Keeping Up with Kimmy: Ireland

Cross it off the bucket list. I can finally say I've been to Ireland! I spent my 3 day weekend visiting my cousin, Natalie, with a few of my friends. We arrived in Cork early Friday morning and met Natalie at the bus station. We walked back to her apartment to drop off our stuff and then she showed us around the town. First we walked through the university she attends. It was neat to see the campus since my classes are just in two different buildings right in the city. Then we walked to a nearby park and hung around there for awhile, going through a museum that was located in the park as well. We walked through the city center and saw the English market. We also ventured to the Cork County Jail and took a tour through that. It was very interesting to learn about the prisoners that were held there and the crimes that put them in jail. For supper that night, we went to an Italian restaurant. We ended the night at a pub with some of Natalie's friends.

Saturday morning, Hannah, Ashley, and I took a bus to Dublin for the day. It was a four hour bus ride each way, so we only had about six hours in Dublin, but it was worth it. When we arrived, our first stop was at Trinity College. It was a beautiful campus with many tourists walking around. We only walked around the center of the campus, seeing the campanile. From there we went to the Temple Bar area and saw many cute shops and pubs. Then we headed to Dublin Castle to get a quick glance at that. Having seen so many castles thus far, and being on a time crunch, we did not get on a tour. From there it was off to find the Jameson Distillery. We went on a tour through the building which lasted about an hour. It started with a ten minute video about the history of Jameson, followed by a half hour tour with a guide. The last twenty minutes was spent tasting the Jameson. Eight volunteers were chosen at the start and Hannah was picked, so she got to taste and compare three different whiskeys. Everyone, including the volunteers, was also given a complimentary drink of Jameson with a mixer. Surprisingly I enjoyed my drink. It is a whiskey that is distilled three times, compared to Jack Daniels whiskey that is only distilled once, so it is much smoother. I do not see myself drinking much of it in the future, however. I still prefer beer! After finishing our drinks, we headed to the Guinness Storehouse, to do that tour as well. Here it was a self-guided tour, so you could make your way through the building at your own pace. Being on a time schedule, however, we had to make sure we didn't get held up on any one item for too long. We gradually made our way to the top level, where we found the Gravity Bar. This is a unique bar in which there are 360 degree views of Dublin. You can see out over the entire city. We enjoyed our complimentary pint of Guinness here as well before having to make our way back to the bus station. I will say, Guinness is definitely a drink that you have to acquire the taste for. I had my first one on St. Patrick's Day, and it tasted better this time around. We'll see if there is a next time though. After the long four hour bus ride back to Cork, we met back up with Natalie and she took us to a few different pubs to listen to some live Irish music. It was so neat listening and watching the bands play. It is certainly some upbeat music, and the Irish love it!

On Sunday we took a much shorter bus ride (about a half hour) to a nearby town called Crosshaven. It is right on the coast so we were able to get some great views and see many of the boats in the harbor. We hiked a little and explored around the top of the town. I loved seeing all the flowers and such green grass. We even ran into a charity bike race going on. Since we found the finish point of it, and being the kind people we are, we cheered the bikers on as they neared the top of the hill! As we were heading back down into the town, we met two older gentlemen going up. We probably had a five minute conversation with them, and they were so nice, as I found to be true with most Irish. They were telling us all about the area and some of its history. After making it back into the town, we decided to get something to eat before taking the bus back to Cork. Once back in Cork, we shopped around for some souvenirs. I got a "good fortune" bracelet that has a green stone on it, a magnet with the Irish Blessing on it, and my playing cards and coasters I have been collecting from my different trips. We relaxed for a bit at Natalie's before going to the bus station to get back to the airport. Natalie walked with us to catch our bus, and then we said our goodbyes. We had a long night of traveling, with our flight taking off at 9:45 pm, and not getting back to our dorm in London until 2:30 am.

It was such a great weekend and I'm so happy I got to visit Ireland and see Natalie again. It has been so much fun hanging out with her, first in London and now in Ireland. I also thought it was cool seeing my mom's family name (Keane) everywhere. We found a rolex store called Keanes, and in the souvenir shops you could buy stuff that had Irish names on it, with all the history behind it. I felt proud every time I saw it! I would love to make it back there someday. Ireland is such a beautiful country and we had a great time there.