Dublin

The River Liffey. Also, known as the Sniffy Liffey.

The last leg of our journey, Dublin. We flew in from Edinburgh.

Day 9- Sightseeing again. We saw Phoenix Park, Temple Bar, Dublin Castle, Saint Patrick's Cathedral, and Trinity College where the Book of Kells is.

Phoenix Park. Deer roam free here. The park is twice the size of Central Park.

St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Bono's hotel.

U2 is obviously a big deal around here. They are pretty awesome after all. Joke I heard- What's the difference between God and Bono? God doesn't think he needs to be like Bono.

We walked from Trinity College to the Guinness Brewery.

Christ Church Cathedral.

Arthur Guinness signed a 9000 year lease for the land the brewery is on. I think he had some serious long term goals, or maybe they were drinking heavily.

Official beer at Guinness.

We had dinner at the oldest pub in Ireland, established in 1198! I had the Irish Stew and it was delicious.


Later in the evening we went to a bar close to the hotel where they had a comedy night. It was pretty entertaining. The comedians were novice, so some of the jokes were good, some not so much, and truly there were some we didn't understand.

Day 10- Side trip to Powerscourt and Glendalough. Powerscourt had beautiful gardens surrounding a rebuilt castle. I wish the orginal was still standing, but it burned down. Glendalough is an old Monastic settlement that was abandoned in the 10th century.


I walked up to the upper lake at Glendalough. It was really pretty, yet crowded.

Lower lake.

Upper lake.

We also did this optional evening of Irish dance, music, and traditional food. It so wasn't worth it. I think we are about 30 years too young to appreciate the show. I was expecting a pub atmosphere with actually traditional dishes, and good music. It was more of a Irish version of the Country Dinner Playhouse.

I am so glad Dan and I finally got to go on such an amazing trip. I hope we don't have to wait another 15 years for the next one! Some things we decided after the whole deal is, we can do this on our own without a tour company setting the pace, and we want to do a castle tour of the Scottish Highlands.