March 24th - Trip Day 25 - Dublin Day 1 - Part 1

Gassing up > Dublin to Stockholm > Kristen > AirBnB

I had to return the rental car and gassed it up for $108 - yeah, like over 1100 Swedish Krona. The mileage on the car was about 800km (500mi) and of course Mr Lead-Foot Michael.  Just teasing ya' Michael. I was worried I would be late to the airport but it turned out great. We had a double-boarding. First boarding was to let us into the gate area, then the second one was to let us on the plane. What as weird was that group priority made no difference. Everybody just crowded into a Swedish Queue and stormed the plane. My seatmate was this awesome soccer coach called Kristen. I so envy her travels. She has been ALL OVER. She also has a useful skill, of which I have none, other than my bullshitting. Sorry, no pic. I'm losing my touch!

The AirBnB in Dublin is nice - SO MUCH BETTER than the Scandic Victoria Hotel.  Michael, really, next time let me book an AirBnB!

I left the AirBnB to go on the food tour and was early so I went for coffee.

I met two awesome and cute ladies who bought me that coffee when I showed them my dimples. No, not those you pervs. They each had lived in the States working in the health field for many years. One came back to Ireland and the other lives in Florida. Again, no pic. I'm so pissed off at myself - I just keep forgetting to take pics.

March 24th - Trip Day 25 - Dublin Day 1 - Part 2

Food Tour

What a great food tour by an extremely knowledgeable and adorable guide! Grainne Lawlor owns the Irish Food Trail company (www.irishfoodtrail.ie) and I heartily recommend taking this tour if you ever come here. Food tours usually include snippets of history but Grainne (pronounced Gran-J) actually has a minor in Irish History (or was that Irish Whisky?) and really can give some great details.

She told us we would have an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert and alcohol was served everywhere. I really tried hard to get a pic of each location and each offering, but I think the booze made me forget. I asked Grainne where the last stop had been so I could go back and get a pic and she said left-right-left or perhaps right-left-right. We did a lot of walking and it was cold, windy, and off and on drizzly. Per Grainne, Dublin has 4 seasons multiple times in a day.

March 25th - Trip Day 26 - Dublin Day 2 - Part 1

Missed Tour > Alternative Tour > Useless Arguing > Love TripAdvisor!!!

I booked an all day trip to Blarney Castle from Dublin Including Rock of Cashel & Cork City. It was going to be a 12 hour trip, so I packed my backpack with warm clothes, snacks, and water. 

However, I used Tripadvisor to book the tour and looked THERE to see the departure point is:
5 Beresford Pl, Mountjoy, Dublin 1, D01 V2V4, Ireland
Bus collects from the corner (outside) of 5 Beresford Place and Gardiner Street Lower, Dublin

No bus was there (5 Beresford Place is the main bus station) and then I encountered another passenger, Alessandro, who said he didn't see a bus either. I called Paddywagon, the vendor, and they said to head to their store location. They told me we should have gone to Paddy's Palace. I argued that it didn't say that on Tripadvisor, however, to their defense, I JUST SAW an email they sent when I booked that said:
Pick Up Point: Paddys Palace, Lower Gardiner Street, Dublin

They said I would not get a refund, but I submitted one via Tripadvisor anyway who refunded the fee. 

Paddywagon offered and I accepted a half day tour to Glendalough & Wicklow Mountains, not knowing it was a 3 hour drive with 90 minutes of walking around a couple of lakes and an old monastery. Instead, I went into the visitor center and watched the movie they had there. 

It was kind of a sucky half day except for Tara.

March 25th - Trip Day 26 - Dublin Day 2 - Part 2

Revisiting a Food Tour Stop

The Glendalough Bus Driver said we would get back at 1 PM, so I thought I would love to go on another food tour with Grainne. She had said her tour already had 17, so I called and left a message from Glendalough. Then I thought, AHA, I would book it, but didn't realize that I booked it for the 26th (today is the 25th.) That clashes with my Book of Kells tour tomorrow, so not the best choice. I couldn't book for the same day, so I sent an email from the confirmation they sent and asked if a) I could change the day to today or  b) if it could be the whiskey tour. Grainne said I was out of luck this day but that maybe if enough people booked the whiskey tour tomorrow, I could take it. We'll see. It seems I really suck at this last minute stuff!

Once I got back to my AirBnB and shed clothes and my backpack, I walked to Old Town and went back to the Boxty place. I had their beef stew made with stout, subbing boxty fries (made of mashed potatoes), and added a Irish Cream cheesecake. They also gave me a bread that was made with stout and OMG, it was good. It was the only piece I ate all of. I didn't take a pic of what I sent back (more than half), but I do have a pic of the cheesecake I sent back.

March 26th - Trip Day 27 - Dublin Day 3 - Part 1

Book of Kells Tour

I really didn't know what to expect on this tour, but I got more than I expected. Our guide, Bryan, explained about 1500 years of Irish History this day, and to say it was quite eye-opening is an understatement. I knew absolutely NOTHING about Irish History and still really don't, but I have loads more knowledge. The British really sucked. The way they treated the Irish was exactly why Ireland revolted in 1916, and though that failed, the way the British treated the prisoners, laid the foundation for the 1919 to 1922 Civil War and eventual declaration of Independence. It almost seemed like the Brits didn't want another USA and it's exactly what they got. They did hold on to Northern Ireland and I will be learning more about that on other tours over the next few days in Belfast.

My absolute favorite was that there is a place called the Long Room which is a library of 200,000 books. They are fixing it up and a lot of the shelves were empty and new busts of famous people were put being put up. These people were VOTED in and my personal hero is Ada Lovelace, the first programmer in history. She created a language to run on Charles Babbage's Differential Engine, though he never could get it to work quite right because he didn't have fine enough parts (the technology to make them hadn't yet been invented.) As a former programmer, I feel I stood on the shoulders of giants like Ada. They even called a modern language Ada (mainly used by the US government I believe.) It's not that I knew of her until many years later, but the fact that a woman was the first programmer, tickles me pink.

March 26th - Trip Day 27 - Dublin Day 3 - Part 2

Repeat of Food Tour

I had accidentally booked the food tour for today instead of yesterday and it got moved to 5 PM from 2 PM. NO PROBLEM. The Kells Tour lasted until 2:15 PM so I had time. In fact I had time for 2 coffees. The weather was so off and on, occasionally raining, then sun shining, it was hard to know what to wear.

I repeated the food tour because I wanted to have the Beef Stew this time plus I missed a venue. It was essentially the same tour ending with an Irish Coffee.

The group was different and I got a pic. It was a nice and managable group, with 3 folks from London, England and 2 folks from Philadelphia. 

Grainne told about 50% of the same, but added a lot more because a lot was based on the questions of the participants. She was a great wealth of information.

And for those of you who think I ONLY went to see Grainne again, I blow you a raspberry. Plus it didn't work out that way (darn it.)

Dublin Itinerary - Friday, March 24 - Sunday, March 26