Luck of the Irish (Harlie Hubers)

Two weekends ago, Gabby, Jenna, Brooke, and I hopped on a plane and flew to Dublin, Ireland. As soon as our Thursday class let out at 3:00 p.m., we ran to the York railway station to catch our 4:00 train to Leeds Airport. Upon arriving at the airport, we quickly went through airport security (where one of us was halted for forgetting to remove liquids from her bag) and made it to our gate in time. After landing safely, we took the bus into downtown Dublin and met a nice Irish woman on the way who gave us suggestions of some things to do in Ireland. We stayed at The Hotel Camden by Key Collection for the four nights that we were there. Upon entering our hotel room, we were greeted by complimentary cookies and tea laid out for us and a large window overlooking the city. All of us were pretty tired, so we lay in bed and watched some Netflix before going to bed so that we would be well rested for the next day.

On Friday morning, we woke up bright and early and planned our itinerary for the day. First, we headed to Gerry’s coffee shop to grab some brunch. Then we walked about a mile to get to the Guinness Museum. I loved walking around in Dublin, because there were always lots of shops, pubs, and scenery to explore. Our self-guided tour of the seven-story Guinness Museum walked us through the process of making beer and the story of how Guinness came to be. The tour ended on the top floor of the museum in a skybar that was surrounded with large windows overlooking the entire city of Dublin.

After the tour, we decided to explore Dublin a little bit more. After about a half hour of exploring, we came across the beautiful Christ Church Cathedral and took some great pictures of it. Our last stop of the day was to Café Topolis to grab some delicious pizza in a genuine Italian restaurant. Before we went to bed that night, I checked my watch and found that we had walked over nine miles that day.

On Saturday, we wanted to walk all the way to the Dublin pier. But halfway through our walk, we can to a dead end and could not cross the river to get to the pier. So, we ended up ditching that idea and went to a small café instead to get some lunch. After lunch, we wanted to check out this very large and weirdly-shaped building that we thought was a shopping mall. As we got closer to the weird building, we started to see a bunch of people dressed up in costumes, such as Captain America, Fairies, and Spiderman. We asked someone what was going on, and they said that the building was the Dublin Convention Centre and that the event was Comic Con. We also checked out Trinity College of Dublin and thought that the campus was beautiful. Afterwards, we were all very hungry, so we ate some yummy burritos at a place appropriately called “Burritos and Blues” before heading off to bed.

On Sunday, Jenna, Brooke, and I woke up at the crack of dawn so that we could walk a half an hour to meet our tour bus at seven in the morning. Unfortunately, Gabby had to leave us for Amsterdam that day. The rest of us took a bus tour to Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. The bus ride was about six hours round trip, and I read during most this time. Giant’s Causeway was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. It includes unique rock formations on the Celtic Sea with giant mountains behind them. After visiting Giant’s Causeway, we left for the Dark Hedges, another famous landmark. The bus tour was also going to take us to the Giant’s Causeway rope bridge, but because it was too windy, that was closed for the day. It was also interesting to learn that both Giant’s Causeway and the Dark Hedges were film locations for the popular television show, Game of Thrones. We ended the day by eating at a pub called The Landmark, before going back to the hotel to pack.

While in Ireland, I decided to do a little research on Dublin and the history behind it. I discovered that the name Dublin originates from the “Gaelic dubh linn or ‘black pool’ -where the Poddle strea met the River Liffey, to form a deep pool at the Dublin Castle.” I learned that the Vikings played a major role in the early history of Dublin; Vikings attacked churches in Dublin in 837 and made a permanent settlement there in 841 A.D. Dublin became the Vikings’ largest city in the tenth and eleventh centuries, trading from Iceland to Constantinople. The Vikings converted to Christianity, and around 1030 AD they founded the Christ Church Cathedral, which we saw on Friday.

Overall, Dublin was an amazing experience for me, and I loved being able to share it with three of my best friends. My favorite part of the trip was the tour to Giant’s Causeway and getting to take some really pretty photos. I highly recommend taking a visit to Dublin if you ever get the chance. It is well worth the trip and left me with many priceless memories.