Day 2- Dublin

Grabbed breakfast in the ground floor breakfast room. It is located at the back of the townhouse. The front room is occupied by the manager, who cooks, sleeps, eats, and hangs laundry, while making his living.

Then we boarded the hop on, hop off bus to take a ride to St. Patrick's Cathedral. Built by the first Anglo-Norman Bishop, John Comyn in 1192, it is also the site of Jonathan Swift's ( author of Gulliver's Travels) tomb.

We proceeded to the Guinness Storehouse and used discount passes to buy tickets. The first floor starts with vast quantities of grain, in which you can stick your hands and feel what will become the famous Guinness. Each floor includes another step in the brewing process. One floor displays models of trains, boats, and wagons, which carried Guinness. That room also includes a WWI bomb that was dropped on the city. We stopped briefly to eat and fortify ourselves for the fun to come. We resumed our way up to the area, where you could use your drink ticket to learn how to draw a proper pint of Guinness. Or you could hold on to your ticket and purchase a Guinness with a shamrock imprinted on the foam at the top floor, which is a glass circled room looking over a fantastic panorama of Dublin. Good Guinness, lovely music, happy people!

Off to the next stop, we unloaded in front of the National Irish Museum located in the former military barracks. Therein we found a collection of Asian art, including a Chinese warrior's armor, an inlaid carrier for one person, which would have been transported by four people, and very old pottery. There were significant silver and gold pieces from the Church and various estates. And a wonderful exhibit about a female Irish architect who was ahead of her time with her innovations and career.

Getting to the end of our endurance and with jetlag, we went back to our B&B, took a slight rest, and then headed out to the Temple Bar area to listen to impromptu street bands, playing Irish music, and hop into Pubs, including The Quay and Temple Bar, to listen to bands, join along in the singing, and enjoy a pint.

Best trip!

Flew Cedar Rapids to Chicago. Transferred to Aer Lingus. First thing I noticed were different clothes, accents, and smells. Long flight, but food was so much better than USA airlines.

So many places to see and so much to do. Bought RT tickets at the airport to Dublin and back. We also picked up sightseeing tickets with our Shannon Heritage discount pass app. Moving together en masse, ladies wheeled their luggage to the waiting bus. Some had 1 bag, others 3.

Found Durban House, our first B&B. Our rooms were on the 4rth and 5th floors with stair access only. So women huffed and puffed as we dragged our bags to our rooms. Last staircase was so narrow, that barely one person could fit on it, sometimes sideways only.

First lesson- room lights turned on by putting the room key in the slot by the electric switches. Hot water switch had to be flipped on to get a warm shower.

After "refreshing" ourselves, we went to O'Shea's Pub for lunch (fish and chips, club sandwiches, and one desert please.) Then caught the double decker tour bus and did the overview of the sights in Dublin. Day 2 would be the day to tackle them.

Next dinner and music. Pub food is cheaper, drinking only is the cheapest, but not always the best. After a certain time, no more food is served in the pub, not even peanuts or pretzels.

We walked to the Temple Bar area and then circled back a little to the Arlington Hotel, where we grabbed bar stools and watched the traditional Gaelic dancing as we sipped our pints of Guinness.

Pre Ireland Excitement

Wow! Only a few more days. 22 pound limitation for carry on bag. Dimension on bag is different than for US airlines. 22" X 14" X 8". Really makes you think twice about what you will really need!