After leaving Zeebrugge we had one day at sea before arriving at our next port. The seas were somewhat rough, so Karl pretty much kept to our cabin. He seems to do just fine if he stays there when the ship is rocking. I did my normal sea day activities -- went to the gym, a lecture about the next port and a culinary demonstration. It was a formal night -- with steak and shrimp in the dining room -- so I went by myself. Cruise Specialists had a cocktail party after dinner. I decided to go -- and had two brandy old-fashioneds. I also introduced the drink to a lady I met there. She liked them so well she had two, also. Karl decided he could go to the Lido buffet while I went to the party. When I got back, I changed into casual clothes and we went to the movie, which was two National Geographic documentaries. One was about a Viking massacre in England and the other was about volcanoes.

We had a fairly early tour in Dublin, so we had a room service breakfast . The tour was one put on by our travel agent and was called "Beautiful Dublin and Visit to Guinness". The weather for the day was predicted to be partly cloudy and in the 60's. Our tour started out by driving into the city center, along the Liffe River which basically splits the city in half. We passed the Old Parliament House (now the Bank of Ireland), and Trinity College which was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I and home to the famous Book of Kells, written about 800 AD and one of the most beautifully illustrated books in the world (we saw it last year when we visited Dublin). We also passed the Temple Bar area (known for its pubs and night life), the Dublin Castle, St. Patrick's Cathedral and Christ Church Cathedral on our way to our destination: The Guinness Storehouse. Once the Guinness fermentation house, the building now houses a Guinness museum, the Gravity Bar (with a great view of Dublin from its 7th floor location), and a gift shop. The building is situated right in the midst of the St James Gate Brewery, birthplace of the famous brew, and is a very popular tourist destination . The center of the building made to look like the world's largest glass -- they said it would hold 14.3 million pints of Guinness! We were given a guided tour of the museum by one of their employees. The tour began with a bit of history -- a copy of the 9000 year lease that Arthur Guinness signed on December 31, 1759 for a 4 acre brewery. The current Dublin brewery covers hose original 4 acres plus another 46! We then learned about the ingredients. Ten percent of the barley used is roasted to give Guinness its very dark red color -- even though they call it "the black stuff", it is really dark red. They are still using the same yeast as Arthur Guinness used -- a reserve of it is kept in a safe to be propagated if anything happens to the yeast they are using in the brewery. The water comes from the nearby Wicklow Mountains and the hops are imported (the climate in Ireland isn't conducive to growing hops). After an overview of the brewing process, we were taken through an area that showed the history of Guinness advertising . Most unique there were the "whistling oyster" that was once featured in their ads (because Guinness is the perfect drink with oysters) and a fish riding a bike with a caption that said "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle" (from a series of TV ads in the 1990's that challenged the wisdom of famous quotes).

After the guided tour, Karl and I decided to participate in the "Guinness Academy" where you learn how to pour "a perfect pint". There are six steps: (1) Select a clean, dry glass. (2) Tilt the glass under the spigot (with the Guinness logo on the glass always facing the customer). (3) Pull the handle on the tap all the way forward and fill the glass almost full. (4) Let the Guinness settle in the glass for about 90 seconds. (5) Top-up the glass until the foam is just over the top by pushing the handle on the tap back. (6) Serve the perfect pint (with the logo facing the customer). Karl and I both got to try our hand at it -- and we both ended up with perfection! We were presented with graduation certificates and then we took our perfect pints up to the 7th floor Gravity Bar to drink them (at about 10:30 in the morning) . We had been told that a pint of Guinness is one version of an Irish breakfast and there were lots of others in the bar having their "breakfast", too. After enjoying the beer and the view of Dublin, we had a little time to go back into the museum and look at a few of the exhibits, then it was back on the bus for the rest of our tour of Dublin.

We drove through Phoenix Park, passing the Dublin Zoo and the home of the Prime Minister of Dublin. It was a beautiful day and there were many people out enjoying the good weather in the park. The bus made a stop near the place where the pope spoke several years ago (marked by a large cross). Nearby was a man whom we were told was a champion "hurler". Hurling is a popular sport in Ireland and seems to be some sort of combination of soccer, hockey and baseball. We were given a short demonstration. They use a hard ball about the size of a baseball and have a stick that is used both like a bat and as a way to protect themselves from the sticks of other players . Our "hurler" was quite a character. He told us about St. Patrick ridding Ireland of snakes. In his version of the story, St. Pat gave the snakes the choice of going to Hell or across the ocean. They chose the ocean -- and that's how the United Snakes of America came to be. We also bought an Irish ice cream. It was a soft serve -- very creamy and light. If you got a "99", it came with a stick of chocolate in it.

On the way back to the ship, we drove around the Georgian squares of Merrion and Fitzwilliam. Merrion is still one of Dublin's grandest squares and is home to the Irish Parliament's Leinster House and the National Gallery of Ireland. We passed by the many decorated and colorful doors of the Georgian houses. Apparently the doors were once all black -- and it was common for someone who had had a pint or two or three to go into the wrong one! People started making theirs unique so they could find their way into their own home. We once again followed the Liffe River back to the port, passing several beautiful and unique bridges, including one called the Ha' Penny because there was once a half penny toll to cross it. Along the river was also the Famine Memorial and the Famine Ship Museum, commemorating the many people who left Ireland during the 1845 potato famine.

Back on the ship, we decided to watch the sail-away, so just had dinner in the Lido buffet (we have heard it called "the trough") and skipped the show, which was a classical pianist. Despite the next day being at sea, so we could sleep in, we were both tired and decided to call it a night early.