Day 11 - Dublin, Ireland

We woke up on January 27th, took a cab to Central Station and hopped on a train bound for Dublin. We bought the tickets at 10:29 and the train took off at 10:35...talk about cutting it close! Once we arrived, we grabbed another cab and went to Jury's Inn where we had a reservation.



After dropping off our bags, we walked to the local tourist center and bought tickets for a local bus route that we could hop on and off at our leisure, signed up for a Cliffs of Moher tour, and set up our plans for the evening. Then we walked through a market/shopping district (Jerris Street) and headed to find some lunch.

The Spire celebrating the year 2000...kind of silly looking:)


We ended up in the Temple Bar district right on the River Liffey. 



We ate a delicious lunch at the Merchant's Arch and got to hear some live music:



Then we wandered around the city and jumped on the bus to see some sites! We drove passed St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Guinness Storehouse, Christ Church, and a number of other places. After all the sight-seeing, we walked to Madigan's Pub, the place where we were meeting our driver to take us to the Merry Ploughboy's for a traditional Irish dinner with music and dancing. It was about a 45 minute drive, and we arrived at the pub and were escorted to a room set up for the night. We had a few pints, and then ordered dinner:

Goat cheese tart for Jason

Leek soup for me

Irish stew for me

Lamb shank for Jason

Shared vegetables

And we each had a berry crumble for dessert!

As dinner wound down, the Merry Ploughboy's came out and played several traditional Irish songs. They were absolutely incredible! 


Then, three girls and one guy came out and did some Irish dancing for us. I tried to take some pictures, but they were moving way too fast!


Towards the end of their show, they invited audience member to participate:



The driver picked us up at 10pm and drove us back to the hotel after a LONG, but wonderful day!

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