Thursday in Dublin
Thursday we decided to sleep in a little, but totally messed our plan to take a train from the station nearby. When we got there 15 minutes before the 10:30 was to leave, we were told it was actually leaving from Belfast Central and not Belfast City. But all was not lost, a bus was leaving at 11:00 and cost a little less, but was a 3 hour ride. No Problem.
The ride was great, the driver blasted David Gray all the way down while I took snaps with the video cam out the window of the bus.
Once we were in Dublin, we were in a hurried pace to make up time and set off for the Guinness factory. We hoofed it for a long while, and along the way we encountered many thousand angry Irish farmers who were picketing a recent new rule enacted by the WTO. Pickets which are setup on every street corner are not intimidating until you have actually walked through one and seen the stares of these men. We made it to Guinness in time to take the tour, which was great, although, we did not have time to complete it. In 1759 Arthur Guinness signed the 9000 year lease on the facility, he was a Man who knew he had something very special, and it was. We enjoyed a couple of pints over Shepards Pie dinner in the city at Flannagans.
The highlight of the day was in Tower Records (YES they are still in business over here) where I spotted a really nice promo poster for one of my favorite singers, ADELE. I asked the man in the store if I could buy it, and he said it wasn't for sale. I told him I'd be seeing her in LA next month and that she is starting to break in America. Having seen I was a real fan of the artist, he said "just a minute".. then went over to the display and removed the poster and handed it to me. This is the kind of people there are here in Ireland, kind people who love to create a moment of magic. We left the store elated at the poster and got a protective tube for the journey home. Hopefully I can track down Adele when she is in town so we can get it autographed.
The one thing we find truly amazing is, even in Dublin, the town closes down around 7:00pm, even the restaurants. If we had not left Guinness early, we would have missed dinner, having almost missed it on Wednesday night in Belfast. But it is a truly awesome city, we regret that we did not book more time in Dublin, it would have been great to hear some of the music in the pubs at night or see more street musicians. We clocked up 20,000 steps today on the pedometer, so we don't feel bad one little bit about those pints of beer. Dublin has more on the go than Belfast, though Belfast is trying to make a resurgence, there is lots of construction going on here. I think Belfast one day could be just like Dublin. We will definitely be returning to Dublin to spend more time here. The people here are lovely, the beer is lovely, the music is lovely, even the angry farmers are lovely, they made me want to picket on their behalf.
Tomorrow we're off to have breakfast with Mum, the traditional Ulster Fry... Better wear the pedometer tomorrow...
The ride was great, the driver blasted David Gray all the way down while I took snaps with the video cam out the window of the bus.
Once we were in Dublin, we were in a hurried pace to make up time and set off for the Guinness factory. We hoofed it for a long while, and along the way we encountered many thousand angry Irish farmers who were picketing a recent new rule enacted by the WTO. Pickets which are setup on every street corner are not intimidating until you have actually walked through one and seen the stares of these men. We made it to Guinness in time to take the tour, which was great, although, we did not have time to complete it. In 1759 Arthur Guinness signed the 9000 year lease on the facility, he was a Man who knew he had something very special, and it was. We enjoyed a couple of pints over Shepards Pie dinner in the city at Flannagans.
The highlight of the day was in Tower Records (YES they are still in business over here) where I spotted a really nice promo poster for one of my favorite singers, ADELE. I asked the man in the store if I could buy it, and he said it wasn't for sale. I told him I'd be seeing her in LA next month and that she is starting to break in America. Having seen I was a real fan of the artist, he said "just a minute".. then went over to the display and removed the poster and handed it to me. This is the kind of people there are here in Ireland, kind people who love to create a moment of magic. We left the store elated at the poster and got a protective tube for the journey home. Hopefully I can track down Adele when she is in town so we can get it autographed.
The one thing we find truly amazing is, even in Dublin, the town closes down around 7:00pm, even the restaurants. If we had not left Guinness early, we would have missed dinner, having almost missed it on Wednesday night in Belfast. But it is a truly awesome city, we regret that we did not book more time in Dublin, it would have been great to hear some of the music in the pubs at night or see more street musicians. We clocked up 20,000 steps today on the pedometer, so we don't feel bad one little bit about those pints of beer. Dublin has more on the go than Belfast, though Belfast is trying to make a resurgence, there is lots of construction going on here. I think Belfast one day could be just like Dublin. We will definitely be returning to Dublin to spend more time here. The people here are lovely, the beer is lovely, the music is lovely, even the angry farmers are lovely, they made me want to picket on their behalf.
Tomorrow we're off to have breakfast with Mum, the traditional Ulster Fry... Better wear the pedometer tomorrow...
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