Day 1, August 1

Day 1

We have arrived.  There was a slight snafu as Otis and Eydie's flight was delayed for a couple hours due to weather in Atlanta.  As luck would have it, my sister Jan spent that time in a holding pattern over Atlanta on a trip back from Arkansas.  Our driver from the airport as we waited for Otis and Eydie to clear customs said, "I've always heard that things were slower in the south; I guess that goes for the flights too."

Our flight was uneventful except for a kid (6 maybe?) who decided somewhere over the Atlantic that he wanted off the plane and started screaming bloody murder. I'm unsure how they fixed him but they took him to the galley for awhile and calmed him down.  There were people to meet him and his mom at the gate to fill out some sort of report.  Besides that, we watched 10 Cloverfield (scarey, odd) and barely slept a wink.  

We sat in a cafe for the hour and a half it took for Otis and Eydie's flight to arrive and had a cuppa and listened to the lilting accents around us.  The sing song sound of the voices was lovely.  

Our hotel rooms weren't ready so we checked our luggage at the front desk and had a nice 2 mile walk before we found our first destination.

The Guinness factory/storehouse is a very large and cool space.  We did the tour for a while until Otis decided we'd had enough and we headed for the barroom on the top floor where you were given a pint and great 360 degree views of Dublin.  It wasn't entirely different than the DeLongi Museum in San Francisco but with stout.

Afterwards was a nice lunch at a pub called Arthur's.  Fish and chips with mushy peas, Guinness pie and chicken and vegetable curry hit the spot. My feet appreciated a bit of a break too.

Our next stop was Christ Church Cathedral which is the oldest of Ireland's two medieval cathedrals.  It's a beautiful old dark stone cathedral compete with plenty of chapels and catacombs.  Here is a cat and here is a mouse - both of whom lived in the organ pipes.

I noticed this stained glass window and am very keen to get an explanation.  For the life of me, I can't think of a reasonable explanation.

More walking a stop to see the Chester Beatty library at the Dublin Castle.  Alas, the library was closed.  But there was this cool peacock weather vane.  

A walk back to the hotel through St. Stephen's Green and my feet had had it.  I will try to put up pictures of our hotel room tomorrow.  It is truly stunning.  Rebecca and I had lovely naps and baths and revived enough to meet up with O&E for dinner at a restaurant called Catch-22.  Mussels, Dover sole, scampi, fish pie, and fried cod were delicious.  I forgot to take any pictures except for these:

but I'll do better tomorrow.  We stopped off for some gelato on the way home and now it's a race to try and stay awake until 10:00 or 10:30 before passing out. 

More tomorrow.

R