Dublin, Ireland, Part II

Due to internet reasons the last post had to be cut short and we have fallen about a week behind. The next couple of places we stay at have free internet (as opposed to 17 euros for 24 hours), so we will spend time there catching up on the blog (instead of going out and enjoying Lake Como and Venice.

So our last full day in Dublin we had to take care of the #1 tourist attraction in Ireland (or perhaps the world), the Guinness Brewery.

We downloaded a walking tour podcast from the Guinness website and used it as our guide to get to the brewery. We learned some interesting things about Arthur Guinness who is apparently the greatest man that has ever lived.

We took the obligatory photographs.


And some less obligatory and kind of strange looking photographs. You probably knew that barley is one of the main ingredients of beer, but you probably didn't know that taking a picture with it makes somebody look like a weirdo.


After about 4 floors of Guinness information, you realize you know all you need to and can take a trip to the Gravity Bar to sample the product (if you haven't done enough of that in the previous few days). It's a very cool bar with a great view of Dublin and surroundings. You can see the ocean on one side and lush green hills on the other.


Somebody was kind enough to take a picture of the two of us.


All in all it's a fun tour. On a slightly related note, we both found Guinness in general delicious, but not very effective in decreasing sobriety. Perhaps it's just a coincidence.

Since then we have been to Munich, Bolzano, and our now sweltering in Milan (heat seems to be a common theme for us). 90% of the city has left Milan. We understand why.

Dublin, Ireland

This is what we looked like when we arrived in Dublin. AT 4:30 AM. Dublin, we discovered, is a city that likes to sleep in. It also frequently rains. We found our way to the hotel and dropped off our bags and went out into the early morning city in search of coffee and something to do. Neither of us slept much on the plane, but we were excited to be there.








About 2 hours later we found the first place in the city that was open and serving coffee. This improved my mood drastically. We were wearing shorts and tee shirts and no one was around anyway to give us funny looks. After holing up in a cafe and eating a crepe for breakfast it started drizzling. Then raining. Then pouring. By the time if finally let up we were getting funny looks all over from the people heading to work at 8:30 or 9. This was because it had gotten quite cold. We braved the rain, made it back to the hotel and crashed in the lobby. After a few hours of wishing we were in bed and staring at the hotel clerks, our room was ready and we went upstairs and passed out for a bit. Spang arrived, crashed for a bit, then we all headed out for a beer.

Our first Dublin Guinness!! Can you see the Shamrock in it?

Wonderful.

The next day, as Spang was recovering from his evening, we walked around the city and checked out Dublin Castle. Later in the day we all walked down to the River Liffey.