Walking in Dublin

Today was fun! After a nice long sleep (although there was a snoring dorm-fellow much of the night) we woke up bright and early at 7. There was a delightful Irish breakfast complete with eggs, beans, bacon and sausage. I don't think we ate as much as we should have, so tomorrow we will eat more!

Dublin is a nice city. Lots of foot and cycling traffic as well as a noticeable number of double decker buses. We took a nice walk this morning from our hostel around town and eventually ended up at the Guinness Storehouse (I think Jeremy was taking us there the whole time). We were in time for the first introduction to the self-guided tour (9:30 am) and learned about the beer making process as we walked round and up the "world's largest pint glass". It was very interesting, as well as being an excellent marketing campaign. One particularly interesting tidbit of information is that Arthur Guinness, the founder of the Guinness empire, signed a 9000 year lease of the four acres of which the original brewery consisted. A pretty forward thinking man I'd say. And as is required we finished the tour off with a free pint of Guinness in the Gravity Bar at the very top of the Guinness storehouse-turned-tourist centre. There we had a beautiful view of the entire city and the Wicklow Mountains. Dublin doesn't have much of a skyline but there are some unique spires and artsy tours and even the Samuel Beckett Bridge which is similar to the Esplanade Riel in Winnipeg.

Much of the rest of our afternoon was spent walking about in various places. We found the birth place of Oscar Wilde but were at the wrong entrance to the museum and being very tired we didn't try to find the right one. I think I have found most of the locations from the movie Once. We walked through St. George's Archade where the two musicians walk and she pulling along the vacuum. We walked in a drizzle through Grafton Street, a shopping district, where the films starts with him busking. And Jeremy and I had a lovely stroll through St. Stephen's Green where we saw some lovely statues and a couple of very white swans. (We will put up pictures when we can.)

Finally we got soaked on our way home and, having discovered that most establishments close between 8 and 10 pm, we have spent the rest of the evening drying off and reading books in the lounge of our hostel. It was certainly a full day.

Cheers.