Dublin

So, very sleepily, Emily and I made it to our ferry to Dublin very early the next morning. Sleeping most of the ride, we got to Dublin and quickly booked our next ferry ride to come, to Holyhead (with an accompanying bus to London). A nice cab driver took us to the city centre, where the first thing we did was look for some food, having not really eaten all day. We were dropped off in the famous Temple Bar area, and so there were tons of great places to eat all around. The first one (and probably closest in proximity... we were very hungry) that appeals to us drew us in, and actually had some really great Italian food. Once finished we called Gary, our host. Gary is my good friend Becky's uncle, and he and his daughter Kayleigh were kind enough to host Emily and I for a few days!

After a bit of attempt with the busses, we made it to where they live just outside of Dublin, a town called Saggart. We had a great time meeting the two of them, who were both extremely nice and welcoming, and promptly passed out from exhaustion not much later.

The next day Emily and I were off to the Oxegen Festival, our number one reason for visiting Dublin! Oxegen is a huge annual music festival held 10 minutes outside of Dublin, with tons of bands and artists that Emily and I like. After Gary insisted that we had to take a couple pairs of his and Kayleigh's "wellies" with us, we found the shuttle bus to the site in the city centre. Over the next few days, we saw a TON of bands play, and had a really great, yet rainy time in our crappy £10 tent. The notes I have written in my Moleskine describe Oxegen as: muddy, rainy, young people, constantly loud, crowded, messy, smallish, FUN, wet, diferent popularities of bands, great greasy food, refreshing, much security. Among my favorite bands who played there: Jay-Z, Vampire Weekend, Empire of the Sun, Yeasayer, Hot Chip, Florence and the Machine, Earth Wind and Fire, Local Natives, and much much more.

Leaving our crappy tent and some wet supplies behind, we headed back toward Gary's house the (actually sunny) morning after the festival had ended. Though Gary and Kayleigh were at work, we got into their house via key he'd left with me, and showered up before heading out to explore Dublin for the rest of the time we had there! Emily and I walked around the Temple Bar area for a good period of time before selecting a restaurant in which to treat ourselves to an expensive meal, after eating too much greasy food at the festival. The food was amazing, and afterward we spent the remainder of the night hanging out with Kayleigh back at the house, downing many Bulmer's Irish Ciders.

The next morning, Emily and I ate some breakfast, and then headed straight toward the Guiness Brewery for the quintessential tour. It was a really amazing factory, and we enjoyed the awesome views from the top of the Gravity Bar (the tallest point in Dublin), with 360º views of the city in the circular all-glass bar. After getting soaked from walking back to the busstop, we chilled back at the house with Kayleigh again and headed to sleep relatively early to wake up for our ferry ride the next morning.

FYI: The map of my progress has been updated as well! Check it out, click the link on the left side toolbar.