3 days of Dublin

We arrived in Dublin with a plan to stay a maximum of a week, this quickly turned into 3, which gives you and idea of the way that Dublin and its people quickly draw you in and make it seem like a crazy idea to ever leave.

Our immediate impression of Dublin was, Its cold. We had just come from Perth in Western Australia where the day we left the temperature was a rather warm 38 degrees. Dublin was hovering at about 8 degrees.

Our first port of call in Dublin was St Anne's Park on the Northside of Dublin, A park that was originally created by members of the Guinness family (yes, the same family that makes the black stuff) This spot was the focal point of may stories that I had heard from Alex and her family. A place where her Grandad would take her on evenings and weekends and a place that was well treasured within the family. From the noise of children playing, retired locals chatting about their day to day lives and the immense amount of joggers, cyclists and general exercise fiends, the park was a beautiful sight on a chilly Dublin afternoon. I cant count how many times we ended up strolling through St Annes park, but it was definitely a place that we kept coming back to time and time again. Further on in the week we visited another area etched in childhood memories, Howth. North of Dublin and accessed in about 20 minutes via the DART (Dublin's light rail, complete with heated seats! A godsend on a drunken late night when the temperature drops) With its mixture of houses reserved for the Bono's and Brian McFaddens of Dublin, assortment of restaurants selling the best seafood around and of course the stunning coastal scenery which is followed the whole way around Howth harbour by striking mountains, it is definitely a must see place when visiting Dublin. We strolled along the harbour front drinking in the views and of course had an obligatory fish and chip lunch, then wandered up into the hilly streets of Howth to see what else was on offer. Higher up in the streets of Howth we came across "The Grind" boasting some of the best coffee in not only Howth but in Dublin (it just so happens they have recently been awarded the best coffee in Dublin) We stopped in for a couple of takeaway Coffees and had a solid chat with the owner while we sipped our coffee (The coffee is top notch, its a must visit place when in Howth) Something that quickly strikes you about Dublin and Ireland which we were quickly introduced to in Howth, is the friendliness of the people. Something that you will notice from coffee shops, people on the street, bus drivers, and of course the large number of friends you make in Dublin's many amazing bars buying you beers, telling you about their families, offering you drugs (this one might not seem so friendly, but even the way its presented to you is smothered in Irish charm) It's definitely this friendliness that inevitably extended our trip from our dead set one week visit that was almost immediately forgotten about as we experienced all Dublin has to offer.

Luckily for us! (I'll be honest it was specifically planned) We were in Dublin for the drunkest of all Irish holidays, St Patricks day. We started our day in O'Connell street, arriving at about 11am for the wonder of the St Patricks day parade! We stayed for about 20 minutes then left to find the nearest bar. If witnessing the parade strikes your fancy then by all means enjoy, but just know you will be shoulder to shoulder and six people deep with every other tourist on the face of the earth gawking at the floats. If your aim is to experience true Ireland and interact with the famous Irish charm, the parade is not where you're going to find it, and for the love of God, don't go out and by a matching green suit and continue to wear it for days afterwards. You might laugh, but we saw it. Set your TV to record, and watch a replay of it the next day while you lie in bed hungover laughing at all the tourists crawling all over each other to see the floats. Head to the watering holes scattered across the city, grab yourself a Guinness and in no time at all you'll have made friends, been invited round for dinner and gotten irresponsibly drunk with whoever is in the bar at the time. Our St Patricks afternoon started with Guinness in "The Bar With No Name" on Fade Street, definitely a place worth visiting whilst exploring Dublin. We continued on throughout the day stopping at "The Old Stand" A traditional old Irish pub where you are bound to make friends, in our case we met a man in his mid 50s from Laois (leash is the pronunciation believe it or not) who of course was charmingly drunk by this point in the afternoon and if memory serves quite a few Guinness appeared in front of us bought by our new friend. So it's always a good tip to make friends with people in bars, you might even get some free drinks! We ended our night by spending god knows how many hours in "Pygmalion" a "hip" but fairly pricey bar in town that personally wasn't my sort of place. But should you ever end up in Dublin, i guarantee you will definitely end up having at least a drink or two in Pygmalion, its all about the company anyway, not the place! Actually upon reflection we ended our night in a drunken stupor eating Chinese food, I wont share the name of this place because ..... Well it was drunken Chinese food, anything is edible when you're in that state! So that was St Patricks day, and only our 3rd day in Dublin so far. Which means you guys are going to be reading a lot more about Dublin, but this is our blog, and we're going to keep writing about whatever we like when we feel like it,so there! It gives you an idea of exactly what type of place Dublin is that this was only our 3rd day, its a place where you will always find something to do any day of the week and almost at any time. And if you cant, go home, you're clearly not suited to being outside.

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