New Year's in Ireland

We rang in 2011 in Paris. We rang in 2012 in Vienna. We debated where we should go for 2013, and in the end, Nathan said he wanted to plan a surprise trip for me. I LOVE these! Nathan's always nervous about how I will react once the destination is revealed, but he always does well. Always. So I knew it would be somewhere good. My guesses were either an ice hotel in Scandinavia or a beach house on the Mediterranean. When Nathan finally told me the night before we left that we were going to Dublin, Ireland, I was thrilled! It's a country we hadn't made plans to go to prior to leaving Germany and I had heard such great things about it. Win, win! We flew out on the 30th, spent New Year's Eve and Day there, then flew home on the 2nd. It was much too short and we loved Ireland. So much more than I had thought. I love England, and I know this is sacrilegious to the English and the Irish, but it was very similar. Made my heart sing : ) It's so nice when everything is in English and the people are overtly friendly/helpful.

This is the bed and breakfast Nathan booked for us. Our hostess, Bernie, was so hospitable and provided us with a great room every night and good food every morning.

the street we stayed on

our first meal

Nathan had fish & chips and I had steak & Guinness pie. Delicious!

Sir John Gray

Irish physician, surgeon, politician, and newspaper proprietor

River Liffey

The doors are so cute--painted all different colors.

St. Patrick's

The sign on this door reads: 

"St. Patrick's Cathedral 

Choir School

Founded 1432 A.D."

the resident of the President of Ireland in Phoenix Park

Wellington Monument in Phoenix Park in honor of the Duke of Wellington

gates to Phoenix Park

The park used to be exclusive and these posts had gates between them.

English & Irish Gaelic

Guinness Storehouse originally leased in 1759 to Arthur Guinness at £45 per year for 9,000 years

Dublin Castle

the seat of British rule in Ireland until 1922

Ha'Penny Bridge

The Temple Bar

a really swanky bar in the Temple Bar area

Trinity College

We had been hoping to see The Book of Kells, but the library was closed for the holidays.

Merry Christmas in Irish Gaelic

streetlights decorated with shamrocks : )

one of the main shopping streets

row houses

chillin' at Starbucks in the afternoon on NYE

Dad, you're famous!

St. Patrick's at night - beautiful!

We hung out at this bar for a while, killing time until midnight.

outside

inside

pretty lights over the street

statue of Molly Malone

where we watched the fireworks at 8pm

NYE

On New Year's Day, we had thought about going to the coast to see the Cliffs of Moher, but we just didn't have the time and should have planned it in advance. We instead took a train out to Howth, which is just east of Dublin and juts out into the water. It's a big fishing village.

We got lunch at the turquoise building: fish and chips to go.

 We have a theory that we prefer haddock to cod, and that cod tastes like fish sticks, aka kinda yuck. 

 Yummy!

 Before we hopped on the train back, we stopped in at a bar near the water for drinks. It was really nice, with a second floor, lots of wood tables and leather seats, and a view over the harbor.