england & ireland: pt. 3

   

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After a couple of days in London & finally meeting up with Big Jerry & Tess after their eventful mission trip to Belize, we ended up in Dublin, Ireland. First of all, the flight from Heathrow to Dublin is the easiest thing ever. Hop on, sit, drink some hot tea, hop off, catch a taxi, and bam!...Dublin. By the way, it's SO GREEN. And there is free wi-fi everywhere you go. #winning

We were only in Dublin for 2 days, so we researched some things you cannot leave Dublin without seeing & pretty much did the touristy thing. Although, it wasn't too bad considering Dublin is a hoppin' city, but it's small & very easy to navigate (at least compared to London!). We stopped by St. Stephen's Green, Trinity College & its Old Library, Grafton Street, Guinness Storehouse, 3fe Coffee, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Murphy's Ice Cream, and Temple Bar. All in 1 day. It was awesome!

I only shot black & white film and with my iPhone in Dublin. I love capturing city life in black & white, however Dublin is such a colorful city so I'm glad I at least shot on my iPhone to capture it all! To see all the details on the instagram shots below, go check out my page!

 

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I love quiet little moments like this girl feeding the geese. It reminds me of my childhood when we would take all our old bread to the parks in England and get swarmed by the ducks and geese.

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We stopped by the Old Library at Trinity College early in the morning on our second day in Dublin. This was such a beautiful place. A library that you dream about...of course, I dreamed I was Belle in the Beast's library. We went to go see the Book of Kells, which was stunning. The exhibit before the Book discusses the details of creating books and illuminated manuscripts, something incredible to see after my art history class of medieval monsters in religious books! While there are no pictures from there, here are some beautiful shots from the Library upstairs!

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The Dublin Dental Hospital & School for Jerry!

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Inside St. Patrick's Cathedral. Such a colorful place inside, but quite a hefty fee to go in. Since when do churches charge to go to church? Although, considering the economic hit Ireland took in the last 5 years, I don't blame them.

After St. Patrick's Cathedral, we trekked across the city to the Guinness Storehouse...that's a good walk by the way so be ready, or take a taxi. This was a neat museum on Guinness and the company as a whole. It was all inside of "the world's largest pint glass," which decided to be clever and add a "foamy head" to their ceiling in their top-floor pub. It's amazing the impact Guinness has on Dublin and Ireland. They were one of the first companies in the world to offer paid vacation, so I'll drink a Guinness to that!

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And what's better than Ice Cream after a day of miles of walking? Murphy's Ice Cream is what Ireland is clearly the best. Ireland is very proud of everything Irish. And they should be proud! Locally grown, locally produced, locally consumed & mostly always organic! They have figured out the system and it's quite a delicious one. Murphy's Ice Cream is handmade in Dingle, a small little coastal town (post coming soon!) and their signature flavor is Sea Salt. SO GOOD! They also have crunchy peanut butter, Bailey's Irish Cream, Guinness, & Brown Bread just to name a few flavors!

Also, the best treat of all to me (& thank you for walking 1.5 miles for a great cup of coffee), was to find the best coffee-house in Dublin. 3fe Coffee had tons of people talking online, especially about their latte & home-roasted beans. So we walked...and walked...and walked just so I could get a cup. It was so worth it though. Just as smooth and creamy and absolutely beautiful (love their latte art!) as I expected it to be! And as a plus, we got to see a cool little school multicultural parade while we were sipping away!

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Thanks for following along! My plan is to have some photos of our Castle Tower house in Limerick up tomorrow!

 

england & ireland: pt. 1.

   

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Hello lovely blog readers! It's been a good while, but alas, all photos & film from England & Ireland are edited, imaged, & ready for you to see. Sorry to those I made wait, but you don't have to anymore! This summer, I traveled abroad with Jerry's family after getting back from Texas the day before. Head's up, traveling 8,000 miles in 3 days is exhausting, but it was an experience that I wouldn't give up for anything!  Basically, London pounced on me this summer! Between the Jubilee & the Royal Baby, London was one crazy busy city in July that surprised me out of nowhere! Between school, graduation, Journalism Camp, then traveling to Texas, then back to NC, then overseas, I'm still not sure I've had a chance to take a breath since last summer, let alone be prepared to welcome a Royal Baby! Either way, I couldn't be more blessed to travel the world & take my cameras along with me.

For all you photo nerds out there, this summer, I stuck with my 3 best friends, my D800 & my dad's trusty ol' Nikon FM & my handy dandy iphone. I decided to try my hand at more color film this summer along with my black & white, so for all you film nerds out there, TMAX 400 & Fuji Pro 400h are what you'll see (although the pro 400h doesn't come in until Ireland).

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Breakfast tea & dropped scones served in only the shiniest of silver at Browns Hotel.

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Green Park & Harrods: two of my favorite London places to explore.

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The days after the Jubilee, Carnaby Place stayed decorated in sequined Union Jacks.

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Jubilee flags grace the streets of London.

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From the top of the London Eye.

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Anxiously awaiting the Royal Baby's grand entrance into the world!

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The clock wall in the Kitchen Supplies section of Harrods.

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Exploring the Supreme Court.

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King's Cross Station...

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...& then this happened (me, not Jerry)! Off to Hogwarts I go!!

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More chocolate...Just can't ever get enough of this stuff. Followed by some night shots of the city!

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20130804_allen_ireland-372i And if you want my play-by-play of the city, go head over to my instagram account, @viedfinder, to view these pictures in a not so tiny way! london insta dip

My day with Uncle Dana & Aunt Lin is up tomorrow! Get ready for some really awesome 900-year-old English pubs!