“Oh, he occasionally takes an alcoholiday.” ~Oscar Wilde

Spring break was the first 2 weeks of March and my dad came to visit for the first week.  It was nice to have a little break in the semester and even better to have a visitor from back home.  My dad’s trip was delayed a day due to airplane malfunctions, but he made it in safely and then we rented a car and got him checked into a cute bed & breakfast for the week.  We decided to head into city centre to give him a little taste of Dublin, check out St. Stephen’s Green, and a bit of Grafton St.  Then we toured the Book of Kells exhibit at Trinity College and as we were exiting good ole Dublin weather decided to present us with some hail which lasted for all of 5 minutes and then the sun came back out. We ended the first day with dinner at my favorite pub.

Monday was a tour of coastal towns in the rental car while I feared for my life in the passenger seat as my dad tried his best not to hit curbs, cars, and everything else with the left side of the car. We started of in Dun Laoghaire with a walk along the pier and then headed into Dalkey where we walked around for a bit then grabbed lunch at a pub.  A long drive took us out to Glendalough Co Wicklow where there are walking trails, lakes, and monastic remains.  The scenery is beautiful and old ruins were just up my alley to photograph. 

On Tuesday, we decided to make our own tour of city centre and dad wanted to see a selection of different sites and churches, so we weaved our way around the city in a non-orderly fashion.  It was ordered chaos really. We, of course, had to hit up The Brazen Head (the oldest pub in Ireland) for a afternoon drink before heading to Guinness Storehouse to take a tour.  Guinness was good craic & got a pint in their bar overlooking Dublin which was kind of cool. 

Wednesday we headed out to Kildare to the Irish National Stud to tour their grounds.  They have an impressive set up for their horses and their stud horses are kept in the penthouse really.  Saw some mares with their foals (who doesn’t like seeing baby animals) and also climbed around a bizarre Japanese garden where dad almost broke his back.  My dad wanted to hear some trad music so into Dublin temple bar area for a lively night is what the doctor ordered. We started out at Oliver St John Gogarty for all of the popular Irish music and the guys were really great – took requests (so made a few of my fav).  We ate our dinner & had a few drinks there before heading off for some faster paced trad music at The Temple Bar. The pub was packed, but the music was class so it was well worth the squeeze. 

On Thursday, dad wanted to visit the Archaeology Museum so away we went to city centre.  Most of the museum was pretty damn boring except for the bog people really (but don’t tell my dad that). ;) We did a bit of gift shopping and then headed to O’Neill’s Pub for lunch as dad thought Justine would appreciate if we had lunch there. We schlepped around the city some more and then dinner was back at the best pub in the world. 

Friday was my dad’s last day in Dublin, so I made him go with me to the Jameson Distillery for a tour.  Our guide was a bit of a goober, but it was a good time and we got some jameson, so all around a successful tour.  Then we hit up Porterhouse in temple bar for lunch which is a nice little spot.  Dad did a stout sampler as he likes their handcrafted beers.  We had a very laidback day and then had a quiet dinner at an Italian joint near my flat – Casa Pasta. 

It was so nice to be able to show someone in my family where I live!  I love spending time with my dad and I really enjoyed his visit filled with drinking, laughs, getting lost a little, hugs, and ridiculous questions.