Dublin: Guinness Makes It Worth It - Aug 18

Inset door painted to look fancy

Drove into Dublin this morning.  Our guide took us on an hour tour of the city. It was a dizzying drive. We had no idea where we were, our guide talked very fast. Basically, we were completely overwhelmed. The goal was to find one or two things that interested you, and then go back to visit. We did stop at a couple places and took 5 minutes for pictures, saving us having to make the trip back. We stopped on a street with Georgian buildings all alike except the doors - the only exterior changes owners are allowed to make.

I was not a fan of Dublin.  It is very neutral in colors - all brick,  tans, greys,  etc.  The only color seems to be from the doors in some of the streets. (Pix)

Buffalo head????

There are almost no trees except except a couple of small parks, but ton of statutes.  Everybody who's anybody has a statue somewhere.  There's even a statue of a buffalo head.

We went for a walk in the afternoon.  Actually, our intent was to take the hop on hop off bus.  But after waiting over 20 minutes,  we gave up and started walking toward the next stop.

Helping a sailor out

About 10-15 minutes into the walk, the bus passed us and we just missed catching them at the next stop.  So we just kept walking.  Unfortunately there was nothing interesting in the area. We headed back in the direction of the hotel. When we got to the river that runs along the front of the hotel, we turned away and kept walking. There was a statue of a fisherman,  then several docking hooks.  The one looked like buffalo horns, thus my roommate questioning why they have a statue of a Buffalo head.

Sean O'Casey pedestrian bridge
Tilted building: Convention Centre

Samuel Beckett Bridge - shape of harp

Memorial to Great Famine, aka Potato Famine

We stopped next door to our hotel for Judith to get a souvenir, and found an "Epic Ireland", a hands-on history of the people of Ireland. It looked so interesting, but unfortunately, we didn't have enough time left. Wish we had seen it from the beginning.

The evening excursion and dinner was at the Guinness factory. We were shown how gives was made, taught how to pull (we don't do it right in the states), had a sample, and dinner. The guide recommended asking for a short of black currant in the guinness. We had the sample in the Gravity Bar, the highest building in Dublin.  I like Guinness, but the current sweetened it a little and was really good.  After we went to dinner and i had Guinness stew. I loved it. Have to get there recipe. The bad cards with the recipe there, but i didn't know about it until after we left.

Btw, talked to someone else who visited Dublin for several days, and she likes so much she was returning, so my attitude may be due to limited time in city.