When I arrived back in Dublin, two of my favorite rock star friends from LA were already here for an Irish vacation. For those of you who don't know, I met George and Marisa separately at the Cat Club in Hollywood as I used to watch George's amazing band "JAY" perform there and Marisa and I became friends when she was cocktail waitressing there several years ago. She is also a beautiful actress/model and most importantly, one of my best friends...and of course, my favorite make-up artist:) George and Marisa later met and began dating and I love that we have all remained such close friends over the years. I also think it's funny how The Cat Club has brought so many people together.
It was so nice to come back to some of my LA peeps already in town. It was a godsend to have them in Dublin upon my return as I was feeling a bit nervous to return due to my recent health scare and as I entered the door of my apartment, they had already stocked my fridge with food from the local Superquinn and even put pretty yellow daisies in the window sill. What a wonderful way to come back to Dublin:)
So I pretty much threw down my suitcases, didn't even unpack and let the adventure began. We spent the first day in Dublin doing fun touristy things that I hadn't even seen yet. We visited the Guinness Storehouse where at the end of the tour, every guest gets a free pint of Guinness. What I didn't know was how beautiful the view was from the top of the factory. The glass windows of the top of the circular building show quite an impressive view over the city. We then took a walk down to the Christ Church Cathedral and decided not to enter when we realized they were actually charging an entry fee to enter the church which neither I or Marisa had ever heard of. We eventually headed back to the Dart and into Blackrock for a night of R&R as I was still jet lagged from the long trip from LA.
The next day we decided to take a road trip to the quaint town of Kilkenny where we roamed the streets sight seeing and taking in the beauty of the town. We had lunch in a pub, took a tour of the Kilkenny Castle and learned of the history of the Butler family who owned the castle until the early 1900's. We also saw a nice modern art exhibition in the basement and had fun taking pictures Charlie's Angel style in the shadow of the visual exhibition. We then strolled through High Street and took a tour of the St. Canice's Cathedral (we decided it was worth paying to see this one) where not only were the stained glass windows breathtaking, but you can climb a tower and see views of the entire city. George and I then hit a local Kilkenny pub for a pint of Smithwick's and a chat with the locals while Marisa headed to the Black Abbey. We met a hilarious man wearing a bright green cowboy hat who was performing that evening who did a solo performance for us before heading back to Dublin.
Marisa and George did a tour of the Ring of Kerry on Friday while I worked and then after much debate over what we should plan for the weekend (Galway, Dublin and the Roscommon Festival were all possibilities), we decided to do a walking tour of Dublin on Saturday. We started with lunch, and then signed up for a walking tour where we toured Trinity College, learned about the Vikings invasion of Dublin in the late 8th century, visited the City Hall (originally built as the Royal Exchange) and the Bank of Ireland which was the first parliament house in Europe and then headed into Temple Bar lined with cobblestone streets which hosts a variety of pubs, shops and my favorite, the Irish Film Institute.
After all of the cultural stimulation of the walking tour, we decided to find some art and music in the city so we headed to 4 Dame Lane where they were hosting a painting exhibit for a pint. We then pub crawled down Aungier Street to find live music and eventually landed at the Crawdaddy in the Tripod for live rock and roll music mixed with DJ rooms for dancing. It was an all nighter and so much fun:)
Sunday we chilled and headed to Dun Laighoire for a traditional Irish lunch in a pub and took the train to Dalkey for a bit of site seeing. We then headed back to Blackrock for dessert at Sheehan's. Their chocolate cake is amazing!
Unfortunately, George and Marisa had to return to LA on Monday morning and after a crazy adventure of flights, rented cars, etc. finally made it back to LA about 30 hours later. Another reason that I love the direct Aer Lingus 10 hour flight from Dublin to LA.
It was a fabulous week and I was so happy to have them in town when I arrived back in Dublin to continue the adventure.
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