The pictures are here, they still need some work, but we are off to church.
Edit: I have updated the pictures and broken them up into more manageable albums, they are broken down by days. Kathy and I will be adding captions soon. We took over 500 pictures so some these albums are still a work in process and we will probably put up a slimed down version.
Well I am happy and sad to report that I haven’t quit completely I did break down and buy a 10 pack of smokes. I have been only having one or two a day, so I am pretty confident that when I get back I will have kicked the habit.
Today is the start of Day four, we are planning on taking the city bus to some of the more popular places of Dublin. Kathy would like to go to city hall, we will be going to dublin castle, it should be a fun day, I will update as soon as possible, but since it is 10 euros per day of internet it may not be until tomorrow,
We went to lunch at Bruxelle’s, I had a hamburger, and fries and was less than impressed, Kathy had Ham salad and although it wasn’t what she expected she enjoyed it. The service and atmosphere were great, and over all I enjoyed the place, just didn’t like the hamburger much. We then took a cab ride to look for kilts, which was pretty disappointing. The cabby recommended some other places and when we got back we went shopping around the hotel and ended up finding some pretty cool pubs. First was J.J. Smyth’s, this is what every American pictures an Irish pub as being. Kathy was the only woman, there were about ten to fifteen people in the pub and I would say 90% of them were drinking Guinness, Kathy had a Bulmer’s, and I had a Smithwicks and a Guinness. We really enjoyed the place. While looking for other tuxedo places we found Temple Bar district and ended up at Farrington’s, we had the ampler platter, which was very good, and a few more beers and ciders. We decided that since it was Friday, we would go to back to Temple Bar area for a few more pints and some Irish Music; we went to The Auld Dubliner and The Vat. They Auld Dubliner were nothing spectacular, but the Vat was a very enjoyable place, service was good and the live music was also a nice treat. More later.
Today we headed to the Guinness factory, we had booked the trip ahead of time and saved a few euros, this is highly advisable as it is a self guided tour, so basically you make it what it is worth. We woke up at noon and began the walk, we stopped at St. Patrick’s cathedral on the way and plan to go to services there on Sunday, kilted or not is still being debated. Shortly after we left the cathedral, we found the Pale Ale pub, and stopped in for lunch. The food and service were OK, I had the sausage and chips, Kathy had a ham and cheese sandwich neither were spectacular, but they were OK and the price was pretty good. The odd thing about the stop was that the Cricket match between England and Australia started today, so we watched that in the pub having no idea anything about the game and how it is played (if you are reading this and can explain it to us that would be great as we still have three days left as I am writing this). Once we got to the Guinness storehouse, we went to the customer service desk and received our tickets to walk through. The self guided tour was pretty cool and very informative. Was it worth the $30, I don’t know, but we lucked out and got a seat in the gravity bar and since the people leaving the seats didn’t like the beer (they must be sick) I got two beers and the view was amazing. Also Kathy worked really hard to drink her first Guinness, she didn’t quite finish, but I was very proud nonetheless. On the walk home we stopped at Mc Gruders which is pretty close to the Guinness storehouse. This is where Kathy tried her first Bulmer’s she enjoyed it and I was happy to have my fourth (and fifth J) Guinness of the day. We met a very nice local, but the bartenders made him go away while we were talking to him, which we didn’t really want, but the time we realized what was going on he was leaving any way. He was pretty drunk, and couldn’t really make a point, but entertaining nonetheless. Once we walked home we headed to Chatham for dinner, I had a Tiger beer, which once again you shouldn’t have an Asian Beer while in Dublin, but they didn’t give me much of an option. The food was really good once again I had a stuffed chicken breast, in gravy with a side of fries, Kathy had rigatoni with meatballs. The chicken will probably be something that I will attempt to make someday for dinner. After dinner we came back to the hotel and Kathy had dessert and I had another Guinness.
Today we finally landed in Dublin after a long flight. Our first stop was to Budget Car rental to pick up our $139 a week car. Then signed a slip for $494, which I thought was a little out of control. Nonetheless for the convenience of having a car it would probably be worth it. That was at 8:00 am Ireland time. Well, at 10:45 Ireland time we still hadn’t made it to the hotel, and parked the car and began to walk. We found the hotel by walking, but still had to ask the concierge how to get from where the car was parked to where the hotel was. With good directions this still took another 45 minutes. It seems according to the concierge that we were trying to go against the one way streets. I don’t know exactly what that meant, but I knew at that point that the one way streets hated me an always would. We ate lunch at Beweley’s café, I had a great pizza Kathy had a nice Caesar salad and we drove back to the airport to return the car. Driving on the wrong side no problem, standard again no problem, one way streets and the shear madness that is Dublin driving a huge problem. It was no longer convenient to have a car and at about $500 it certainly wasn’t worth it. So we canceled the trip to Belfast, and decided once we get the money back in the account for the car we will take the train to Waterford. We took at fourteen euro bus back to the hotel, a much better deal, and then went to dinner at Pacinos Italian Kitchen, the beer was horrible, but what did I expect with Italian beer in Dublin? The company was great, and the food was amazing, I had the special of beef over noodles with broccoli and a mushroom and wine cream sauce, Kathy had the lasagna and enjoyed it very much. We heard when we got in that tonight was a special night for Dublin as Ireland was playing France in a game that had major World cup implications, so we headed to O’Donoghues for a few pints, this was a great time as we scored some seats close to the TV. We stayed until half time and then headed back to the hotel, as jet lag had set in. Kathy had a Murphy’s she wasn’t a big fan but I helped her and she got threw it. Yeah Kathy.
Powered by WordPress