Another Dublin Day.

Saturday we decided to delay our bus trip back to Belfast until the evening in order to spend our day seeing more of the city in Dublin. We caught breakfast at the hostel, turned in our keys to check out, and caught the tram to the far end of town to start our day.

Our first stop on the far west side of Dublin was Phoenix Park. This is a massive public park that has the home of the Irish president, several monuments, the American Embassy, and the Irish gardens.

The Wellington Monument

Bethany, trying to read the park map.

The "football pitch," one of the several sports fields in the park.

The president of the republic lives in a house called Áras an Uachtaráin, built originally by an English lord. The presidential abode should look quite familiar to Americans, as it was the basis for the design of our the White House in DC.

Áras an Uachtaráin, from the green.

The American embassy, just across the street from the president's home.

Bethy, walking through the park.

We wanted to see the Irish garden show, but it was a bit pricey to get in, and Beth mostly just wanted to see the castle. So instead, we made a pact to see some castles on the northern coast, and we moved on out of the park to see the rest of the city. We headed south to look at the Guinness brewery and storehouse.

The side of the storehouse building.

Again, the 15 euro price for the tour was a little too high for us, but we poked around the store a bit, bought some souvenirs. It was a nice little detour, and I'm sure the tour would have been really interesting and informative, except that neither Bethany or I care for anything related to beer, so we were generally disinterested.

After browsing the store and buying some glasses, we both decided it was plenty time to head over and see St. Patricks Cathedral.

The cathedral from the gardens. 

Unfortunately, there was yet another charge to get into the cathedral, and they didn't take Visa. We perused the gardens and snapped tons of photos though, then finished our circle through the city, heading in to Temple Bar for some last minute souvenirs and photos on the way to the bus station.

The Dublin Customs House.

The Ulster Bank Building.

After snapping some quick photos and a shopping spree at the Hard Rock Cafe, we were on our bus and on our way to Belfast. Dublin was definitely fun, and the tours we did were not only fun, but really informative. I wish we could have had some more time in Howth, especially to explore the coast a bit, and I think it'll be going on my list of places to visit again.