This last weekend, from Friday 25th to Sunday 27th of January 2008, I travelled to Dublin, Ireland with a few friends from work, and a few of their friends. The trip was arranged by Ben, one of the other Aussies who worked at Opera, who’s now going back to Australia to study.

After arriving on Friday night, we went out to a few irish pubs in in the Temple Bar area — an region featuring many different pubs. I stayed in a backpacker hostel called Avalon House, sharing a 4 bed room with 3 others. The room itself was small, but clean. However, the bathroom needed maintenance and the breakfast they served (toast and jam , with orange juice, tea or coffee) was not that great.

On Saturday, we walked around the city to do some sight seeing. I took lots of photos, which I will publish on flickr in the next few days. In the afternoon, we toured the Guiness Storehouse, which was really interesting. I took some photos, but only managed to get them near the beginning of the tour because my camera batteries died.

After the tour, we we given a complimentary pint of Guinness in The Gravity Bar, the 7th floor with an almost 360 view of Dublin. After we left the Guinness Storehouse, we rode back to the Temple Bar in a horse and carriage, where we had dinner and did a little shopping before going out to some pubs. Of course, as all Aussies should know, Saturday was Australia Day, and it was great to be able to celebrate it in the traditional irish way: by getting drunk! 🙂

On Sunday morning, I decided to skip the breakfast at the hostel and went out for a delicious, traditional Irish breakfast. It was very much like the kind of cooked breakfasts we would get in Australia, with egg, bacon, baked beans and toast. The rest of the morning was mostly spent wandering around the shops, before having lunch in the park and then heading off to the airport.