We made it to the land of Guinness!

Madeline here!

Our first, and last, day in Dublin has been quite the success! Ireland greeted us off of our plane last night (which was the mini cooper of the airplane world) with a sloppy wet kiss. Europe has been nothing but wet, but no matter, we know how to work a raincoat (meaning we are a couple of American noobs with no umbrella).


Once we found a bus to take us from the airport to our hostel, we chatted with the kindest people we've met in Europe thus far. They were two elderly Irish women who were giving us tips for the best pubs in Dublin and advice for our safety. We parted them with a final wave and one of them advised us in her thick Irish accent, "you two mind yourselves now." I won't soon forget them.


Today was a new day! We headed into week 3 ready to explore. We began the day drinking! Haha, kidding-kind of. We DID take a tour of the Guinness storehouse, which was so full of fun facts and ended with a beautiful 360 degree view of Dublin at the top.


I did indeed taste my first beer, and as you can see in the picture, that's about as far as I got! It was a good first experience, and I love that it happened in Ireland.


We then began walking to St. Patrick's cathedral and got a bit turned around. This seems to happen nearly every day in Europe-they seem to not believe in street signs...but luckily a friendly Dublin native pointed us to our destination. The cathedral which was absolutely stunning to walk through, and learn more about saint Patrick's story! From there we explored the Chester Beatty Library, the National Gallery of Ireland, and Merrian Park. We found the best statue of Oscar Wilde there. If there was a contest for creepiest statue facial expressions, Oscar could easily make top 5.


Eh, maybe he was just thinking really hard. Maybe I'll cut him some slack. But for now, we're headed to a pub for some dinner then making our way to our next stop in Ireland tomorrow!

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