Ireland, 2010

December 8, 2010
Today is our 20th Wedding anniversary!

Dublin

Both of us were up pretty early today, due to the time change. Barb was up at 2:00am, I forced myself to doze until 4:00.
Since I had nothing better to do for a few hours, I went for a run along the River Liffey, which runs through the center of Dublin
just a few blocks from our hotel. It was seriously cold... 21 degrees, with the wind chill knocking it down to 9. It was also seriously
beautiful, and I couldn't stop kicking myself for not bringing my camera.

We had a little adventure when I got back.... Barb had gotten into the shower and had just enough time to soap up before the water went
full hot. We turned the handle all the way in both directions to no effect. I called the front desk, and he said "Try turning the handle" (duh)
I said "Which way?", and he says "I can't remember". Then he says (get this...) "No one has ever reported that before. There is nothing
I can do to help you". Interestingly, when I spoke to the hotel manager later this morning, there was all kinds of stuff they could do!

So, after breakfast we walked to the Tourism Centre office to buy day passes for the bus tour that the city operates, and a Dublin Pass, which
would get us in to most of the attractions that we were hoping to see. The Tourism Centre is located in the restored Church of St Anthony,
and is an absolutely stunning building, inside and out. So... we he had to spend some time looking around there before launching our official
"tourist" part of the day.

Leaving there, we hopped on to a city bus for the short ride to Dublin Castle. This building has history dating back to the first Viking
invaders of Ireland. Over the past 400 years or so, it has primarily served as the residence of the Viceroy - the British Monarch's representative
in Dublin. It is still used to this day for many of the big State shindigs.

We walked the few blocks from Dublin Castle to Christ Church Cathedral. This church is so beautiful (inside and out) that it defies description.
It has occupied the same land since the 1100's, and they still have ruins of some of the original buildings.

Another couple of blocks from there, we found St Patrick's Cathedral. If possible, it was even more beautiful than Christ Church. Check out the
pictures from both.

Finally, we jumped back on the bus and rode over to the Guinness Storehouse. This isn't part of the actual brewery anymore, as it turns out.
The actual brewery, which is called St James's Gate is on a 55 acre piece of land nearby. They claim that it produces 100,000 pints of beer...
PER DAY! The Storehouse is a restored building from the old brewery which houses what amounts to a museum of beer and the Guinness brand.
Displays take you through the raw ingredients, brewing, storing, and shipping. At the end of the tour, you can sit in a glass-walled pub on
top of the building - sipping a free pint and admiring the view of the city.

After a quick lunch, we caught another bus back to the hotel. It was a very full day, and we didn't manage to see all of the things that we wanted
to, so we intend to build some extra time into our last couple of days so that we can see a few more things that looked interesting.