3D Trip 2022 Day 2 - Espress Yourself
Jenn made it. After a very busy four days of work in Dublin, she made it through and today was time to start our vacation in earnest. We woke up a little after 9AM Jenn ordered us room service and I went down to the gym to get a run in. We both had eggs, mushrooms, and bacon for breakfast with pastries, orange juice and coffee. It wasn’t anything to write home about but since it came with the room we enjoyed it before venturing out.
Planning for the weather in Dublin has been tricky and today stayed mostly overcast with small dashes of mist at points, never enough to need an umbrella. We made our way from our hotel (The Marker) to our first stop of the day, Irish Whiskey Museum. We booked the hour-tour where we learned about the origins of Irish whiskey, a bit of Irish history and lore, and some other random tidbits that I can’t decide whether they were fact or fiction. The one-hour tour ended with three whiskey tastings. Jenn didn’t like any of them and I wasn't a huge fan either. We left slightly buzzed and ready for some food.
We were planning to go to a pub but even though the reviews were great the place looked to touristy and so a few feet away was another Bunsen (the same place I ate last night). Jenn being jealous of my burger from the night before said she wanted to try it and so we both got some burgers and fries and watched people take photos in front of The Temple Bar right across from where we were eating.
From lunch, we made the twenty-minute walk to The National Gallery of Ireland. On the walk to the gallery, we stumbled into a different small pop-up gallery that had some beautiful works all by Irish artists There were a couple of paintings that we might have even given a second look to purchase had they not already been sold. From there we made our way to the National Gallery which far exceeded our expectations. They had some beautiful Monet and Picasso’s right on the first floor and some truly beautiful pieces. Unfortunately, because today was the start of our trip the jet lag had caught up to both of us, so we didn’t spend nearly as much time there as we had hoped. But from the little time we did spend, we loved it.
We made our way from the museum back to our hotel. On the way we stopped at a Starbucks and got Jenn her first of two mugs for the trip, a staple of any of our journeys. We also made our way through St. Stephens Green Park a beautiful park in the middle of Dublin. As we were walking through it and taking in the beautiful green Jenn said how much she loves city parks and I tend to agree. There’s something really special about a beautiful green refuge in the middle of a bustling city. Our last stop before getting back to the hotel was at Bear Market Coffee where I got a cappuccino. From there we arrived back at our hotel while we both rested for the next couple of hours.
Luckily our day wasn’t finished just yet, as our next stop was one of the most exciting of our time in Dublin, the one-Michelin star restaurant, Glovers Alley. We got there at 6:30 PM which I guess is early in Dublin because we were one of the first people to arrive. We were sat at the window seat overlooking St. Stephens Green Park and started with a glass of sparkling Rose. From there we embarked on a stunning three-course meal that began with two small tastes and some bread all of which was perfection. For our first course Jenn had the Dublin bay prawns, tomato, hollandaise, and lardo. While I had the celeriac, button Mushroom, egg Yolk, iberico ham. For our main course Jenn had the comeragh mountain lamb, with black curry ratatouille. While I had the winetavern farm suckling pig, carrot, date, and endive. For dessert Jenn had the Îles flottante, strawberry, madagascar vanilla and I had their deconstructed tiramisu. The entire meal was out of this world, simple dishes with robust flavors and excellent presentation. I’ve never heard of Dublin being much of a food city, but todays meal was quite impressive.
We couldn’t let the night end just yet. Thanks to the same YouTube video that brought me to Bunsen, we decided to check out a speakeasy called Peruke & Periwig. Luckily for us it was only a few minutes from Glovers Alley, unfortunately though our reservation wasn’t until 9:30 so we had some time to kill so we walked up and down Grafton street doing some window shopping and enjoying the street performers. When it was time to head back to the bar we got a table on the second floor and enjoyed their drinks named after famous songs. Jenn got the “Put the lime in the coconut” which was a Pina colada, and I had “Espresso Yourself” an espresso martini. Both were good and we really enjoyed the nightcap to close off an excellent first full-day of our vacation.
