It is sooo incredibly difficult to narrow down our adventures to a few photos for you guys but I’m trying to limit it to things you don’t typically see in the travel magazines or on travel sites.

After we left Trinity we headed towards Guinness but stopped by a very hole-in-the-wall pub where we had some amazing food and beer.

Mmm..brown bread and Guinness beef stew….

I saw some awesome historic buildings along the way (I’m a sucker for the old school architecture and the modern lines just don’t work for me)

We also found this place hilariously (and aptly named) as it was super tiny on the inside.

We became side-tracked by passing alongside the Dublin Castle and were intrigued so we stopped and did the tour. Of note, if you are looking at doing several historic sites while there, it may be worthwhile to consider the OPW card for 25 Euros that includes many of the sites we visited and you don’t have to worry about paying each place you go and is good for 1 year. The castle was interesting and the manor area was also worth seeing once but I really loved the cathedral best.

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As you can see, little bit was less than excited about the dank underground castle wall. The view from the courtyard, inside the manor and then the beautiful church and some of its intricate detailing is shown next. None of the people are us or related so nevermind them. 🙂

The Guinness tour followed and by then we were both excited but tired. It had been a long day and because it was staying light so long compared to where we live, we lost track of time and it was getting late.

If you are quirky and have a good sense of humor you will enjoy some of the exhibits (yes, that is a whistling clam and a fish riding a bike), if not you will probably still enjoy the 360 bar with your free pint at the top. The best view in Dublin by far. We stayed up there until last call and when everyone started migrating back down the stairs. It was just lovely. (For those of you like me who don’t really do dark beer, they did have Stella Artois Cidre there and it was yummy!)

The next day was a little less fun as we were driving across country to Tralee and before we could even make it out of Dublin we got in a fender-bender. Everyone was ok (and thank God for rental car insurance) but we had to wait forever on another car at the rental car agency and the family was tired and cranky as we made it out of Dublin until we hit the countryside. Another post for another day though! *Suspenseful music plays in the background*