We've been in Dublin for three days now and it's rained off and on all three days. it's Ireland!! We're in a very comfortable apartment called St. Ann's at the corner of Ailsbury and Anglesey. That's about as Irish as you get. We're located about 2 miles south of the city in a very nice area called Donnybrook. As we walked to Dublin we passed many fine Georgian brick houses that are now home to embassy's and businesses. We passed the American embassy, a large circular building that our taxi driver told us was the ugliest building in Dublin! It certainly isn't in the Georgian style. 

Our first day in Dublin we toured Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells . A very nice young man named David took us on a tour of the campus. He's an English major, and we chatted a while. I was impressed with his bearing and speaking skills. We walked around the city down O'Connell St and through Temple Bar.  It was a busy and interesting day.

Today we bought tickets on the hop on/hop off bus and saw a lot more of Dublin. Our first stop was the Guinness Storehouse, a large brewhouse where they make Guinness and have tours showing the brewing process. We tried Guinness and I liked it!! It doesn't taste bitter or hoppy as I expected, but smooth and tasty. We shared a Guinness burger and another pint, so we were fortified for the next leg of our trip.

The next stop was Kilmainham Gaol, a historic point in Ireland's fight for independence. Unfortunately, there was a waiting line (in the rain, of course) of an hour and a half for the next tour so we decided to move on and revisit the Gaol tomorrow morning . Next stop--the Jameson Distillery. No kidding. It was turning into a very tipsy day!

The Jameson Distillery was great. We skipped the tour and went straight to the tasting room. We figured we didn't need to know how they made it to appreciate it. I had an Irish coffee while Cory went all the way and did the 4 shot tasting experience. He tasted four different kinds of Jameson's and I think he like them all. I smelled them all, and they smelled like whiskey--that's all I can tell ya. This was a great stop and we are having fun by now!

Next stop on the tour was Grafton Street where Cory wanted to find the statue of Phil Lynott, an Irish singer and musician, lead singer for Thinn Lizzie, and 80's rock band. We found old Phil's statue outside a pub off Grafton Street, took Cory's picture with Phil, and then went inside for a drink.  We ordered more Guinness and watched the hurling semi-championship game on TV. Now, hurling is a crazy sport . A bunch of Irishmen in very short shorts run up and down a football field with a little white ball (the size of a tennis ball) and hit the ball with bats to get it down the field and over a goal like a soccer goal. In the process, they also beat each other! It's like a cross between field hockey and soccer. However, it's much less polite than soccer. While watching the hurling game, a fellow and his girlfriend and her parents came in the pub, saw Cory's Chive shirt and went crazy over it. They bought us drinks and we chatted with them for 45 minutes. They wanted to know what brought us to Ireland and how we liked it.  They had some advice on where we should go and were just so nice and friendly.  We enjoyed talking with them. After they left for dinner, we started home. It was a wonderful day in Dublin. Tomorrow, we're going to visit the Gaol in the morning and see what else the day brings.