We made it!... Barely. Julia had a pretty tough time on the flights over with some bad stomach pains that made it hard to get any rest. Despite a rough start, we got into Dublin feeling a lot better and connected with our tour director early in the morning. Julia and I, along with another couple in our tour group, caught a ride on the tour bus to the hotel where we got all settled into our rooms and FINALLY got to get some rest.

We set an alarm to only nap until noon so that we could adjust better and sleep tonight... The alarm didn't go off and we slept until 3:00PM. We planned on grabbing lunch when we woke up but plans changed to walking over to the market for a snack and waiting until the welcome dinner at 6:00PM. After a short walk from the hotel to the market and back, it was time to get ready for the welcome dinner in the dining hall of the hotel. We met with our tour director again along with about 40 other people in our tour group from all over the world. After some drinking and mingling, the food was brought out and it was time to eat. I don't know if it was because we were semi-starved or just having a good time but the food was delicious! They brought out a wide selection ranging from beef stroganoff to roasted potatoes and even gnocchi in cream sauce (Julia was very excited).

After a hardy meal and an introduction about how the tour is going to work, we left the dinner to explore the streets a bit more before it got dark (we learned it doesn't get dark until about 10:00PM). We just started walking around through the cityscape of Dublin and came upon St. Stephen Green's Park. The park was full of people, especially teens and young adults, all hanging out and drinking (up until the cops came to shoo them all out). After our break at the park, we headed back towards the hotel and decided to stop into a nearby cafe for a quick treat. We got back to the hotel just in time before it started to sprinkle and are about to knock out early to be up for an early 7:30AM breakfast and departure to explore more of Dublin tomorrow!

Internet is slow here so more picture uploads down the road.