Day 2 August 2

Well, it was quite a day for Day 2.  We had a delicious breakfast and I decided to go ahead and get the full Irish breakfast behind me.  

The yolks were lovely but I dug in before I remembered to take the picture.  After breakfast we too a short stroll to see what the pool and gym looked like (though we won't have the time to enjoy it).  The pool is noteworthy!

It was then off to Trinity College and an exhibition of the Book of Kells (no pictures allowed) and the long library.  I took some pictures but they really don't do it justice.  It looks like maybe Harry Potter was real.

Eydie was our questioner in chief and asked one of the guards if all of the books had been scanned. His answer was that the librarians were scanning all of the books but only about 10 percent were done as they're moving purposefully slowly to guarantee long term employment.  After a chuckle he let Eydie know that he wasn't really kidding.  Fun fact about Trinity College.  At graduation, they don't go alphabetically but by your GPA and class standing.  Rebecca wondered who got cheered for more - the first graduate or the last?

The temperature here seems to be coolish outside and the temperature of just sweating inside.  Most of the rain has been not so much falling as existing.  You can use an umbrella but it's going to find you.  How this ever works I'll never know.

We walked around Trinity and wandered generally on our way to our next appointment - the whiskey museum, complete with tasting.  

 

We had a lovely guide who proved that enthusiasm and charm (and a bit of brogue) can go a long way.  The tour was fairly fascinating though it generally consisted of sitting in fake period rooms and watching films with her talking over.  It didn't hurt (pun intended) that there was a lot of sitting and I was breaking in new shoes which weren't cooperating.  Interestingly, we were told that Irish Whiskey sales began to pickup in about 1988 which was when Jameson became my drink of choice in graduate school.  I don't think I drank enough to shore up the whole industry though.

As with all travel, bathroom facilities and the where-abouts-there-of are job one (in case you need to do job one or job two).  The Whiskey Museum's facilities were particularly interesting.  I think this must be Sponge Bob's favorite facility.

And who doesn't need a bit of taxidermy to go with their daily business?

I don't really understand Pokemon but there was this.

Lunch was at the Stags Head bar which was lovely.  Zucchini curry soup, pulled pork sandwich, seafood chowder, ham sandwich (toasty) and Guiness of course.

Here are some pictures from our wanderings around the Temple Bar area.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the Ha'penny bridge.

 








While walking we passed a tour guide giving a talk about Molly Malone (of cockles and mussels fame).  Here is a bit of her and her partner talking about her boobs and everyone's love of rubbing them.  Hopefully you can hear over the tour guide who was behind me.



I didn't take any pictures but we spent a good sit at a starbucks and then toured the old post office where there is an extensive exhibit about the Irish Revolution and Easter uprising.

After eight hours of walking we made it back to the hotel.  My feet were wrecked!  But these did the trick!



Rebecca says they're like wearing pieces of pie.

As promised, here are some pictures of our room.  It's a ridiculously beautiful place.

We had a fantastic dinner which I will include pictures of later today and Rebecca and I, decided to have one more pint before bed.  We went to a small pub around the corner and got to talking to the bartender who told us all there is to know about Irish Hurling (sort of like field hockey) and then introduced us to three people who were sitting next to us.  It turns out they all worked at Parliament and the man, whose name was Charlie Flannigan, was the Minister of Foreign Affairs.  We were basically hanging out with Ireland's John Kerry.  In fact, he had talked to John Kerry earlier in the day and told him that Ireland was unwilling to help the U.S. out in Syria.  We talked about Trump and Kilkenny where he's from and his secretary told us that if we're back in time next Tues. she would give us a tour of Parliament.  Unfortunately, I don't think we will be.  

More later.

R