Dublin, Day 1

Toby and I left the States Friday, flew threw the night and arrived in Dublin, Ireland Saturday morning. We found the airport bus that went to the city centre and then walked to our hotel. Tired, but excited we dropped our bags at Trinity Capital Hotel and went out to face the day.

Our hotel was very close to Trinity College and many other sights of the city. We decided that instead of navigating the public bus system that we would get on one of those Hop-on-Hop-off tourist buses. This way we could see the city and also get to where we wanted to be. We went on the green bus, but if I were to do it again, I would take the red bus because it seemed to have more buses and always arrived while we were waiting for our green bus.

Our first stop was St. Patrick's Cathedral (notice the beautiful weather)

Inside, the architecture  sained glass windows were beautiful to look at.

Next, we got back on the bus and headed to the Guinness Storehouse. They don't make the beer in this building, but we got to see the process and then get a free taste and a free pint at the end of our tour.

 

After our traveling and sightseeing we needed a beer ;)

(see... the red bus was there, but not our green one)

The Storehouse was our last "get off stop" for the day since we had scheduled a Night of Storytelling and Music, so we stayed on and viewed the rest of the city from the top of the bus.

After a quick shower at the hotel we head out toward The Brazen Head. This is the oldest pub in Dublin and hosts dinner, storytelling and music most nights. I had heard about this on Trip Advisor as one of the top attractions in Dublin and it did not disappoint.

On the way to the pub, we walked through the Temple Bar district which is the center of nightlife for the city. (The walk home provided to be much more entertaining with "Hen" and "Stag" parties and other craziness)

 We got to the pub a bit early so we walked around a bit.

Toby with the River Liffy in the background:

Christchurch:

The Brazen Head:

Our night was wonderful (even though I was jet lagged and could have fallen asleep on the table). We had a three course meal and in between courses we got to hear about Ireland's history, it's folklore, some stories and some music. It was a lot of fun. I would highly recommend it.

Our Storyteller:

Musical entertainment (including instructions on how to participate :) )

Following dinner, we wondered back to our hotel and crashed. It was a great day and was busy enough to keep us awake and get us used to the time change. On to Day 2...