Ireland Trip

Since blogger has decided to co-operate once again, I'm finally posting a few pictures from my most recent trip back to Ireland to visit Matt and Liz, which ended far too soon. It was such an nice change from all my previous family visit-filled over planned vacations. We slept in, never had any real plans, and had a great time wandering the city with the guidance of Matt and Liz. The first two pictures here are of St. Stephen's Green in Dublin, which is an amazing park, and a great place to go to relax when you've got some free time on your hands.



We were really lucky and had great weather for the whole trip, it only rained the day we flew in, and most of that got slept through. Of course the trip included a visit to Guinness, where we were able to meet up with Garret and his girlfriend- the only Irish one in the bunch and the only one who didn't like Guiness either- go figure!

So, there we are, happy with our beer. Another fun part of the trip was learning how to use my new carmera, which does lots of neat things. I really like this picture of Liz.



And some more Guinness,


This next one is from the day that the four of us went to the coast. We were a little worried about the weather, but soon found out that the forecast means absolutely nothing!! Everyday was "partly cloudy with a chance of rain". The day was mostly spent wandering the town and walking the beach. One of the best highlights of the day was this little restuaunt up in the town that we stopped for lunch at, it had the most amazing view. The pics below give a bit of an idea.




Another highlight of the trip was our nights out at the pub. We spent a couple of nights at the Porterhouse bars, which had great food (even for a veggie like me) and a wide selection of beers they brew independantly. The first night was the one in the city centre, which was a gorgerou place, complete with live music. The picture here is from the one in the north end of the city, which was also really nice too. Along with all the stout, I also got to try a few new ciders... so good!

The last part of the trip was a visit to the North to see Steve's family in Downpatrick, which is a really pretty town, and supposed to the burial place of St. Patrick. The part of the trip in the north was really the only time we saw much of the country side, which I really enjoyed. We also spent a day in Belfast with Julie- another place I hadn't been to. The last picture is Julie and her fiancee Johnathan, they're too cute.