Day 2 - June 12th

June 12th- Travel Day and Local Food

The five of us didn’t wake up until the plane arrived at Dublin at 10:47 AM local time, since it felt like almost 6 AM to us. When we got off the plane, we decided that we should probably get breakfast somewhere. Emily looked up places where we could eat in the airport and their menus, and she found this restaurant called Harvest Market, which happened to be nearby. We all ordered omelets, and they ended up tasting much better than what you would expect to find in an airport.

After eating, our group followed the signs to the exit, and passed through security. We knew from our research when we were planning the trip that there was a large public transportation network in Dublin, so we got on one of the city buses to the city center of Dublin. From there, it was a short walk to the place we were staying, the Spire Hostel.

Once we checked in, we went to the room where we were staying. The five of us shared a room, and there were eight beds, arranged in bunks. Each of us claimed a bunk to ourselves, except Hannah and Hanna, who shared one. After we got our beds set up, we went to explore the hostel.

The first room we went to was the game room. They had a few different consoles available, including an Xbox and a Playstation, with each having a few games to choose from. We next went to the common area. In it, there were a few couches surrounding a TV which someone had previously set to a sports channel. Two teams (we weren’t exactly sure which) were playing soccer (football, for all you non-Americans). We stopped to watch a little bit, but we didn’t stay very long since we weren’t big sports fans and we wanted to check out the rest of the hostel. The last room that we went to visit was the kitchen. They had pretty much everything you’d see in a personal kitchen and more. They had one of those waffle makers with the mix dispenser (which Emily almost drooled over), and lots of counter space where they could put the dishes that they had prepared for breakfast. On one of the counters was a few pastries that were probably left over from breakfast that morning, and Joseph grabbed one to eat. Now that we’d checked out where we’d be staying, we decided to go look around the street outside since we hadn’t planned anything for that afternoon.

We didn’t go to any particular place. Instead we just wandered the streets, looking at the sights. We passed numerous statues, including one of Sir John Gray, who, we learned, had helped introduce a source of fresh water to Dublin and its suburbs. We continued exploring the city until around 4, what felt like 11 to us, when we started getting hungry.

Near our hostel was a pub called The Confession Box. Looking at the Google reviews for the place, we thought it would be a nice place to go and eat lunch. We each had a bit to drink (their beer was delicious) and some food to eat. We finished around 5:30, and decided to keep walking around the city.

Our next destination was St. Stephen’s Green. It was a comfortable walking distance away from where we were, and we made it there in around 30 minutes since we walked slowly and went to go look at other nearby attractions.

The park, once we got there, was really beautiful. We saw duck-filled ponds, gardens filled with flowers, and we could see a few fish in the ponds. If you’re even in Dublin, St. Stephen’s Green is a great place to go.

We stayed at the park for a few hours, enjoying the peace of nature, until we slowly started to make our way back to the hostel. We relaxed there for a bit, until around 9, when we went out for dinner. We weren’t really that hungry, but we knew we needed to eat sometime, since we couldn’t just go around with no sleep.

Irish Meal

Close to the hostel, there was a restaurant called Flanagan’s Restaurant. It was a bit crowded, but not overly so, and we were seated in a reasonable amount of time. Since we wanted to try traditional Irish food, we all ordered the Irish Stew. The stew was an herb broth with lamb and vegetables. It was really good! The portions were a bit smaller than you’d usually find in an American restaurant, but it was nice that we didn’t have to take our leftovers back to the hostel. We strongly recommend that you get this if you’re ever in the area.

After dinner, we went back to the hostel to write this blog post, and we're currently having a bit of a hard time sleeping, since even though it's 12 AM here, it feels like only 7 PM to our jet lagged bodies. We hope that we aren't too tired tomorrow, and that everyone who is reading this has a nice day.

Bye!