Dublin
On Saturday morning, I picked up my good friend Claire at the airport and we checked into the Trinity Capital Hotel near Trinity College in Dublin. This hotel was like Alice in Wonderland. There were tall, skinny, velvet chairs, mismatched furniture, purple walls, crazy fantasy looking patios, and of course, a mad hatter…he looks normal in this picture.

Our first order of business was to hit a pub and have a pint of Guinness. We got on the Red Bus, hopping on and off to see the sites of Dublin.
We visited the Kilmainham Gaol, one of the largest unoccupied jails in Europe. Built in 1792, it is most famous for executing some Irish rebels, specifically the 14 leaders of the Easter Rising rebellion who wanted to break away from English rule.

We then proceeded to the closest pub for lunch and to watch the Germany/Argentina World Cup game. We made friends with some locals and discovered Craic, said like crack, and we loved it! Craic is what the Irish refer to a good atmosphere with music and good conversation. It’s pretty funny when they use it in a sentence. For example, “go to Pub Celt, the “crack” is great there!”
Next, we went to the Guinness Storehouse to learn about the brewing of the finest porter. The best was the Gravity bar on the 7th floor of the building, which had panoramic window views of the whole city. It is the tallest structure in Dublin.
We got back on the bus and finished our tour of the city. After the tour, we went on a search for Shepherd’s pie but no one had heard of it!?!?! Finally, we stopped at the Oval on a recommendation, only to be disappointed because they only had Irish stew but we did get to watch the Spain/Paraguay game.

That night we went looking for some “crack” and found it at the Celt pub. This was definitely a local’s pub as we were the only non Irish folk there. They played amazing Irish music with a fiddler and all! They ended with some modern music with an Irish twist and we closed that pub down!
Sunday
We first went to visit Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells. It is considered the most beautiful book in the world.

We then went to St. Patrick's Cathedral and most importantly shopping on Grafton Street. that night we stayed in the outskirts of Dublin in the Clontarf Castle.

Monday
We picked up our rental car and headed to Kilkenny. En route we drove through the Wicklow mountains, it is famous for where Braveheart was filmed and was a very scenic drive with the narrowest roads we’ve driven (of course it was the first roads we drove too).

Next we stopped in Glendalough and visited the ruins of a monastery. It is well known for hiking trails which we attempted unsuccessfully, out of the 7 trails we chose the one less traveled which was unfortunately a steep hike to nowhere and had no views.
We saw one of the 13 round towers in Ireland.
We stayed in a hostel in Kilkenny and went to Matt The Mills pub where the locals go on Monday evenings for live music and more “crack.” Made fast friends with the local hurling team and again closed another pub down.





Tuesday
We woke up very late due to the over consumption of Guinness and headed quickly out of Kilkenny and ventured towards County Cork. We stopped at the Rock Cashel with the worst weather yet as it was rainy, windy and cold, but viewed another round tower.

That's all for now...it's not called drinking all day if you don't start in the morning, so we have to get up early. Cheers!

Last weeknd and Wedding!

First, here is a picture of me with my doormen, see how much cooler they are than the other guys. They were so unbelievable and could kick any other doorman's butt!

On Saturday, I met my team at a place called Akshardham Temple. The temple is amazing, simply put. Although they do not allow electronics, so no were cameras allowed, it was one of the best places I visited. It was the best experience mainly because it was not like any of the other temples, this one was more like Disney World on the inside. They had 3 main shows and they all were describing the history if India and had in depth details about India’s culture. We spent over 6 hours here and still didn’t get to see everything.

We did take pictures by photographers, for a fee, of course!

By far this was my favorite place in New Delhi. I learned so much about the history of India and their values and heritage, it was awesome.

On Monday night, I went to a real Indian wedding, OMG seriously … this wedding blows ours out of the water. It is so elaborate, it would be considered a BIG wedding in the states and I was told this was normal. Again, another great experience.

The groom arrives to the event first, on a horse with his family celebrating and dancing around him. It took about 45 minutes for him to walk up to the alter.

Then his bride arrived and met him on the stage where they exchanged leis. Then everyone celebrated their union and the alter rotated while shredded roses were shot out of a machine all around them covering the guests.

They proceed to another stage to greet their guests and get best wishes and pictures taken. While the party has dinner and socializes. This was only the first 3 hours and I was told it lasts around 24 hours. Sometimes can last a week, either way, it was so extraordinary!

I am sad and happy to say, I am leaving India today. I had a great time and saw some incredible places and met many amazing people. Now I am off to Ireland for a week long trip so more picture and stories to come! Wishing everyone a Happy Fourth of July, loving you!