We didn’t just go on a wim though. A college flatmate of Hedda, my girlfriend, was getting married, and I was the “plus 1″. For some reason they scheduled the wedding for a Sunday, but this gave us ample time to explore Dublin first.

Some things to do in Dublin (and if we got to do them):

• Guiness brewery: The Guiness brewery makes that darkest of beers Guiness. They also helped initiate the Guiness Book of World Records in 1951, originally to help settle bar disputs. Also from their brewery bar at the top floor you have an awesome 360 degree view of the extended Dublin area. We went there.
• Jamesons Whisky distillery: Jameson is one of the most famous irish whiskys and a natural ingredient in irish coffee. We didn’t get to go there.
• Trinity college: Founded in 1592 it’s one of the oldest remaining learning institutions in the world, and has a beautiful campus. We went there.
• Temple bar district: Ok, so I thought Temple bar was a actually a bar, but it turns out it’s actually a district of pubs and bars. Very high spirited nightlife, and when we went there we encountered atleast 10 hen-parties, some of which we’re very scantilly clad. Leave it to the irish to go all out, and leave it to the norwegians to like it!
• Phoenix park: This is the biggest enclosed park in Dublin, and it houses a number of famous landmarks, monuments and an entire zoo. We went there.

We also ate at a pretty good restaurant called Imperial Chinese restaurant. We started off with sharing some aromatic duck, then I had the Calamare in Satay sauce and Hedda had the Chicken in Satay sauce. The food was good, but it didn’t match the price at roughly €72. I feel this place rides along on it’s prime location between the Temple Bar district and the busiest shopping streets in Dublin.

While on the subject of shopping, Dublin is actually pretty reasonably priced. Ofcourse if buy a Levis 501 you’re going to pay about the same for it here as you would in London for instance, but I did found some cool t-shirts for less than €10, which would typically have cost €20-€30 in Norway.

All in all Dublin is a laid back city. The people are friendly, and unless you come between an irish and his pint, you’ll probably enjoy yourself tremendously.