From Pre-K to Dermot K: Exploring Dublin with Kenzie!
Boston ➡️ Dublin
If you know my friend Kenzie, you'll know she LOVES Dermot Kennedy! We saw that he was touring in Dublin so we decided to go together. I loved my trip to Ireland in the summer, so I was excited to return for a second time with one of my best friends! On Friday night, Kenzie and I arrived at the airport and prepared for our overnight flight! Our flight was smooth but we did not really sleep that much. We arrived in Dublin around 8 AM and took the bus to get to our first hotel of the trip, the Maples House Hotel! We picked this hotel because it was a bit closer to the airport and I love maple so it just made sense. The hotel was really nice and had cute little rooms and an old house feel.
We were able to leave our bags and walk around to explore the area. We found a delicious cafe called Two Boys Brew! Kenzie got the Brekkie Bap and I got the Pork Benny. We enjoyed our meal and loved the overall vibe of this cafe. We went back to our hotel and took a four hour nap! We woke up around dinner time and decided to head to the Temple Bar area to walk around. We ate dinner at a pub called Doyles. I got a cottage pie and Kenzie got a Irish stew. The food was SO good. Kenzie tried her first Guinness, and she liked it! We then walked around, I got an ice cream cone, and we took in the sights. At one point we were walking over a bridge and a seagull literally crash landed onto us and it was hilarious. We ended the night by enjoying a few more pints at the Celt pub! This pub was huge inside and had several different bars and rooms to hang out in! We took a taxi back to our hotel and went to bed ready for our next adventure!
Dublin Falconry
Today we decided to venture out of the city to the Dublin Falconry. I highly recommend this experience if you are coming to Dublin! The Falconry is a little hard to get to, but it was totally worth it. We split breakfast at our hotel, checked out and then took a taxi to the falconry. When we booked the tour we were given an access code to get into the Luttrellstown Castle area which the falconry was inside of. It took us and our Uber driver a few tries to figure out which gate it was, but we did it! When we arrived, Trevor greeted us, offered us tea and coffee and let us store our bags. He showed us the different types of hawks and owls that he has. They were all so beautiful. We put on large leather gloves and we headed out for our falcon walk! We got to take a Harris's Hawk named Meera with us. Trevor let us take turns flying her around. He was using little pieces of meat to reward her. All we had to do was hold up our arm and she came right to us. We were surprised with how light she felt on our arms. It was amazing to be so close to a bird of prey. Her eyes were so beautiful and her talons were so sharp!
We learned about the different calls she makes and how he raises and trains his birds. We could tell how passionate he is about his job and he really made this experience memorable. We learned a bit about the Luttrellstown Castle too, which was such a magical setting for this hawk walk. There have been quite a few celebrity weddings here! At the end of our hawk walk Trevor fed Meena an entire baby chick which was gross but interesting to watch her rip apart and swallow it in chunks! We loved this experience so much and we would both do it again!
We got a taxi back to the city and checked into our Air B and B for the rest of our stay. We rented a cute little apartment on Aungier Street that had a kitchen, pink bedroom and comfy bathrobes. The apartment was a 15 minute walk to the Temple Bar area and the concert venue. There were plenty of coffee shops and grocery stores around as well. Our host was so sweet and very easy to communicate with. We dropped our bags and set out to explore more of Dublin. We found the Molly Malone statue and got lunch at O'Neills . I got a cheese, bacon, and apple sandwich. Kenzie got salmon on a bagel with a side salad. We got some groceries for dinner and then headed back out. We looked for some souvenirs and went to watch some more live music at The Celt Pub. Kenzie and I had a few beers, we walked around a bit, and Kenzie got a giant kabob sandwich at the end of the night, which she did not finish. We headed home and watched The Summer I Turned Pretty for a few hours (we really got into it) and went to bed!
Dermot Kennedy Concert
We started the day by getting some coffee at Brew Lab (our favorite coffee shop of the trip) and headed to The National Museum of Ireland on Kildare street. Entry to this museum is free! There were many interesting exhibits and one of my favorites was the exhibit that had different viking weapons. There was also a really long hand carved wooden boat and another exhibit with bodies of people they have found preserved in the bogs. Yes, real bodies! It was kind of creepy but interesting. We enjoyed our time at the museum and probably could have spent the whole day there. We then ventured over to the Dublin Castle and took a walk around the gardens. We had gone grocery shopping so we ate our lunch at our apartment! We made a little snack plate with steak, cucumbers and cheese. Then it was time to head to the concert! We got there a few hours early and got a Guinness before getting in line. The concert was at the 3Olympia Theatre which was a beautiful and intimate venue for a concert. We waited in line for a few hours with other fans and then it was time to enter the venue. We were one of the first 100 people in line so we got right into the front of the standing section! Kenzie was so excited, this was the closest she had ever been at a Dermot concert!
We got special bracelets in case we had to leave and use the bathroom so they would let us back into our section. The opening act was Grace Enger. I really enjoyed her songs, especially "Running Back to You," and "Think I Wanna See You Again." After her set, Dermot Kennedy came out and played a beautiful show! I had never seen him before, but I was really impressed. I could feel the passion in his voice. My favorite songs he played were "Innocence and Sadness," "Lucky," and "After Rain." We left the concert and I was so hungry! My legs were also so sore from standing for the past 6 hours in line and at the show! I bought a giant bag of popcorn and we walked around eating it for a bit before heading home. We were so awake from the show that we watched The Summer I Turned Pretty till about 2 AM. Then we decided we had to go to bed because we had a long day ahead of us!
Wicklow Mountains
On our last day in Ireland we decided to do a day tour, and we picked one that went to the Wicklow Mountains. We walked to St. Stephen's Green to get picked up! Our driver was named Mike and he was awesome. Kenzie and I were SO tired from the concert and I had started to get a sore throat, so we were really struggling on this tour. I definitely dozed off on the bus quite a few times. We drove around Dublin for a bit to pick up other people and learned about the history of the canal area. Our first stop was in Killiney Park and we walked up a hill to a viewpoint. It had a nice view of a beach!
We took some pictures and then got back on the bus. We drove through the Wicklow Mountains next and made a few stops to take pictures, including a stop at Guinness Lake. It is called this because it looks like a pint of Guinness with the sandy beach being the foam! Mike explained that the show Vikings was filmed here.
We stopped for lunch at Lynhams of Laragh and were really impressed! I got a goat cheese salad and tomato soup, and Kenzie got beef stew! We also had some tea. Our next stop was the Glendalough Monastic Site. There was a tall round tower, several headstones, and a little house. We then took a walk through the wooded trail and saw several small waterfalls and moss covered forests.
The trail ended at a little area with food trucks. Here we saw a huge deer just hanging out in the parking lot! I am not sure what kind of deer it was, but I think it is called a Red Deer. Our tour ended with a whisky tasting, which was literally a plastic cup of whisky that Mike gave us on the bus! Mike played some guitar and harmonica for us too which was lovely. The whiskey knocked me out and I fell asleep on the bus on the way home. For dinner we got some pizza from Dublin Pizza Company and spent the night watching The Summer I Turned Pretty! Our last night in Dublin!
Goodbye Dublin
We packed up our bags and checked out of our cute apartment around 11 AM. We went to Taste for a big brunch, which was delicious! This was the best breakfast of the trip! We walked to St. Stephen's Green and enjoyed the park for a bit. We picked up some drinks and chocolates from Butler's Chocolate to enjoy before heading back to the airport. There were probably ten different locations all around the city and we kept walking by them. If you order a drink here, you get a complimentary chocolate! We sat in the park and saw a great blue heron, ducks, and a pair of swans. We then got our taxi to the airport and made our way home. We were very tired and a little delirious on flight home because we were laughing so hard and coming up with ideas for an airline that only served soup, called Liquid Air. We then made a list of 50 different soups that we would serve on our airline, and it passed the time quickly! Overall, this trip to Ireland was short, but it had a little bit of everything and we felt like we got a great taste of Dublin. I loved sharing all these experiences with Kenzie and we made some amazing memories!
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