After spending a lot of time there, we ended up checking out the grounds of the church, which were also very nice and of course included messing around on playground (which by the way, was awesome; Irish kids have normal playgrounds) before jumping back on the bus.
This time we stayed on the bus for awhile, so that we could see everything we had missed before. So we passed through quite a few things, such as Phoenix Park (and the Zoo, but we couldn't see anything but the gates...so that doesn't really count). We got off to go check out the Old Jameson Distillery. Which took a little while to find, since it drop us off right in front, and we couldn't find it so well. We did get there however, and once we did, we went in to buy tickets to tour it, as any tourist would do. Well, there was a sign that said they couldn't take credit cards. Which was not so good for two of us, including me, since I was running low on cash. So we got directions to the nearest ATM (inside a grocery store...is that strange, when it's in the back near the wine?) and took some out. About this time, I also realized I had very little in my account, meaning I had to text my parents to shift more money in from my other account, and it was of course, a holiday, so it wouldn't get done another day later. I'm so glad I'm good at planning. To cut to the case though, everything worked out fine.
We just had to take a later tour time, which meant perusing through the same gift-shop a lot (expensive, of course) and lounging about until we could go through. And it was a very cool tour, I'd say much cooler than the Guinness Storehouse (maybe not in architecture, but close), since you had a tour guide and got to not only taste Jameson, but compare it to the other popular brands of whiskey, such as Jack Daniel's and Johnnie Walker (if you volunteered and were picked). Cindy volunteered and she saved a bit in her little cups for Alice and I to test it out compared to the others too. And it was unanimous; Jameson is the best. I'm pretty sure the rest of the testers agreed too. It's kinda delicious. Did you know it can be served so many ways? That kinda blows my mind a bit, but then again, I did just start learning about alcohol now, so I could have just been ignorant. In any case, my Jameson and cranberry was awesome and I look forward to having it again.
After that we hopped back on the bus and cruised it through town a bit, seeing Parnell Square and the Spire, which is the world's tallest piece of sculpture? I forget what it stands for now, but it looks just like it sounds like it should. I didn't get any great pictures, so I hope that's enough of an explanation.
We got off around Trinity College to look for the statue of Molly Malone, since Alice was dying to see it and would not stop singing that little ditty about her whenever it was mentioned OR she thought it would be amusing to sing. We thought it was inside Trinity College so after a brief walk around and over-hearing a man giving a tour of the campus, we realized we were in the wrong place. It happened to be just across from the bus stop. Hah. It was nice to see the grounds of the college though - quite beautiful. Anyways, we took pictures with the statue and then jumped back on the bus so we could move on to the Iveagh Gardens that our waitress the day earlier recommended.
On the way we saw some of the many Dublin doors. It was very much a fun way to end our tour. To add, the gardens were worth checking out and so very awesome. But I'm partial to gardens, so I may not be the best source sometimes. In any case, at that point we went searching for a way back into the more populated part of town, since we were hungry. And since we were having bad luck in finding places to eat in the area we were in and Cindy was super excited when we saw it, we decided to have Wagamama. I have never heard of this place before in my life, but oh my it was delicious and filling! I went for chicken curry or something, since it sounded delicious. I should have been a little more experimental, but oh well. It rocked.
Yeah...I kinda started digging in before I took a picture...but I was hungry. At least now you know that that wasn't corn in the middle, but rice. Or maybe you could tell. Whatever. Moving on!
It was after dinner that we walked back towards our hostel in search of Kevin St, since Cindy wanted a picture on it (her Dad's name). Once that quest was checked off, we eventually went back to Temple Bar to get in our last few views of the Dublin nightlife and give me a chance to buy the scarf I had been eying. Hee hee. Scarves. After we checked out bridges nearby and attempted a few night pictures, before we headed back to pack up and see how much sleep we could get before our early flight in the morning.
Speaking of, we had no trouble getting up and saving some money by taking the shuttle (hooray!) to the airport, but it also meant having to listen to some girls who got on and constantly talked about how much money a bunch of guys had spent on them and how they probably couldn't afford a taxi. -insert giggles from there here- Nice girls. Other than that, getting through the airport was pretty quick and so was getting on our plan. We met up with a few other girls from our class so we were able to share a taxi back to studio, and we got there with plenty of time to spare.
And so our trip to Dublin ends. Can I please be Irish now??
