Dirty Dublin ... Literally

After our week in Scotland, the airports reopened right on time, and we flew over to Dublin, Ireland. Russell and Fiona have friends that are trying to sell their flat in Dublin and were willing to rent it to use for the weekend. Really amazing place and in a great location! We were lucky to have so much room to ourselves ... a kitchen to make breakfast in the morning, a washer/dryer to finally do some laundry, and a couch and tv to veg out a bit. I even tried to get in some exercising with the resistance band I packed, which Kyle thought was hilarious. How else is a girl supposed to keep her figure with all that beer?!?!

I'll cut to the chase and say, if you don't like beer, don't bother going to Dublin. Most of our trip centered around brewery tours, pub tours and sampling good beers. Good thing I'm German and had no trouble keeping up!

Within 2 hours of landing in Dublin, we were off to the Guiness Brewery tour. The final stop of the tour is a "free" pint (after the $15 entry fee) at the Gravity Bar at the very top of the building - with 360 degree views of the city. Not exactly breath taking, given Dublin is a bit of a run down blue collar town ... but still a lovely spot to relax for the afternoon.

We stopped at the Jameson distillery, but given that they no longer distill at this location and the fact that we toured multiple distilleries in Scotland and could probably have given the tour, we settled on a drink and a swing through the giftshop. Take a look at the picture of Kyle sipping his whiskey for another "gift" we discovered in the background. How could you not feel a draft?!?!

We enjoyed a pint at The Brazenhead - the oldest pub in town. Looks like some fellow Clevelanders had done the same as there were police badges of Cleveland suburbs posted on the wall. Us Clevelanders sure do get around ... do you blame us?!?!

So, there you have it. The three big tourist events were all related to alcohol. But wait for it ... our favorite day was a rural pub tour. 9 hours, 6 pubs! I wasn't kidding about that beer thing.

.

The Irish countryside was beautiful, the people were friendly, the pubs were cozy and the beer went down easy. Our tour guide, Shane, was fantastic! Kyle sparked up conversation with a local and in no time was playing a round of Irish pool. (same rules smaller table) We heard some live music, ate a good traditional meal, and even poured our own pint of Guinness (perfectly, I might add) behind the bar. Not to worry, mums, Shane dropped us off at the door to our flat and we safely tucked ourselves in for the night.

We had a nice time in Dublin, but we decided it was not our favorite city. It was quite dirty compared to Edinburgh (and most European cities I've visited, or even US cities for that matter) and very expensive. Even more so than London, we would soon learn. I think we just allotted too many days to the city. Had we chosen to rent a car and see the countryside, I think we would have been happier. But, we did have time to relax in our own apartment and get ready for our next adventure in London!