Malahide Castle and Gardens

Visiting the Malahide Castle and Gardens was definitely one of my favorite things that Timmy and I did on our vacation in Ireland. We had Dublin Passes, so, we were able to visit the private gardens and do the quick tour of the inside of the castle for free. If we had not had Dublin Passes, we would have been happy with just visiting the public gardens and seeing the outside of the castle for free. The tour of the inside of the castle was neat, but very short; you were only able to see a couple rooms. They did not allow photos inside of the castle, so, there are no photos from the tour. And while the private gardens were beautiful, so were the public gardens (although not as meticulously landscaped).

There is also a free public area that has a large gift shop, a to-go cafe, and a restaurant. We grabbed some food from the cafe and ate right outside under a tree; when (hopefully not if) we go back to Malahide Castle, we are going to take the to-go food into the public garden where it is quieter.


You can view all the blog entries I have wrote about our Dublin vacation by clicking here.



I loved the long, peaceful walk from the streets of (the town of) Malahide to Malahide castle.


























The photos below are from the private gardens; the above photos were all from public areas.
















These last three photos are from the public gardens.






This photo was taken from my favorite place in the public gardens: under a large tree with a great view of the back of the castle.

Temple Bar Night Market

The Temple Bar Night Market was not far from our hotel. It was a fun experience because it was something that seemed a bit less touristy, and a bit more local-orientated.


You can view all the blog entries I have wrote about our Dublin vacation by clicking here.





Kathrina Rupit

Aviva Stadium tour

Timmy and I have been back from Dublin for two months and I've only gotten about halfway through posting my vacation photos. The sheer number of photos I took in Dublin has made the task especially daunting. In this post I will be sharing the photos from our tour of Aviva Stadium.

With our Dublin Passes we could have toured Aviva Stadium and Croke Park Stadium for free, however, we decided that a tour of just one stadium was enough for us. Even though Croke Park is the fourth largest stadium in Europe and home to the Gaelic Athletic Association headquarters, we went with the Aviva Stadium tour. We choose Aviva Stadium solely because it was within walking distance of somewhere else on the Dublin Pass that we wanted to visit, the Number Twenty Nine house. Cameras are not allowed on the tour of the Number Twenty Nine house, so, we did not get any photos, however, there is a virtual tour on their web-site.

When I looked up directions to the Aviva Stadium, I made the mistake of not looking up which side of the stadium we needed to go to for the tour. Lucky for us, an awesome employee was entering the stadium on the side of the building my directions lead us to, and he let us in, and lead us through the stadium to the side of the building we were supposed to go to for the tour.


You can view all the blog entries I have wrote about our Dublin vacation by clicking here.























This photo was taken from the same position as the above photo which makes me quite impressed with the zoom on my point-and-shoot camera.




Our tour guide in the media room. This (and the photos below) is actually where the tour started, however, I wanted to start the post with the photos of the field.






Guinness cooler in the locker room area




Practice room




I want a massive hot tub like these two that the players have.




Team showers




Locker room

What I Wore - Iowa State vs Iowa game

Yesterday was the Iowa State University versus University of Iowa football game. I love a chance to dress theme-y, so, I got dressed up in Iowa State's red and yellow/gold. In my complete overkill way, I totally would have wore yellow shoes had I owned any. I wore my Alika dress again, however, like last time, the photos were quite rushed.









My watch was still set in Dublin time and it made me a bit sad.




I love these sunglasses I got from Target. The front of them has this suede-like finish. I love them so much that I'm thinking of buying a second pair for when this pair inevitably breaks.






Here's a couple close-ups of the awesomeness that is these sunglasses.






Timmy was wearing his Adidas' where you can change the color of the stripes on the sides; so, he was wearing yellow on one side of each shoe, and red on the other.