TravBlog: Taking Dublin by Storm

Continuing the pattern of going on girls trip, moi and my lovely partner in crime, Tiana decided to do a girly getaway to Dublin. In return, Dublin delivered a perfect girls' trip filled with shopping, great food, socializing and partying (of course!)

We arrived to Dublin at 10 pm - perfect time to get to your hotel, pretty up, and start the night! We sampled 2 clubs that evening: Krystal, and 'the one right next to it but I can't remember the name' (as I refer to it hehe). I found the Dublin nightlife a lot more relaxed compared to London in terms of both club appearance and how people dress to impress. Krystal was supposed to be one of the snooty clubs, and it did in fact proof to be very snooty with respect to service, but quite regular by all other standards. We wrapped up at 3 and called it an early night.

The next day was all about recharging with some shopping and sightseeing. The weather gods were on our side, and though it was supposed to rain all weekend, we got an absolutely beautiful sunny morning and just a couple of sporadic rain showers in the evening. It was actually kind of convenient because we used the rainy time as an excuse to pop into a pub (the Auld Dubliner) for a tasty lunch with some live musical entertainment, or spend half an hour in the biggest souvenir shop I've ever seen lol. I was surprised to see a lot of art dealers in Dublin, and good and cheap ones at that! We drove by a park that had its whole perimeter surrounded with artists' stalls for all tastes. Perhaps I had my eyes open for this because I just moved and am looking for decoration pieces! I would have to say that our sightseeing day turned into 20% sightseeing and 80% shopping, but the sightseeing is not huge in Dublin - Christ Church Cathedral (just a cathedral), the Dublin castle (under construction), the Temple Bar area (now that was fun and happening) and the Guinness Storehouse (that we never got to lol).

Our night #2 started with a fantastic steak dinner at Marco Pierre White - the youngest UK chef to receive a Michelin star. I truly thought that this place was on par with the Palm and Gaucho in London, with with a side of extra good service (i.e. complimentary champagne for waiting, how can you not be pleased with that). After dinner we set off to the neighbouring Cafe en Seine - a great 'grab a drink' place as it was described to us...but we did not expect a 3 storey wickedly decorated bar with a dance floor where we ended up staying until pretty much the morning. It was a hilarious night out and we learned that too many people in Ireland like to dance with their elbows - never seen so many aggressive dancers in one place in my life! hehe.

Sadly, Sunday was time to go home :( The weather has turned for the worst (i.e. +12 and wind and rain...i.e. typical Ireland/UK summer) anyways, so it was our cue to leave. Here are our adventures in pix!

Partying @ Krystal