Visiting the Leprechauns

On fairly short notice, Oren had two days off in a row in early October. Me being me, I jumped straight on Ryanair with a "WHERE CAN WE GO?!" attitude. My sister and I had booked flights like this before in 2007 and had ended up in Milan, Italy. However, Oren and I found ourselves in Dublin, Ireland for a Sunday - Monday jaunt.

We did the typical Irish thing which was to go to the Guinness Factory to experience a part of history and obviously drink a bit of beer. Out of sheer luck, the prepaid ticket machines printed out two tickets each so we got two beers - one which we got to pour ourselves. Obviously it's a life skill to know how to properly pour a Guinness and we even got a certificate for it.

I regret not getting a horse and carriage ride back to our hotel. I always see them everywhere and want to go on one. That night we went on a nearly 2 hour ghost walk around Dublin. We thought for awhile that we would awkwardly be the only two on it but an American couple also joined us. It an off the beaten track sort of ghost walk and we went to parts of Dublin that were scary if only for the fact that there were drunken Irish in tracksuits stumbling around. I'd highly reccommend it. While London is Buckingham stronghold, Oren found Dublin to be on his side.

The next day, we wandered our way around the sights of Dublin. We managed to find both our namesakes in the Dublin castle chapel:


We went to Christchurch Cathedral to see how it compared to home - I've never been inside the one in the Square, and we weren't going to pay ridiculous euros to go inside this one either. Oren managed to steal a sneaky photo of the inside while I gaped at the price.

Due to too much Masterchef we decided to find a nice restaurant for one of the days in Dublin. Thanks to my awesome googling skills, I had come across a Michelin star restaurant in Dublin called Pig's Ear which was near Trinity College. The assumption is that Michelin = overpriced but we got a 3 course lunch for €19.95. As a starter I had Butter Potted Crab with Spiced Mayonnaise & Melba Crisps and Oren tried Fried Hen's Egg with Clonakilty Black Pudding on Toast with Lentil & Mustard Dressing. Both were very delcious. We decided to be prentious only after this course and take photos:

My main: Lemon & Thyme Roast Breast of Chicken with Roast Potato, Crushed Spiced Swede, Toasted Hazelnuts

Oren's main: Silverhill Duck Leg with Butter Beans, Smoked Bacon & Cabbage, Orange & Sweet Garlic

Oren's dessert: A berry fruit crumble thing - complete with pop rocks! Mine was a bitter chocolate tart.

Overall the lunch was amazing and a steal for the price, there was no service charge either!

On the ghost walk our guide had taken us to St Michan's church and we decided to round off the afternoon there. Basically it is a very old church with a Viking foundation and has vaults constructed of limestone which has preserved the bodies that are entombed there. There are three mummies you get to view know as the Nun, The Thief and The Crusader and they are rather creepy. Some kids on the tour with us dropped a chocolate bar wrapper into one of the coffins. The Sheares Brothers are also there.

Then unfortunately it was back to Dublin Airport, Gatwick, a train to Victoria station and a bus back to our flat. I'd love to return to Ireland and hire a car and drive around when we have the time.

Our only planned trip now is Japan in April for 9 days. We both really can't wait and we got a good direct flight deal with British Airways from Heathrow - only a 35 minute tube ride from our flat. Seems such a novelty. It's also a relief to know we will have some proper sushi soon enough as sushi in England is terrible.

Hoping with Christmas approaching and snow forecast, we'll have some festive photos of Christmas lights, trees and some of the markets around London.