Stephen's Second Free Weekend: Dublin, Ireland

For my second free weekend trip, I went to Dublin, Ireland. After checking in to our hostel, we went walking around the main city to find food and see some of the famous sites. The first site we visited was the famous Trinity College, one of the first colleges ever established, founded in 1592. We walked around the center of campus and tried to get into the famous library where the Book of Kells is kept, but the line was too long. While we were in the center of the college, we saw a new bride taking pictures outside the church with her wedding party. After seeing most of the college, we got some cheap lunch on our way to see St. Patrick's Cathedral. The cathedral's exterior was fantastic and the courtyard was very picturesque. We didn't pay to get inside the actual building because people were tired from the flight and ready for a nap. After our naps, we got some authentic Irish dinner; corn beef and cabbage before we did a pub crawl. Our tour guides lead us through several pubs throughout the city through several bars and pubs, most of which had great live music and local Irish beers.

The next day, we woke up early to get on a bus to Galway to do a tour of the famous Moher Cliffs. We had a great tour guide who drove us the 3 hours to get to the cliffs. On the way there, we stopped at a little restaurant  in a town called Doolin and got some of the best burgers I've ever had. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate with our plans, as it was pouring rain throughout the entire tour. The Cliffs of Moher were an incredible spectacle despite the rain, and the scene was well worth the soaking wet clothes. We walked up to some medieval looking castle tower to take shelter from the rain and got another tourist to take a picture of the group. After walking around to the other side of the cliff viewing area, we went into the indoor museum in an effort to dry off before our 4 hour bus ride back to Dublin. Although we were still soaking wet on the bus ride home, we got to see some other beautiful sites on the ride back that made up for the temporary discomfort. Overall, I had an incredible weekend in Ireland, it is probably my favorite trip of our time here so far and I would love to go back some day in the future.