This is my Ode to Oriole in Chicago. My amazing husband brought me here for my birthday this year. Oriole is a two-star Michelin restaurant on the near north side of Chicago, and for me, it probably deserves a third star. I didn’t really want to do a full review of the place, it was my birthday after all, but I did take a ton of photos of my experience here, and I wanted to document it on my blog…
Dublin has a rich Catholic history, but the two main Cathedrals that you can visit in Dublin are no longer Catholic. This article is going to focus on Christ Church Cathedral and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. We came to St. Patrick’s Cathedral first, and it cost 8 Euro to get in for adults. There was no line when we arrived, and we didn’t get tickets in advance, but as we were leaving a bus full of tourists arrived and the line…
This is a post dedicated to the primary reason why I enjoy Dublin so much – the parks and the rich literary history coming from here. It really helps to come to Dublin if you enjoy literature, because apart from drinking, literature is the next biggest thing here. Dublin is full of bookstores – both used and new – and has an enormous literary history which continues to develop with modern Irish authors to this day. Dublin is proud of…
Every year, I take Brian out for his birthday to a fancy steakhouse here in Chicago. Chicago is known for its steakhouses, and there are no shortage of restaurants to choose from. GT Prime is one of the only ones we haven’t visited yet, and getting reservations early on a Tuesday evening was easy. The restaurant itself has a very moody, yet bright vibe, with black-brown floors and tables and walls, but bright bronze-gold accents and lighter brown leather chairs…
Some people say you can skip the Guinness Storehouse because it’s touristy and you don’t actually get to see the beer being made. When I was in Dublin in 2012 I did skip it, but I always kind of regretted it. This time, I made a point to be sure we came here. How can you go to Dublin and not pay homage to the most Irish of all beers? I purchased tickets in advance, which I highly recommend, just…
We stayed at the Shelbourne for five nights from October 20-25, 2022. I chose this place for a ton of reasons, but the number one reason was to use up a bunch of Marriott Bonvoy points that had accumulated over the pandemic. Because I was using old travel credits for the flights for this trip, I wanted the trip to be as free as possible, so I cashed out about 250,000 Marriott points to stay at one of the most…
So I love doing a high tea when I go on vacation – especially if there is a fancy one in a fancy hotel that is KNOWN for tea. (I also love a high tea here in Chicago as there are a ton of amazing places for it!) Tea is also a great thing to do on the first day when you arrive in Europe or somewhere else where you may be feeling pretty tired or jet laggy. The 2…
Dublin Castle is a nice way to spend about an hour of your time while in Dublin. It’s not as grand as The Palacio Real in Madrid (which you can read all about here!) and doesn’t even come close to the grandeur of Versailles, but it is a neat place nonetheless. We came here early on a Saturday morning, and while I did get tickets in advance, it was not necessary since there were barely any people here. You are…
We were very excited to add another Michelin Star to our list, and Glover’s Alley in Dublin was the place where we did it. While I can’t say it was the best meal we had in Dublin, it was certainly the longest and most expensive. The best part about our meal were the wines, which were all incredibly exquisite. The place itself is super cool with an ultra mid-century vibe. The upholstery is pink and velvety, or teal and leathery,…
The National Gallery was at the top of our list of places to visit on our short trip to Dublin. Can you guess why? Yes! They have a Caravaggio! The Gallery is centrally located, right on Merrion Square just to the east of Trinity College. We trudged here in the absolutely pouring rain. Unfortunately, they did not have an operating cloak room or lockers, so we had to carry our wet jackets and umbrellas around. The National Gallery is free,…