Blog about all things cricket, including the high's & low's of supporting Warwickshire, following England around the country, along with plenty of appreciation for an Ian Bell cover drive.

Sunday 12 March 2017

Dublin

Take me home country roads...

Okay enough of the Irish music that is still circling my head after my visit to the Irish capital of Dublin. In February half term me and my friend Leah took a mini break to Dublin to celebrate my 18th, we thought where else to celebrate than the place with some of the liveliest nightlife! We had the most amazing time there with plenty of laughs, stories, memories and a few pints of Guinness to wash it all down...


We flew out of the Monday from Birmingham and I was so excited for my first taste of Ireland and especially Dublin for a birthday celebration. Once we landed in Dublin airport, I instantly felt like I was in heaven... because of the accent. Oh my god, its everywhere, and its perfection. People everywhere were speaking and I must have looked a moron just starring and listening...oops. Once we arrived in the city centre and found our Hotel, The Arlington Hotel which overlooked the river I began to relax and fell in love with the hustle and bustle of Dublin. After stocking up on the essentials from the supermarket...chocolate, crisps, alcohol...(like I said the essentials) we took a trip to visit the absolutely stunning Trinity College Dublin which is maybe the prettiest University I have ever seen. I wish to go to University of Birmingham which I thought was lovely, but this takes that to another level. Exploring the university made me want to be a student there so badly and seeing the beautiful cricket pitch and surroundings made me want to go even more! We then went on the hunt to find somewhere to eat and it didn't take us long to find a Nandos so that we were sorted. Temple Bar district wasn't very far away so we went for a couple of drinks around here, and the area is beautiful at night, with light hanging from bar to bar, the Irish music coming through from the various bars and the atmosphere filling the streets, it just gave me another reason to love this place. 







As Leah had been to Dublin before she had a few places that she wanted to visit and after describing the most lovely restaurant, I was 100% up for a full Irish breakfast, which didn't disappoint that's for sure! We went to a restaurant called Sophie's which had some beautiful decor, with rose gold bar taps (this makes me very happy as I am obsessed with rose gold everything) and the rooftop 360 degree views of Dublin, plus one of the nicest breakfast that I have ever tasted. More exploring led us to Grafton Street, where there is a plethora of High Street shops mixed with some more high end shops which we were more than happy to browse around - The Dublin Disney Store is one of the best I have been into and their take on Selfridges is just perfection. To be a full tourist, a trip to Dublin wouldn't be complete without a trip the Guinness Storehouse. I can now proudly say that I am fully qualified in pouring the perfect pint of Guinness now after some very technical lessons in the Guinness academy. The tour of the brewing and history of Guinness is actually really interesting but the highlight is the Skyline Gravity Bar which boasts mile views of Dublin and also plays the best music...I was very content sitting with my pint and listening to the Westlife they were playing. At night we went to see the hilarious Jack Whitehall at the 3arena in the Point Harbor  but first took a trip to The Oval Bar, I couldn't not go in the pub named after the cricket ground! Jack was absolutely amazing, he reduced me to tears with his stand up and him slagging of Brexit to the Irish made it all the more hilarious. 







The Wednesday we visited the Leprechaun museum which was interesting to say the least...I thought it was a tour of little things leprechaun size but instead its a storytelling tour about legends & fairies, but the big chairs were great nevertheless, once I had managed to get up the thing, I have to admit it was not my finest hour trying to push myself up. As we were close to the Jervis Shopping Centre, we managed to squeeze in some time for some retail therapy - had to experience the Irish Primarks, Penny's which is just the exact same as Primark here, but oh well. Again we experienced the amazing Dublin nightlife Wednesday when meeting up with some of Leah's friends and I was completely allured once again by the charm of the bars, pubs, food, people and music. The nicest strawberry daiquiri graced our table and the loveliest Irish singers graced the stage in our hotel bar, where we laughed and sung until the early hours of the morning.  After Leah had got them to embarrassingly to sing happy birthday to me they played some of my favourite songs and my Dublin holiday was made by hearing Country Roads. This has got to be one of the things I love about the city, the sound of all the music playing from all the bars with so many musicians loving what they do and love seeing people enjoying themselves, the culture over there is quite frankly exceptional with everyone so friendly and welcoming and their idea of just being up for a good time. As we headed to bed, after guiding Leah back to the room and to her dismay, stopping her skipping down the hotel corridors singing I'll Tell Me Ma, we heard that Storm Doris was on its way so to expect delays tomorrow flying home...and delays is what we got. 






After seeing cancelled flight after cancelled flight in the morning as we both were constantly checking our flight to get home I was just glad to see that our flight was on time and boarding. Priorities were noted and we headed to get some food first and as we queued to board and after being given many updates from home via mum she told me many flights trying to land in Birmingham had to be diverted because it was too windy (Mum knows how to calm down her daughter who she knows is a nervous flyer before taking off into a storm doesn't she). Safe to say the flight wast the smoothest I have ever been on...after the most turbulent flight, with the plane being thrown around in the wind and 2 failed landing attempts in Birmingham we found ourselves on the way to Bristol airport. Guys, when a airline says ''sourcing coaches'' don't believe them, 5 hours later. these coaches were eventually sourced and after the 4 hour journey back to Birmingham Airport, I was very glad to be back in my dads car. although I don't think he enjoyed his 2 hour wait at the station...blame Doris dad! So 11 hours later than planned I was home, with a story to tell, plenty of amazing memories, a new city ticked off, the urge to travel more and one hell of an 18th celebration to remember. 

Dublin was an amazing city to visit, and its somewhere once you have visited once you want to go back to again and again to experience the atmosphere, attractions and of course the nightlife. Its Irish charm shines throughout the streets and comes from every corner of the city. The Irish hospitality certainly didn't disappoint either with the accent being one of many highlights and the people's welcoming charm it was hard not to fall in love with the city, and not even Storm Doris could ruin it. 

Until next time Dublin...