Dublin day 2

We started our day with a 2 hour walking tour of Dublin given by an older woman, who knew alot but was hard to hear on the streets. We were all grossed out by some white stuff that formed in the corner of her mouth. Too bad she was so hard to hear and had the distracting alien larva escaping onto her face because she was very knowledgeable and had some interesting things to say. Took an uber to the Temple Bar pub, which was packed in the early afternoon. We found possibly the last table, luckily outside in a courtyard because the weather was awesome. One of the first things we noticed was a guy dressed as a nurse surrounded by a big bunch of friends. When we asked what the occasion was, his friend said "It's Saturday". When he changed outfits later we found out he was from England and it was his bachelor party. At the rate he was drinking, including multiple shots, I find it hard to imagine he made it to 8 o'clock.

"It's Saturday"

We then went to the Ireland's highest pub-Johnnie Fox's, in the mountains outside of Dublin for dinner. Food was good and it was a nice place, very traditional. Overall it was good place to go after the Temple Bar nuttiness.

Johnny Fox's

When we got back to the hotel we walked over to John's Bar and haberdashery. It was an old clothing shop converted into a bar. Strangely, there was also a fast food place (Wonder Burger) right in the back of the bar. We were having a good time, including a rousing "Sweet Caroline" sing-along, until a big, drunk, and scary guy picked me out as his conversation partner. The guy was rambling from one topic to another with no logical connection. Eventually he mentioned special needs kids in school. I seized this opportunity to escape by pawning him off onto my favorite Debbie by mentioning her daughter taught special needs kids and running to the bathroom. After I came out we extricated ourselves from the guy,giving up the table to some poor girls who had no idea who/what was waiting for them, and left the bar.

Called it a night after that. Awesome (long) day in Dublin.

Chicago to Dublin

Our flight was packed but uneventful, we landed around 11 AM. After getting our bags, we met the Exoticca guy outside of security and waited at least an hour for the rest of the poeple being driven to the hotel with us. It turns out some of the people on our tour never got their bags, which is why they took so long. We did the Guinness storehouse tour, which is basically a museum tour with a tasting, kind of disappointing really. I liked the Guinness, no one else did. The gravity bar onn the roof was kind of cool, with great views of Dublin. We walked down to a recommendeded fish and chips place-Beshoffs, and around Dublin a bit. Christchurch chapel was on our way home. As we walked by we saw a person sleeping on a bench in front. As we looked we couldn't tell if it was an actual person. So we moved closer and discovered it was a sculpture, apparently Christchurch has a mission to help the homeless. We were exhausted from the travelling so we called it an early night.

Here's to you Mr. Guinness!

View from the Gravity bar