Ireland in Retrospect: Dublin Day Two

Dublin Day Two September 15th

After a decent night's sleep, and a shower (we both fit...separately of course!), we were ready to enjoy our second day in Dublin!

We walked down the street, a little farther this time, to a cute little coffee shop called Love Supreme Coffee. I got a black coffee, and Justin got probably got a flat white. I didn't pay too much attention. As we were quietly enjoying some quiet conversation in the rather quiet establishment, a group of middle-aged American women, came loudly in with their luggage and totally altered the mood. So, we finished our coffee and went on in search of some tea and breakfast.

We decided to go into a place called The National Bakery. We each got tea, and I got a yummy donut!

After this little treat, we hopped on the bus to Kilmainham Gaol, pronounced "jail." The bus was fairly empty, and the bus driver chatted with us a bit. She recommended checking out the IMMA - Irish Museum of Modern Art, but especially the outer gardens, since it was such a pretty day.

Our tour of the jail started at 10:45, and I was surprised that it wasn't only tourists doing the tour. The woman who led it was fabulous. She was engaging, informative, patient, intelligent, and kind. I'd recommend reading up on the jail and the Easter Uprising in general. It is a huge part of Ireland's history! But here are a few pictures of Kilmainham Gaol.

The guide said to Instagram the pretty blue sky since it's as rare as a hen's teeth, or something like that.

This was one of the dark prison corridors.

This spiral staircase was for the prisoners to walk up and down, one at a time.

View of the new east wing.

It is believed that a woman made this graffiti.

This artwork of Mary and Jesus was made by a woman political prisoner.

Here is one of the prison yards.

I highly recommend this tour. It is the highest rated thing to do in Dublin on TripAdvisor, and it's for good reason. It's informative, interesting, thought-provoking, and moving. We thoroughly enjoyed it, even though the subject matter isn't very cheerful. It's an important party of Ireland's history, like I said before.

We decided to walk across the street, and got some lunch in the IMMA café. We got sandwiches and crisps, which is what they call potato chips in Ireland. After lunch, we sat outside in the courtyard and planned our next move.

Justin determined that he knew what we were doing next, so we got on the bus, and went a ways across town to a not very awesome second-hand store. We were both a little disappointed, but all was not lost, as we popped into a great little café across the street called Kennedy's for some tea and dessert. The owner was very friendly and talkative. We asked her if she knew where to buy a Leap card. That is a pass for the Dublin bus system, the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) and the Luas (light rail). She didn't know, since she lives close to where she works, but she suggested we check out one of the news agents down the street. That's basically a little 7-Eleven type of store.

Well, unfortunately the store clerk wasn't able to sell us visitor Leap cards, so he suggested where we could go to buy the passes. When we got off the bus where we were supposed to be, and still didn't know exactly where to go, we ran into a Dublin bus driver! He walked us to the store, chatting with us along the way.  We were finally able to buy a 72- hour pass for €19.50 each. For unlimited traveling around the city for three days, I'd say that's pretty good!

We then used our brand new Leap cards to ride the bus back to our apartment. We rested for a bit, and then took the bus back to the Stoneybatter neighborhood to have dinner at L. Mulligan Grocer. We loved that place! The atmosphere was awesome, and you could tell, based on the accents, that it wasn't very touristy. I ordered a cider on tap, and it was delicious. I'm kicking myself for not clarifying the name, though. We shared a scotch egg for an appetizer, which was amazing. It's too bad there's just one! For our entrees, I got the chicken kiev with corn on the cob and potatoes on the side, and Justin got a wild boar dish. My chicken was very good, but my corn was a little overcooked. I prefer my corn to be very crisp. But the potatoes were heavenly! Justin said his meal was delicious.

Perfect little appetizer.

Dinner!

After our delightful meal, we headed to Open Gate Brewery, where we had tickets to taste test some Guinness testing beers. We ended up walking right past the gate, and had to backtrack when we realized we'd gone way too far. We eventually made our way to where we were supposed to be, showed the bouncer our tickets, and he gave us each a bottle cap, which was good for one pint of beer.

We walked through the lot (for lack of a better term), up a set of metal stairs, into a large room with big wooden tables and a bar off to one side. I wasn't sure what I thought at first. We walked up to the bar, and the bartender explained that we could either get a pint each or a flight (four 4-ounce glasses) of a variety. We decided to get two flights.

Sharing some beers with my favorite fella!

At the table we were sitting at, there was another couple next to us. He looked Hispanic or maybe middle-eastern, and she had an accent that was decidedly not Irish. And then I heard them talking in Spanish! While Justin was at the bar getting another drink, and the man was somewhere else, I asked her where she was from. She informed me that she lives in Dublin, but is from Romania. Her boyfriend is half Spanish, but was born and raised in Dublin. They were practicing Spanish so they could go visit his relatives in Spain. Their names were Georgianna and William. We had a wonderful conversation with them, hitting all sorts of topics. Lots of laughter was shared. We got kicked out at 10:30, when the Open Gate Brewery closed. I regret a little that we didn't share contact info. That was a really awesome experience that will stick with us for a long time. Organic conversation with other people was something we'd hoped would happen.

All in all, it was a very full and excellent Friday in Dublin!