First stop...Dublin

16 - 17 August 2019

Friday, 16 August 2019

Our flight wasn't too bad, but the seats were pretty close together making a bit difficult to get too comfortable.  I think we both slept for about 1.5 hours total, so when we landed in Dublin, we were pretty tired.  We got through immigration with a bit of a hiccup.  Ireland grants only a 3 month visa, and according to the agent, when we fly to Liverpool we will not go through immigration again, so we won't be able to stay for the 4 month period we plan unless we go to mainland Europe and then come back again.  Hum...something to figure out, but for now we just need to get to our AirBnB and get some sleep.

We found the correct bus, and actually got off a few stations early to go to a cellular store to get a local SIM card for my phone.  This was pretty easy to do, for €20 I get "all I can eat" data along with unlimited messaging and call within Ireland for 28 days...pretty good deal.

We then walked about 20 minutes before arriving at our AirBnB after stopping for a quick breakfast burrito.  Our host met us at the door and we groggily said hello and locked ourselves in our room to get some sleep.  We slept from about 11 AM til 4 PM.  We got up and dressed because we have an appointment at 5:30...a visit to the Guinness experimental taproom.

Our AirBnB is pretty close to the Guinness brewery, so it took us less than 15 minutes to walk there.  We first saw and walked passed the Guinness brewery that isn't opened to the public, but we got a couple of cool photos.

We then arrived at the Open Gate Brewery, Guinness' experimental brewery.  They had 12 beer on tap including, of course, Guinness Stout.

For our €9 admission, we each received a flight of beer.  It was all delicious and seemed like a dream that we were actually at THE Guinness Brewery.

After drinking the flight, we ordered our first (of probably many) Guinness draught.  I'd call these a perfect pour. 

After finishing the Guinness draught, it was around 9 PM and the jet lag was hitting us again.  We decided to call it a night and started the walk back to the AirBnB.  During the walk we noticed this apartment and thought, it we lived here in Dublin, this would be the perfect place to live.  With the name "The Malting" and the smell of beer brewing in the air, it was a heavenly place.

Did I say we were going back to the apartment?  I guess that we before we came across an area 2 block from home with multiple Irish pubs.  OK...one more pint. We went into one pub and had a great pint of some local Irish beer.  We then went into Walsh's Pub for one more.  While drinking our pint, Tim decided to have his first taste of Irish whiskey.  They had a large selection, so he randomly chose Redbreast 12 year old.  Me, not being a whiskey lover, took the obligatory sip and was fairly impressed with the taste. WOW...I just looked up this whiskey online and found out it costs €60 a bottle...no wonder it tasted pretty good.

That is it.  We are officially done.  We arrived back to the AirBnB just before midnight, had some hearty bread with Irish butter, and went to sleep.

Saturday, 17 August 2019

I woke around 6 AM and couldn't get back to sleep.  At 7 AM I checked the status of Barbra's fight and saw that it landed 30 minutes early.  I figured, since I couldn't really sleep, I would meet her at the bus stop so she doesn't have to struggle finding the AirBnB.  I went out around 8:30 AM not really knowing when she would be getting here. She isn't getting a SIM card, so it is impossible to contact her to see where she is.  at about 9:30 AM the bus arrived with her on it.  Luckily I decided to meet her because she didn't print out a map of where the AirBnB is located.  I don't know how she thought she was going to find it.  Oh well...it all worked out.

We got to the apartment and jumped into her pajamas and went straight to sleep...jet lag sucks.  Tim and I got ready and left around 10 AM to head to some sights.  We made it 5 minutes down the road when we decided to stop for breakfast.  We both got the Irish breakfast...mine was the vegetarian version of course.  Our first (of probably many) Irish breakfasts.

We then continued our walk up the River Liffey to the sightseeing area of Dublin, about a 30 minute walk from the AirBnB.  Here is the Ha' Penny pedestrian bridge built in 1816.

Our first stop is the GPO (General Post Office) Witness History Exhibit.  Since we know very little about Irish history, we figured we better find some out before traveling all over the country.   This Post Office was the headquarters of the Easter Uprising leaders in 1916.  This Uprising was launched to try to get rid of British rule and create an independent Ireland. The Uprising was a failure, but when the British government sentenced the leader to death, the general public began looking poorly at the British.  This all eventually lead to Ireland independence from England in December of 1921.

GPO

GPO

We completed the tour around 2 PM.  We had planed with Barbra to meet her at Trinity College at 3 PM, so Tim and I headed there.  Here is a photo of a typical Dublin street.

The grounds of Trinity College is opened to the public, so Tim and I walked around while we were waiting for Barbra.

Belltower

George Salmon, Provost 1883 -1904

Barbra arrived on time and we were supposed to take an historical tour, but the tour had over 30 people, so we decided against it.  Instead, we did the "OConnell Street Stroll" in the Rick Steve book.  Here is a statue of Daniel O'Connell (AKA the "Liberator"), the street's namesake. He demanded Irish Catholics rights in the British Parliament in the 1820's. 

Dublin is filled with double-decker buses.

After the O'Connell stroll, we walked to the "famine ship".

Barbra and I strolling to the famine ship

​The Jeanie Johnston Tall Ship is a reproduction of a "famine ship" that made 16 transatlantic voyages with about 200 people per voyage, to the United States and Canada durning the potato famine of 1845-1849.

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The Jeanie Johnston (replica)

Wow...there happens to be a brewery down the street.

Obligatory flight

It is now dinner time.  We walked to the Temple Bar section of Dublin, known for its restaurants and nightlife, via the Ha'Penny Bridge.

Selfie on the Ha'Penny Bridge

Somewhere down here is a restaurant

The restaurant that Barbra's friend suggested was booked, so I found a seafood restaurant that was able to seat in within 30 minutes.  It wasn't the best, but we were hungry and getting tired, making it one notch better than it probably was.

After dinner we walked to The Cobblestone.  A pub listed in Rick Steve's book that has live Irish music.  Being Saturday night, we couldn't even fit in the door, so we listened to a few bars of music outside and headed to our neighborhood pub that we went to last night.

Cool mural outside The Cobblestone

The same bartender from last night was there tonight, and he surprisingly remembered us.  Rick Steves did say in his book that the first time you visit an Irish Pub you are a stranger, the second time you are a regular.  This seems to ring true.  Tim and I had a pint of Guinness and Barbra had the Redbreast whiskey that Tim had last night.  

We finished up and headed back the apartment around 10 PM.  It is now 12:40 AM and Barb and Tim are asleep as I type up this blog.  I better get to sleep since tomorrow is a big day.  We are renting a car and I get to drive on the left side of the road in a right hand side car...OY...I don't think I can get enough sleep to be able to figure this out tomorrow.  I guess we will see.