Discovering Dublin

 Safe to say, today was very eventful. We were awoken by the extremely relaxing sound of a fire alarm, caused by some burnt toast. Downstairs awaited a vast variety of breakfast treats ranging from fruit to (unburnt) toast and sausage rolls (to feed 10,000!) 

We then prepared ourselves for a thrilling boat ride, with Tour Guide Gerry, Skipper Tony and Driver Mark. We spent 45 minutes traversing the river Liffey, learning about Dublin’s history, architecture and 21 bridges. We were infuriated to hear that only one of them was named after a woman- Rosie Hackett, an inspiring (4 foot 11) Trade Union Leader. After that, we ventured out into the streets of Dublin to grab our lunch, with some choosing to taste Dublin’ finest cuisine, and others going to McDonald’s for lunch a few people also enjoyed bolognaise back at the hostel.  

We had a brief break, before the fun resumed, and we embarked on a mystery scavenger trail around the city. We had to find a range of statues, buildings, plaques and signs, and raced to be the first to find the hidden message. We then headed back to the hostel, to write this blog, and get ready to go out for our final dinner.

 

Evie Har and Jenny

This morning at 11, which felt too early for some of us, we hopped onto a snazzy rainbow coloured sightseeing boat.  We were met by our very enthusiastic tour guide Gerry who had a very thick Irish accent.  He gave us lots of historical information dotted with many dad jokes, not all of which got a laugh.  We were surprised by how low down the boat was as it felt like we were under the water at some point.  Our favourite fact was that only one of the 21 bridges has a goddess – Ann Olivia.  The swaying of the boat put some people into a quiet time of resting their eyes.

 Mystery Trail

At 2:00 we all met in the dining room and were briefed with what we were about to do. At first we were not as enthusiastic as we could have been but as we got going we started to enjoy it, and by the end we were pros. We used many skills during the challenge such as teamwork, co-operation and our brains. Some of our favourite parts of this experience were seeing Gogarty and Joyce two bronze statues int the Temple Bar area of Dublin; we also liked the colourful alley way here. We thoroughly enjoyed exploring Dublin.

Dinner out

At 6:30 we met outside of the hostel ready to head down to our dinner reservation. On the way down we saw a crowd of boys and girls in some interesting outfits. Once we got to bobo's, we all settled down ready for dinner. In 5 minutes they came and asked what drinks we wanted. Then we got our burgers; they had lettuce, onions, tomatoes and a really nice garlic sauce. And on the side, we got some chips which were delightful. Then we packed up and left with a full happy stomach.

Another great day all around.

Connie, Ava, Libby