Hello Ireland!

​     I arrived in Dublin on July first, and was so thrilled to just be back in a city. To celebrate on the first night I got Thai takeout from around the corner and watched Netflix in bed. It was everything I needed.
     In the following days I soaked up the city. At the encouragement of my Mom I went to the Trinity College Library, because she thought I would love it. She, of course, was right. Tall ceilings, rich wooden shelves, ladders, stacks of books. It’s like a little slice of Harry Potter heaven. There was a visit to the Irish Whiskey Museum, which included a delicious tasting flight. I walked through the General Post Office where you can still see bullet marks on the facade from the 1916 Easter Rising. The exhibit on the Rising in the basement of the GPO was excellent and gave a lot of context leading up to and following the Rising. I spent one morning in the National Library of Ireland seeing if I could add to any of my genealogy research. In the evening I took a dance class, the first one since I had started traveling in January. It felt so good! My last night in Dublin I went out for a decadent meal at an Indonesian restaurant named Chameleon thanks to a send-off gift card from my client in DC, Scout Bags. It was so much food and all so delicious. The following day I had lunch at the Shelbourne, the hotel on St Stephen’s Green where the English established a strategic position to assault rebels during the Rising.
     Then it was time to head north. I spent a couple nights in the town of Dundalk, where some of my family had been from in the mid 1800s. It’s a nice sleepy little town right on the coast. My accommodation was a Bed and Breakfast, the only one I did on my trip, and I totally loved it. My room had a skylight and beautiful wallpaper. After lots of staying in hostels it felt wonderfully indulgent to have a room and bathroom all to myself. Last stop on this little leg was just over the boarder into Northern Ireland at the coastal town of Newcastle, where I spent a few nights and took walks in the countryside.

General Post Office

Chameleon Indonesian Restaurant

The Shelbourne

One of the best old fashions I've had.

The Irish know how to make the best seafood chowders.

Dundalk

My B&B

Newcastle