Hey everyone! It's Viveca. Lyle had a lot of work to do back home, so he couldn't come on this trip with me, sadly, but read on to find out all about my trip to Ireland!
This past weekend I went to visit Allie in Dublin. I got in to Dublin in the evening on Wednesday. I made my way to Allie's apartment near Trinity College. Since it was later we didn't do much sightseeing but decided to start the next day.
Thursday morning we headed out to Malahide Castle which is about 40 minutes outside Dublin by train. The castle dates back to the 12th century and was owned by the Talbot family up until the mid 1970s when Rose Talbot sold the castle to Ireland. That was the end of the Talbots at Malahide. We also learned that Rose moved to Tanzania to start a sheep farm! We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the castle, so all I've got is a pretty view of the street leading up to the castle.
After Malahide we went back into Dublin to walk around a bit. There are so many cute streets in Dublin with tons of shops, restaurants, and pubs! It was especially cute with all the Christmas decorations up.
The next day we decided to go see Leprechaun Museum (yes, it's real!). Allie told me that it was really fun, and it was! It's half children's museum, half museum of Irish legends. You start off in a room with leprechaun memorabilia like a little leprechaun suit!

The tour guide (who was basically a tall leprechaun himself, red hair and thick accent and all!) then came in to give an introduction to Irish folklore and myths. He showed us into the next room and we were off! We started going through a tunnel down into a wooden replica of Giant's Causeway. You then open a door and went into a giant's living room! Big chairs, table, storage boxes, and lamp. Very cute. Next room led to a map with information about Ireland leading into a room with umbrellas on the ceiling. Umbrellas on the ceiling, you ask? That's because in the next room was... A rainbow! You walk through the rainbow into the leprechaun's pot of gold! Here the guide met us to tell us some more stories. The last two rooms were more legends and we ended in a dark forest with a wishing well! Definitely worth a trip if you're ever in Dublin.
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Climbing around the Giant's Causeway |
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On the giant's chair! |
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Reaching for the umbrella! |
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The rainbow room
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After the leprechaun museum we headed over to the Guinness factory. Definitely not as fun as the Heineken factory, but totally worth it! We even got to pour our own pints!
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The Blarney Castle |
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View from the other side of Blarney |
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Walking down the Witches' Stairs - supposedly if you walk down and up with your eyes closed thinking only of a wish, it will come true within the year! The Witch has to grant wishes because she takes wood from the castle for her kitchen! |
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Allie peeking around the Witches' Kitchen! |
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The Witch Rock! She hides in this rock during the daytime and comes out at night. Can you see her face? |
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Remnants of an ancient Druid temple |
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Allie at the top of the castle! |
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Overlooking the poison garden (only has poisonous plants!) and the castle wall |
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The Blarney House |
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Kissing the Blarney Stone! The picture is a photo of a souvenir photo (yes, we got suckered into buying them!) |
Blarney as a town was tiny (basically two streets) though, and there's not much to do there other than see the castle. So, we headed back to Cork! However, Cork wasn't much better, and we were tired so all we had energy for was a Chinese buffet and a movie.
Ireland was beautiful and it was good to see a friend! Phew- all caught up on posts now!