Andy and I did our souvenir shopping (which was mostly food!) almost entirely at a store called Dunnes. It’s a lot like Target–it has food, but also clothing, home goods, and other things. There are locations all over the city, some of which are “express” locations and maybe just have food or just have ladies’ clothing. I had heard so much about Dunnes from Andy’s mom, whose dad liked to go there, that it was fun to finally see it. Grandpa Dave took visits to Target and Wal Mart when he came to the States for our wedding, and I enjoyed visiting “his” equivalent.

When we got back to the hotel, Andy spotted our savings on the receipt!

If we lived in Ireland, I wonder if Dunnes would be among the stores where I couponed…

While our recent trip to Ireland was obviously not a pleasure trip and it had its somber times, our hotel was in a great location so as to be conducive to some sightseeing. We were within walking distance of most of the major attractions of Dublin, so amongst the planned family events we were able to slip out for some “touristy” action. I unfortunately didn’t start taking pictures until our second to last day, and these are all just with my iPhone, but they’ll get the point across!

Our hotel, across from Christ Church Cathedral.

The view from our hotel room…can’t complain about that!

 The view up Dame Street (a pretty major drag that changes names about 5 times) from outside Trinity College.

The church where the funeral was, which is also where my in-laws got married.

Trinity College, where I went to see The Book of Kells and the amazing “long room” of the old library. (I wasn’t allowed to take pictures inside, but I bought a postcard!)

Outside the Guinness Storehouse, which used to be the active brewery. Arthur Guinness had such faith in his product that he signed a 9000 year lease on the building! It’s now a museum and has a circular bar at the top allowing for these spectacular views of the city.

We were incredibly blessed with unseasonably warm and sunny weather while we were there, allowing us to be really mobile in our sightseeing. We did a lot of just wandering around even the first day we landed! The trip was long enough that it didn’t feel like a whirlwind, but there is definitely more to see and do on a future trip to Dublin.

When I travel, food is both the most interesting and the most troubling thing. I am very set in my eating routines as far as times and types of food I like to have. How I feel depends a lot on how and when I am eating. So when I travel, I tend to carry a lot of snacks, because I know I’ll get anxious if I’m trying to be on someone else’s eating schedule. That way I can just know that I’m able to stave off hunger of my own accord. That said, I also LOVE to try new and local things when I travel! I didn’t keep a record of all the things we ate in Ireland, but here are just a few thoughts.

• I am one of the few people on the world who actually enjoys airplane food. It's not necessarily the food itself (which is usually mediocre), but it's the excitement of all the little packages you get. I have a lot of respect for the creativity of the person who has to come up with meal ideas to make en masse and feed a wide variety of appetites. I love that you get a little individual loaf of bread with butter, and there always seems to be cheese and crackers as well. I scarf down every bite of every meal they bring by on the plane. On the way home yesterday we had a pizza panini and a little tub of ice cream as a snack. How fun!
• Breakfast can be the trickiest meal of the day for me because, more often than not, I wake up hungry. I also have learned the hard way that I need protein in my breakfast if I'm going to avoid having a food crisis within a short period of time. Our hotel had a breakfast option, but it was 9.99...EUROS. So, pretty expensive. Rather than try and meet up with family every morning for breakfast, I found myself venturing out to bring back goodies for Andy and me. Two mornings I went to a store that is kind of like 7-11, which I would not normally consider as an option in the States! But I was able to bring back fruits, yogurts, scones, and coffees for around 8 euros for both of us. Much better! I enjoyed trying unique flavors of yogurt like rhubarb and gooesberry. I also checked out a local bakery one morning as well. The last morning was Sunday, so the bakery was closed! But I found "portable porridge" in the grocery store--basically instant oatmeal, but it sounds so much more fun when it's called portable porridge.
• After the removal service on Thursday evening and the funeral mass and burial on Friday, family and friends all had an opportunity to gather for tea and sandwiches. Both places that catered to us provided trays upon trays of sandwiches, most of which were on plain white bread and all of which had ingredients that seemed unique to me! My favorite was the ham...with butter. I would have never thought to put butter on a sandwich!
• On the topic of lunches, it was great and inexpensive to go almost anywhere and grab a bowl of delicious creamy vegetable soup, which came with a good healthy chunk of Irish brown bread and, of course, good butter.
• Since we've established that I like food, and I have gotten a chance since knowing Andy to sample some fun Irish goodies, the vast majority of the souvenirs we brought back were food. Here's our haul: All kinds of chocolates and candies, as well as some mixes to make Irish brown bread and scones! My mother-in-law likes these mixes, so I feel like that gives them an Irish stamp of approval. A pack of Irish breakfast tea from Bewley's (a Dublin institution) and a silly Wacky Woolies cup round out the lot. We'll probably need help getting all this eaten!!
• I had fun trying different types of beverages while over there. It seemed like just about every night we were getting together with family for drinks, so I had ample opportunity. I know I like hard ciders, so I was excited to find this Irish brand:  And here I am trying my first Guinness while on a tour of the Guinness Storehouse: (I was not a big fan, but when in Dublin you've gotta try "the black stuff.) I also had a really odd drink per the suggestion of one of Andy's cousins called WKD (pronounced "wicked") Blue. It was like a sugary blue soda with vodka in it. I don't know what flavor blue is, but it was definitely blue. I rounded out the trip with a good ole Bailey's Coffee, in its homeland. (I sound like I drank a lot, but these were all on separate nights! Exploratory tastings, we'll call them.)

Ultimately what I found is that the food is not so different from here! There are, of course, specialties, and I unfortunately didn’t get to indulge in a true Irish breakfast (which I bet I would love), but I had several traditional items like scones and fish and chips. The main difference I noticed was that there were a lot fewer fruits and vegetables included, at least at the restaurants. But when I asked Andy’s cousins what kinds of things they cook, it sounded pretty similar to what I eat here!

Andy and I just got back from a short and unexpected trip to Ireland to celebrate the life of his Grandma Phyllis, who passed away last Sunday. Her husband, Grandpa Dave, passed away at the end of January, and we were unable to make it over for any of the services, but it was very special that we were able to go quickly this time and remember both of them.

Andy’s mother is Irish, born and raised in Dublin until she was swept of her feet by a U.S. Marine and whisked away to Hawaii (and many other places thereafter)! So her siblings and their children are all still there. A group of them, including the grandparents, were miraculously able to make it to Alabama for our wedding almost 2 years ago.

Here they are on the far right:

I don’t know whether it is Irish tradition or Catholic tradition (or some of both), but the way we celebrated Grandma Phyllis was with the “removal” on Thursday evening (a brief visitation time at the funeral home, then a move to the church, and then a time of prayer at the church) and a funeral mass on Friday, followed by a short graveside burial service at the cemetery.

I had only met Grandma Phyllis the one time, and to be honest much of my wedding weekend is a blur. But from the stories I’ve heard, especially in the eulogy and over the course of our time with family, I think I would have liked her. She was full of spunk, opinionated, loved to read and travel, and loved Gone with the Wind. It was humbling to hear repeated mention of our wedding and realize just what a big deal it had been for EVERYONE. Here’s Grandma Phyllis cutting a rug with Andy at our wedding:

Though we didn’t get to say goodbye in person, it was a special time to share with my family-in-law. We were able to do some sight-seeing as well, and I’ve got a full slate of posts coming up this week, so stay tuned!

I’m going to be absent from the blog this week due to some family events that have come up. Life happens! I’m always thinking of posts I want to write for you, though, and I’ll be back with ya next week. Stay tuned!