Bó shona*

*means "happy cow" in Irish...WE WENT TO DUBLIN!

"May the road rise to meet you."

It's been a HOT minute, and as I look at my last blog post I realize it's been way too long. I have several posts to catch up on since we've been traveling all over the place--I need to tell you about the football game, my solo trip to Sweden, Prague, the list goes on and on...but today I will share about DUBLIN!

Emily, Anna, and I are an iconic three-musketeers-and-suite-mates-plus-foodies bunch🤗 One could say everything we do as a group is iconic. So, to continue our tradition of seeking out mouth-watering meals & leaving our footprints in some beautiful areas, we decided to book a cheap flight to Dublin, Ireland. For years I roasted Bethany for loving everything Irish, and now here I am LOVING Ireland🤡😂 I don't have Monday/Friday classes, so we took a long weekend trip and I can't wait to tell you all about it!

First of all, the plane ride was excellent. Ryanair, 10/10. I felt like the President climbing onto the steps directly to the plane instead of the long tunnel thingies like we have back home. Luckily I wasn't the only one feeling chatty the whole way--next to me was this guy Dylan from Colorado who is studying at Trinity in Dublin and was on a weekend trip to Copenhagen. What're the odds? We exchanged our life stories and suddenly we were already preparing for descent.

First things first, we checked in our Airbnb and then took the Dart to the inner city. Their metro, the Dart, is green and their train passes have a cute frog on them. We walked around by the water and explored all Dublin has to offer at night. We passed by Temple Bar, which I was warned not once (thanks Bethany hehe) but twice (by Dylan-from-the-plane) to avoid since it's the most stereotypical crowded too-touristy bar in Dublin. Fine by me! We FEASTED at The Landmark restaurant, which was the most satisfying first Irish meal in Dublin. Anna ordered the toastie, which I learned is a better grilled cheese. Emily and I both went for the Guiness stew, which comes perfectly surrounded by a bread bowl and a handful of greens on the side. Each bite felt like a warm hug.

With all the marathon training, I've kind of been avoiding a lot of meat, butter, and heavy carbs. This weekend changed that😂 Never before have I eaten so much dang meat. Wait til I tell you about breakfast hahaha.

We were so hungry we also tried the stuffed potato skins, which are filled with pimento cheese🤗❤️

Saturday we rose early and took the bus to Flanagans, looking at the menu for about 2.5 seconds before declaring in unison that yes, we are here for the Full Irish Breakfast. It came with butter bread, a tomato, baked beans, eggs, and every meat: bacon, "regular (?) " sausages, black pudding, and white pudding. What a feast. As I sipped the hot tea that came with my meal, I realized yet again how I've never eaten so much protein for breakfast😂

When you keep up with the ZoZone posts, it may seem like all I do when I travel is eat. You're right😂😂😂 Okay but actually tho the food is amazing and when I'm walking or exploring I'm so in love with the beauty that I don't always take pictures. When the food comes it's so tempting to want to share with you the picture---obviously I can't capture the taste over writing as much. Taking a photo of a picturesque area takes a little of the magic out of it because I want you to capture that feeling for yourself when I take you here one day:)

Next stop: Guinness factory tour!! Thanks to Uncle Jr, we got tickets to an amazing, interactive tour, upon which after 2 hours I never craved a drink more. The journey was wonderful: smelling sweet hints of roasted barley, listening the rush of a nearby waterfall while reading about the water they use to brew the beer, and walking up the steps to get our very own pint of Guinness. Here's us with a mustache after the "perfect pour."

Aaaaand it turns out Guinness is not my favorite taste😂

Cheers!

It was super cute getting our "stoutie" printed on the foam of each glass!

After the drinks, we went for a walk around the city center to explore. We walked in several churches, the Cathedral, and the castle! Loved wandering the streets and listening to the music and chatter as we passed each pub and restaurant. I absolutely love the hospitality of all the Irish people we met! Similar to the US, it was very different from the stereotypical Danish sometimes-seems-standoffish vibe. People would go out of their way to say hey or to say thanks.

Oh yeah! We got ice cream from Murphy's, which is known for their salted ice cream that's made in Dingle--the same place they went to in the cute movie Leap Year! For dinner that night we went to a traditional Irish pub with live music--they started out with bops like Tell Me Ma and then finished with...Sweet Caroline.. Very traditional Irish music😉😂 I ordered a yummy seafood chowder:)

I bet 9 out of 10 guys in Ireland have the same haircut. It's EVERYWHERE. No matter his age or race, sooo many guys have this haircut. It's shaved/buzzed on the bottom and it's supposed to fade to the top. Emily pointed it out, and once I noticed, I couldn't-not-see-it. Here's a guy getting the haircut as I speak:

That's an important observation I had to point out. Anyways. We chilled in a park for a while that afternoon and the grass was so wet that when I stood up all you could see was Anna laughing at my pants hahaha

That ^ is what happens when I wait too long to write blog posts😂😂😂😂

So the next day we went to THE CLIFFS OF MOHER! This was my favorite day for sure! We got up before 7am and arrived to our all-day tour bus. The guide was fantastic! He played "Irish music" for us to wake up (all U2) then realized everyone wanted to sleep so he switched it around. Every glance out the window revealed a sunrise with mist draping the grass, so of course I couldn't--and wouldn't--sleep! We saw tons of rainbows on the hours it took us to get there. We stopped for snacks at the Obama plaza, which is so random but apparently Obama went there so now the gas station is lowkey famous.

We also saw so many double rainbows. Feeling proud embracing my Irish roots and I guess that means luck comes along with it:) Aside from cows and sheep and more cows and more sheep and beautiful thatched roof cottages and more cows and fields and rainbows and countryside and more sheep we saw a billboard for something in my Bucket List book: THE IRISH MATCHMAKING FESTIVAL!

Our tour guide informed us it's canceled this year due to covid. Sigh.

LOVE LOVE LOVED the Cliffs of Moher! We only had two hours to walk around there on so I ran a bit to see it all!

It was supposed to rain all weekend but the weather was gorgeous when we made it!

I guess the rainbows made all the difference.

Every time I'm in a moment I want to remember forever, I close my eyes and inhale deeply each detail: the rush I felt from the crisp wind whipping my hair in my eyes, smelling slight hints of salt from the sea, the rustle of the grass beneath my feet, and the sense of fullness that I felt. Opening my eyes to the breathtaking cliffs made me realize how impossible it is to capture the feeling of standing in awe overlooking such a wonderful creation.

Honestly I was nostalgic hopping back on the bus!

It's amazing that these Cliffs exist. We stopped at a UNESCO geopark on the way to Galway a bit farther from the Cliffs. Loved every minute of it!

Our tour guide mentioned that the landscape would change five times before approaching Galway! Indeed he was correct. We also saw about a dozen castles! They say Galway is the "Venice of Ireland" and that it's famous for its oysters. I say it's wonderful! So of course we had to hit up the restaurant the tour guide recommended to get some fresh sea food. We split three huge plates of food: lobster, fries, fish and chips with mashed peas, and a huge sampler with crab legs, tuna, salmon, and more.

I don't drink coffee and I've never had whiskey, and yet, the Irish coffee was soooo good!!

We practically ran through the streets to pick up another Murphy's ice cream (how did we have room for dessert?!) and to buy Claddagh rings while exploring Galway before missing the bus.

Love the rings! Symbols of love (the heart), loyalty (the crown), and friendship (the hands), you can wear the Claddagh ring different ways. with the heart pointing out on the right ring finger, it symbolizes I'm open to the world (single and ready to mingle just kidding teehee). Some people choose Claddagh wedding rings: on their left ring finger, with the heart facing towards you.

On the bus ride back to Dublin they showed the movie Leap Year!! Emily, Anna, and I almost screamed with excitement because we were mentioning that movie so many times throughout the day. We arrived with just enough time to make a nighttime Sunday mass in Dublin. After, we grabbed a quick meal (butter chicken, my new craving!) and listened to more live music at another Irish pub.

What a wonderful suite reunion trip!!! 100% will return one day and stay in a cottage in Western Ireland!!

xoxo