Dublin was much better today. Cold, but dry. We walked ALL over today, saw a whole lot, all on foot. We got up early, and left the hotel to find some breakfast, and it was SO COLD outside!!! And windy, too! Well, we walked down the middle of O'Connell Street (the median is rather large), found our airport shuttle bus stop for tomorrow and Tuesday, and took lots of picture of the art installations down the median -- statues, mostly, and a really tall spire.
We walked down to the river, found the Ha'Penny Bridge and did our morning self-portrait. We crossed the bridge to head to Grafton Street to find coffee. Being Sunday, however, in a church town, not much was open at 7am -- except Starbucks. *sigh* So, we caved, had lattes and pastries, and thawed out for a bit to figure out our plan. From there we walked to St. Stephen's Green -- WOW!!!! It was beautiful and AMAZING! Lots of monuments, gardens, fountains, benches, and green spaces. Lovely, truly lovely. Left there and headed toward the "Cathedral District." Went to St Patrick's Cathedral (of course), saw a bunch of other churches, as well as St Patrick's Park. "If it's old, it must be important and therefore I must take a picture of it" became my picture-taking mantra :).
We stumbled upon Dublin Castle, and impulsively decided to take the tour -- super interesting!! Ate lunch nearby, and headed back out. Wandered down to Dublinia, a Medieval Interpretive Center that looked interesting from the outside, but it was way way expensive to get in, so we passed on it. SO, what was left to do in Dublin? The Guinness Storehouse, of course!! We took the tour -- it was AWESOME! The atrium was designed to look like a giant pint glass (the world's largest, to be exact) -- very cool. The tour takes you from the ground floor, and spirals up, and goes through the brewing process and how it has changed over the years. At the very top is the Galaxy Bar or something like that (Gravity Bar, actually), and it had the most AMAZING views of Dublin -- almost 360 degrees around! We were able to get a free pint of Guinness as a part of the tour, and it was THE BEST PINT !! So yummy and smooth... mmmmmm. We met an Irish Rugby team there, and they invited us to join them for the evening, but we politely declined. I don't think we could keep up (or come close!) with them.
The last thing that I really wanted to do? The Leprechaun Museum. Unfortunately, though, it closed about 30 minutes before we got there... so sad :( ... I was disappointed, but we wandered off to a nearby bar called The Church -- it really is an old church! It now houses a bar/cafe/restaurant/lounge-y kind of place, but the still has the structures and details of a church. Including the organ pipes and marble carvings of bible verses and monuments on the walls! Brian and I each had an Irish Coffee there, and left to find dinner at a more affordable place.
We went back to the hotel to settle in early, since we have to get up early to fly to Cork and kiss the Blarney Stone!
G'Night!
Some pictures (click here!)
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