Dublin girls in Dublin

I imagine everybody reading this blog is well aware that I come from the lush green, Irish fields of Dublin..... Ohio. ( Okay, so lush green and Irish isn't really accurate, but I do hail from the suburban town named after the capital of Ireland that hosts one of America's largest Irish festivals).  It seemed only natural to me, that when Elizabeth Cronic emailed to say she was planning to visit me in London and then wanted to take me away from my flat on a girls weekend (no kids or husband!) that we decided to head North to the actual Ireland.
(from here out I will refer to Elizabeth only as "Cronic" as it is hard for me to even think of her first name as I've been calling her Cronic for the majority of the 20 years I've known her).

We headed out of London at the crack of dawn... a 6 am flight out of a smallish airport here in London. For all my high school girlfriends reading my blog, Cronic is surprisingly perky at 4am when her alarm goes off. I was worried. One thing I've learned about her on our venture together is that when it comes to exploring Europe, she is ready to go and wants to do anything and everything...... we are great travel buddies.

We were at the home of Guinness, St. James Gate Brewery by 10 a.m.... because as I already told you, we are Dublin girls (and like to drink!)

We are both certified, Guinness Draft pourers - certificates and all to prove it!

Beers in the rooftop bar at Guinness with a 360 degree look at the city.

Dublin is a fantastic, clean, super friendly city. We were lucky enough to have beautiful weather the entire time we were there, which is pretty unusual mid-April.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

The beautiful river view right outside of the amazing hotel Cronic hooked us up with!

The Irish Coast - amazing how blue the water was.

And of course, Ireland wouldn't be Ireland if we didn't find as many pubs as possible. We were so fortunate to have Cronic's mom, a seasoned Dublin visitor ( who knows the bar scene well!), join us for a night and show us the most memorable pubs in Ireland.

The Temple Bar - fantastic music!

After years of going to The Brazen Head in Dublin, Ohio, we finally got to the real one - which is said to be the oldest bar in Ireland!

We got to listen to the most fantastic, what you think of when you think of Ireland, music at The Brazen Head on Sunday afternoon. It was just a group of Irish loving people, of all ages playing a bunch of instruments from guitars, to fiddles, to spoons.

The long weekend spent with Cronic was just what I needed. We could have stayed in our hotel room the entire time and I could have just laughed and gossiped with my old buddy all day. It was so nice catching up with both Cronic and her mama, and I look forward to planning my next euro-adventure with her!

P.S. As a little last insight into Cronic. She is the fun friend of Mommy's who brings gifts to the girls that look like this once opened. Obviously, a favorite visitor for the girls, and I am continuing to curse her under my breath as I find each strand of confetti and trinket toy around my flat three weeks later!

Looking forward to my next visit to Dublin and more days with Cronic, 

~Lo