Post #1 Ireland

Ireland was absolutely amazing! We left on Friday, and through planes trains and automobiles, literally, we made it to our hotel in Dublin alive. i say "alive" because i swear we almost died on our extremely turbulent RyanAir flight. After we got to the hotel we relaxed for a little bit. The boys took a quick nap while i watched some very strange Irish television. After our down time, we took the bus into town to find some dinner. This was where we learned our first lesson about Dublin; most pubs don't serve food. Who knew? After we wandered around temple bar for about an hour we found what would become our favorite pub, the Auld Dubliner. For dinner i had my first ever fish and chips! It tasted better than i could have ever imagined. We hung around in the pub until close to 11 just soaking in the entertainment and pub life. We then proceeded to try to find the bus stop. This only took about a half an hour of us running around asking people if they knew where to catch the 69 bus to Rathcole. Apparently no one rides that bus because no one knew where it was and it was impossible to find. That was our second lesson learned; the bus home picks us up right in front of the Ha'Penny bridge. On Saturday we woke up nice and early and head off to see the Kilmainham Gaol. This was a lot more than we expected it to be. We had a great tour guide and learned all about the Irish Revolution and the men and woman that were unjustly imprisoned and killed during it. After the Gaol, we made the long trek to the Guinness Factory. This was my absolute favorite thing we saw. The storehouse was huge! It took us close to three hours to see the whole thing. We learned everything a person could possible want to know about Guinness from they ingredients and the process, the the advertising and the origins of the Guinness Book of World Records. we also got to sample the roasted hops and a fresh taste of the beer it self. At the end, Jeff and Cory got a lesson in how to pour the perfect Guinness while James and I, being picky, went up to the Sky Tower and had the professionals pour ours. Not only does Guinness taste better in Ireland than anywhere else, but it taste even better in the factory. If you're not a fan before you visit, you sure are when you leave. After lunch and a quaint "Take-Away" place, we headed over to Grafton street to see the shops and street performers. Along the way we rand into the statue of Molly Malone. On Grafton street we got to see all kinds of acts. My personal favorite was a circus like performer in a leopard jump suit. He jumped through hoops and limboed underneath a pole lit on fire that was the only the height of a wine bottle off the ground. After Grafton street we headed to find dinner again, this time being smarter about looking for pubs. We ended up at Farrington's and i, after the amazing experience the night before, got fish and chips again. Cory and Jeff tried something new and got Guinness and beef stew which was worlds better than any stew in the states. Once we were stuffed to the gills (This was a reoccurring thing), we headed back to the Auld Dubliner for some entertainment and of course, Guinness!. We had planned to make it a late night but once we got to the pub and the music was playing we all hit a wall and started falling asleep at the table. We ended up calling it a night early and headed back to the hotel around 10:30. On our last day in Dublin we visited Trinity Church and Christ Church Cathedral. I was actually very surprised by Christ Church. We was very elaborate and had an entire crypt for us to explore including a mummified cat and rat. After exploring the churches we went off on our usual hunt for food. This time we found the Queen of Tarts. This was a cute little pastry shop with some of the best, if not the best, soup-salad-sandwich i have ever had! Unfortunately after lunch it was time to head home. This turned out to be an experience in and of it self. We got to the airport and on the plane no problems what so ever. The problems started when we got to the train station only to learn that the train that we had planned to take back to Grantham didn't exist. The next train didn't leave until 1:00 am and wouldn't have gotten in until 6:00 am. This would have meant four hours in the airport plus 5 on a train ride that should only take an hour and a half. So we decided to suck it up and pay for taxi. After bartering, we found one that would take us from Manchester back to Grantham for £115. Once in the Taxi, everything seemed to be fine again until we hit stand still traffic at 12:30 am. Only a few cars up there was a two car pile up. We ended up sitting, stranded on the only highway back to Grantham for two hours while crews cleaned things up. Once we got moving again we discovered that the whole time we were sitting there, we were only twenty miles from the manor. So close and yet so far. Eventually we made it back and ended up having to tip the cab driver a little too generously. At least we made it home though! I can't wait for the next adventure!