Our First Full Day In Dublin.....

It is cold and rainy today, a sharp contrast to yesterday's weather when we first arrived. Fletch and I had a good nights sleep, his from discipline and my sleep was Ambien induced. We both awoke in good spirits and after eating a full Traditional Breakfast, we made our way out with travel books, cameras and thankfully, an umbrella. St. Stephens Green, which was to be our first stop, ended up being a leisurely stroll to make our way to the National Museum. St. Stephens Green is a large park with many monuments honoring legendary Irishmen and historical events. I imagine it is a lovely and useful park in good weather but our visit was hasten by a slight drizzle which was edging itself towards a down pour by the time we climbed the few steps into the museum. The National Museum sounds imposing but in reality, it is quite small. Having said that, it is filled with the most amazing collection of artifacts unearthed in Ireland; swords, pottery, gold jewelry, clothing and even humans, found in Irish rivers and bogs. Bogs are the equivalent of Egyptian mummification.

The picture above left is a popular area, Grafton Street. It's really an outdoor mall ~ although the buldings are quite old ~ with many high price stores and over priced restaurants. It was time to move on to an equally overpriced adult Disneyland in the form of one of Ireland's national past time, drinking Guinness beer. With a full fledge downpour, an indoor adventure seemed pratical. The Guinness Factory is a high tech, self guided tour of the history, brewing, selling and thus consuming, Guinness beer. Your high priced ticket includes a free pint of Guinness beer at the top of the factory in a bar called The Gravity Bar. The above picture of me is of a vigorous attempt to drink a pint of this thick Irish lager. I could only drink half of it. The bar boasted a spectacular view of Dublin but our view was shrouded in mist that hung low over the tops of high pitched brick buildings. Before leaving on our trip, I met a couple from England who told me to skip the Guinness factory and have a pint at a pub. They said to visit Kilmainham Goal (jail). A jail! Maybe they were correct. Our taxi driver from the Guinness Factory to our hotel said the very thing... "visit Kilmainham Goal, Guinness is robbery!" I won't tell you what it cost to visit that factory plus the t-shirts for Gabe and Jacob but tomorrow.... Kilmainham Goal, Trinity College to see the Book of Kells, Dublin Castle, Chester Beatty Library and Ha'Penny Bridge which crosses the Liffey River. Fletch wants to do an Irish Musical Pub Crawl tomorrow night .... hum, I may not be blogging on Thursday. Friday, we are off to Kilkenny.