An uneventful drive down to Dublin and the Republic of Ireland. Dropped off our three tour leavers and headed into town to our home away from home, The Fleet Street Hotel. Had a quick bite at Chopped (where we played wrap roulette- only one of us ended up with the wrap we ‘d ordered!).
Then off in search of St. Patricks Cathedral, where we thought we would be able to hear a boys’ choir performing. Turns out we would have had to sit through the Evensong service, which would have been lovely, but we had tickets for the 4:00 tour of the Guinness Storehouse, so that wasn’t to be. We did enjoy listening to the carillon play for several minutes!
Off in the drizzle to Guinness! What an impressive place! The storehouse, with all of its various components takes up some 50 acres of land in downtown Dublin, and Arthur Guinness was smart enough to negotiate a 9000 year lease on the land, so I figure they’re set for making beer for a VERY long time! It was an interesting tour taking you through the whole process of how they make their famous brew. It is a massive display, taking up some five floors of a very large building, culminating in the top floor where you can enjoy the panoramic view of the city while sipping on a pint of their finest. But it was crowded! Hard to even get close to the windows to see the view, which unfortunately was not great due to the rain. But an experience well worth the price of admission!
With the rain and time constraints, we decided to hop a cab back to the hotel, and ended up with a very talkative and humourous cabbie who regaled us with suggestions of what we should do and see in Dublin.
Back to the hotel for a quick turnaround before heading out for dinner with most of the gang at a place called The Old Storehouse. I finally had my first Irish stew with Guinness. It was delish, except that the vegetables that were supposed to be in it were non-existent.
Back to the hotel to do some planning for tomorrow with our new friends, Bill and Mary. We seem to have hit it off, so have joined up for several ventures with them.