capital city. Dublin had been voted twice by Trip Advisor as the friendliest city in Europe and throughout our stay here, we certainly found that to be true.
During our 4 days in Dublin, we stayed at the elegant Trinity Townhouse.
It is situated on a quiet street in the heart of Dublin. This Georgian-style gem is a 26 room bedroom boutique hotel
with lovely contemporary accommodation touches, not the least of which included heated bathroom tile floor and heated towel racks. We found this location to be ideal for it is nestled in a peaceful setting, moments away from Trinity College, Grafton Street, museums and the Temple Bar area.
Because we felt refreshed when we arrived in sunny Dublin, we decided to go exploring and acclimate ourselves with the area.
Flower stalls lined nearby streets.
As we walked by, the air was perfumed with the distinctive sweet springtime fragrances of hyacinths and stargazer lilies.
We wandered over to nearby Trinity College where we sussed out our meeting spot for tomorrow's prearranged guided tour with a history professor.
We walked by the famous Trinity Colege quad adjacent to the Book of Kells in the Trinity Old Library. Many were having picnics on the green and it appeared all were enjoying their day.
We walked the main streets and wandered in and out of the local shops which were filled with stunning sweaters and scarfs from the Aran Islands and loads of specialized Irish items. One shop, which sold brilliant Waterford crystal, that was glistening in the showroom window, also sold high-end original Irish artwork and even included a bookstore. The sales staff were friendly and downright hilarious. We cracked up when we spotted these two newly released books:
We also discovered my new favorite place to get the world's best chocolate...Butlers Chocolate Cafe! They'll give you a free truffle of your choice with your purchase!!! Is this a great country or what??!!
After a few hours of touristy wandering and even making our way through a few local alleyways, we stumbled upon a fantastic spot to eat a delicious dinner and drink a pint of draft Guinness. It's called Bailey's. Thanks to the friendly folks frequenting there, it was a great ending to our thoroughly enjoyable first day in Dublin.
CHEERS!
