Days 1, 2 and 3

Today found us leaving on a jet plane for Dublin. We were on the runway for an extra hour. When the pilot came on the intercom and said he was shutting down the engines to save fuel, I kept my gasps to a minimum to not freak out Rose, being the "questionable" flier that she is.

But all was well, we arrived in Dublin just 15 minutes late. The sun was coming up and dang it was cold when we walked off the plane. Going from 90 degrees in DC to 50 in Dublin--quite a shock.

We got through customs, took the shuttle to Hertz, picked up the car (we decided to pay the extra and ditch the "smart" car). One look at that tin can and we decided it was a good investment in our future to drive a bigger car. A Ford of some sort is what we are driving. Well, I use the term we loosely at the moment.
Getting from the airport to the hotel was like a bad dream. Memories of Dan taking out mirrors in London ran through my mind. So far, no close hits. :)

We found the hotel, which is very nice and located in the Temple Bar district, and unloaded the car, found the parking lot and headed back to the hotel for a nap--oh wait, we had breakfast at the "gruel".

After a short nap and a great shower, we headed out for the Gaitey Theatre to see "Riverdance". The show was unbelievable and we won't be trying out any of the steps ourselves. We came back to the hotel and changed into comfy clothes. We decided it was time to just wander and we found a great little pub/restaurant called the Elephant & Castle. We had a brew, stout for me and less stout for Rose. It wasn't Guinness but it was close. We stayed out til almost 1am, that could be a new record for me. The scenery (human kind) was pretty interesting. More leg and well, you get the picture.

Off to bed and we slept like the dead...woke up at 7:30 and rewoke up at 9. It was good for us (and the Irish drivers) to have a great night's sleep.

Today, Day 3, we played total tourist with lots of walking, the Hop On, Hop Off bus tour of the city and lots of picture taking. We went to Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells, found out we need to come back next week for the tour of Dublin Castle and generally had a great day out and about. We came back to the hotel and changed, (it rained off and on all day and we were slightly damp) and headed out for a drink, dinner and another drink. Walking through the Temple Bar area is crazy. There are street performers, musicians, mimes, and monsters. A street vendor had a "rigged" bike that could NOT be ridden by the novice. He was offering 25 Euros if anyone could ride about 15 feet. NO one could do it. The way the handle bars were loosened, they would have to be turned the opposite way of "normal". It was fun to watch the guys (and not one woman tried) really make fools of themselves. hahah.
It is almost 12:30 AM and we are off tomorrow to see the country side.
Til later, we are: Just Two Travelin' Women