"When I die, Dublin will be written on my heart"

Dublin gave me the opposite experience that Genoa gave me. My mother's side of the family is from Ireland. Although I never felt a desire to visit a place that was known for it's scenery, I had the magical feeling I was looking for when I visited the town that my paternal grandmother's family was from.

Like Verona, Dublin provides an intimate feel of being a small city. Dublin is definitely larger than Verona, but it doesn't feel overwhelming like Milan, NYC, or Rome. Around every corner, Dublin seems to twinkle. When I was learning about the history of Ireland, all of a sudden my personality made more sense. More so than the Italian side, I feel more connected and aligned with my Irish roots. It seems the only thing I didn't inherit, was the love for drinking the Irish apparently have. (I'm not going with a stereotype - the Irish tour guides made jokes about this themselves.)

I sadly never made it to Sligo, Ireland - which is where relatives of mine still reside. But getting to be in the country where my ancestors migrated from - I did feel like I was one step closer to getting to understand myself.