After the big Treasure Hunt, we were in the mood for some food and some sitting. Luckily, Dublin on a Saturday afternoon is full of places for food and sitting, especially on a big holiday weekend.
Follow the jump for the full photo gallery and the play-by-play.
Right around the corner from Dublin City Hall is Temple Bar, famous as Dublin's big party town. It is that, but it is also Dublin's big creative corner. On Saturdays, it is host to the Temple Bar Food Market, one of our favorite stops on the weekends. Craft street food and organic meat and produce are on sale from a variety of weekly vendors. Some stop by for lunch, some stop by for their weekly supplies. We were just hungry for some lunch, and we could take our pick.
 |
| Temple Bar Food Market |
 |
| Food Market Oyster Bar |
We had an organic venison bratwurst with organic bean sprouts, spinach, and grilled onions. This was served on an artisan bun and... Heinz Ketchup and French's Yellow Mustard. I can hear the foodies now crying "NOOOOOOOO!"
Sara had a nice looking bruschetta from a baker who we happen to know also serves up a good cronut.
 |
| Bruschetta and Venison Bratwurst |
We headed over to VAT House in Temple Bar to collect a photo of the final "Welcome To" sign, as the Ireland/France game was set to kick off in mere hours. Imagine our horror when we saw our VAT buddies going for St. Patrick's Day instead of rugby for their sign. Oh well, we still think we got photos of all the rugby sings.
 |
| VAT House St. Patrick's Day Sign |
Our next activity was a craft food and drink festival. The food fair was similar to the one we visited during
Christmastime. We sampled some of the local cheese, bread, and chocolate before heading over to the craft beer and whiskey festival. The beer fair charged a flat entrance fee and sold reasonably-priced tickets for half-pints and pints of craft beers. With tickets in hand, we approached the massive line of taps. We sampled a black IPA, regular IPAs, red ales, and lagers.
 |
| Going to the Indoor Market |
 |
| Craft Beer Festival Sign |
 |
| Beer Board |
 |
| Beer |
 |
| More Beer |
 |
| Still More Beer |
 |
| O'Hara's Brewery Balloons |
After the beer festival, we made our way back toward City Centre to catch the rugby match. On the way, we passed by the funfair on the north wall quayside. My favorite ride was "The Superbowl," a tilt-a-whirl-like ride with unlicensed uses of American NFL football team names and logos. American readers will probably have bigger smiles when seeing the photos of DALLAS COWBOYS in orange.
 |
| Funfair |
 |
| The Superbowl |
 |
| Orange Cowboys, Green Rams, and Orange Jets |
The match was set to kick off at 5, and we needed a pub with two open chairs. It wasn't to be found anywhere in City Centre as the tourist crowds piled in with eager local rugby fans to every nearby pub. We walked down Baggot Street, checking each pub as we went. As we got farther away from City Centre, we noticed fewer and fewer green leprechaun hats and Irish flag capes. Finally, we arrived at The Wellington, devoid of Paddy's Day kitsch. We got our drinks and watched every second of a fantastic victory for Ireland.
After the game, we got a snack (and a shake) at Eddie Rocket's, the local chain of conveniently-located Americana restaurants. On our way home through Ballsbridge, we spied some of the green-lit buildings honoring the holiday. The RDS and the US Embassy posed for their closeups.
 |
| Drinks for the Match |
 |
| Rocket Shake |
 |
| US Embassy |
 |
| Royal Dublin Society |
Stay tuned for the continuing Paddy's Day adventures!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment, we'd love to hear what you think! Comments are word verified to prevent SPAM.