Dublin and London- Caroline's visit!

Hello friends!

It has been exciting time since I posted last, as Caroline has been visiting! She arrived last Thursday for Chicago and is in London until February 2. Last weekend we went to Dublin and this week have been exploring London. Here are some picture highlights of her trip so far! 

First night in London. Black currant ciders at a pub in Covent Garden. 

In Dublin! This is in Temple Bar.

The Original

 We arrived Saturday morning and ventured to the Temple Bar Food Market. It was an incredible gathering of bakers, cheesemongers, produce folks, quiche makers, smoothie experts and so much more. We walked around many times before choosing what to buy for our brunch.

An antipasto stand. I'm not a huge olive fan, but I even loved these!

Check out that yummy pesto! They also had basil hummus which I sampled and loved. New idea!

Fresh blueberry and strawberry scones.

Probably the largest croissants I've ever seen. 

The textures were incredible.

These are all raw and vegan baked goods. 

Delicious Goat's cheese

Our Haul. Goat cheese, sourdough bread, strawberry bio yogurt and an antipasto assortment. Delish!

After our meal we started our sightseeing for the day. It was still relatively early which left Dublin quiet and manageable. First stop, Dublin Castle!

Occupy Dame Street. They are set up right in front of the Bank of Ireland which is a huge statement. 

The front of Trinity College. 

I couldn't take pictures of this but we saw the Book of Kells and the Long Room. Both were stunning. Caroline and I agreed the long room would be an awesome place for a wedding.

After that we toured Grafton Street, the famous high street. We saw some traditional musicians, or Trad for short.

Haha the leprechaun. 

We retreated back to Temple Bar where our hostel was and took a much needed nap. We were up at 2 AM to catch our flight!

After our nap we ventured back to Grafton Street for dinner and gelato. Caroline found a great place in the guide book, the Steps of Rome. 

Cheese, sausage and spinach. Awesome

Tiramisu gelato.

After this we went back to our hostel to get changed for the Pub Crawl! There's an organized Pub crawl you buy one ticket for and they take you to 5 pubs and then free VIP entry at the end into a club. Caroline and I went with 2 girls staying in our dorm at Abigail's, Anna and Mahall. They are from Paris! It was really fun going out with them.

After our first pub, the Workmans. With Mahall.

So I've skipped some in the middle, but now we are headed to our 4th pub, M.J. O'Neils. There was live music there!

The next morning we set out for Kilmainham Gaol and the Guinness Storehouse. Kilmainham Gaol is a famous old jail in Dublin that the English occupied during the Victorian era and where the leaders of the Irish rebellion were kept and killed. It was a chilling tour, but very well done. I am glad to have gone.

On the bank of the Liffey, a shot of the Millennium spire. 

Inside Kilmainham Gaol. An example cell.

This is the famous East Wing. Many movies are shot here. But this style of jail became popular because the guards could ALWAYS see you.

Outside at the place where the leaders we killed by gunfire. A commemorative flag, plague and cross stands there. 

 After the sobering jail we lifted our spirits by visiting the Guinness Storehouse. A museum of sorts (really a marketing ploy) that is everything you wanted to know about Black Gold. We had fun!

St. Jame's Gate. 

Our pints in the gravity bar. 

Looking good my love!

Now we're back in the hostel. About to sleep after our delicious Indian Food dinner. Bunk beds just like at Phantom all those years ago. 

Haha leaving Dublin.
Ryanair is a hilarious airline. So cheap, so corny. But so good. To speed up boarding they eliminate the sky-bridge and board in the front and back. The blades in the engine are moving. We thought this was an hilarious liability. 

London to Dublin and back. 680 miles.

Our routes in Dublin. 40 miles approx.

Now we are back in London! On Tuesday night we went clubbing at Ministry of Sound. It was so fun! 

Aww

Haha MOS is a pretty crazy place.

Our group! (Minus Aleeza) Katie, Caroline, Allie and Andrew. 

There she is :)

And this is Caroline's friend Hannah from Oberlin! She's staying with her next. Glad she came out!

Yesterday Caroline and I walked to Southbank and visited the Tate Modern. We walked across the Millennium pedestrian bridge too, which was awesome.

St. Paul's Cathedral and Millennium Bridge. 

The art was beautiful! Then we met up with Sofia for dinner at Nando's. Haha I keep saying Nando's would do so well in America! It's delicious Portuguese South African fusion food. I had a chicken burger with peri peri sauce.

Later that night we went to the Rocket near Passfield with Aleeza and Bernie.

Tomorrow we are thinking of checking out Camden and Saturday Borough Market most likely.

I have a lot of work to get done as well, because on Wednesday I leave for MOROCCO!!
Yes, I am going to Africa (technically) and am so excited. I'm going with Jeff, Bernie, Aleeza and Sofia. The next post will have those pictures and stories. We are planning on doing an overnight excursion in the Sahara with camel rides at sunrise and sunset. I literally can't wait.

I hope you all are doing well. Thinking of you!

Oh one last thing!
For my environmental economics class we are are learning how to do critical evaluation.
To learn we are doing a survey about JAGUARS to determine willingness to pay for a new exhibit.

May I ask that you all take it?
It will only be 4 minutes.
Thanks!

http://questionpro.com/t/AICNgZMmDB

Keep smiling :)
Hannah

Also this is my obsessed video of the week, Beyonce's Countdown. LOVE IT