Ireland

During the middle of last week Anne and I flew to Dublin for a short, two day trip. We found out that two days is about the maximum you should spend in Dublin. It has a fair amount of places to sightsee but otherwise, Anne recommends viewing Ireland by touring through by car and visiting the small town atmosphere. Regardless, I really enjoyed Dublin and what it had to offer. The people were very friendly and we had some interesting conversations with a few locals at dinner. Anne pointed out to me that although the Irish are very friendly, they may also just be noisy. They were all very interested in our political thoughts and who we were voting for. The elections play a very large part in how things work over here, more notably, the housing market.

Aside from mixing in with the locals at the pubs and restaurants, we did the tourist part as well. Naturally, we had tours of the Guinness Brewery and the Jameson Distillery. Both were very entertaining and educational for those wondering. We both learned a lot about the process for both liquids and why they are so great....and yes, the Guinness is much better in Dublin than elsewhere in the world.

When we weren't partying while sightseeing we were able to see the Book of Kells at Trinity College along with Kilmainham Goal (Jail) and Dublin Castle. For the abbreviated stories of these treasures: the Book of Kells (circa 800 AD) contains the Four Gospels of the New Testament inscribed into calf hide in very intricate detail. Very impressive to see. Kilmainham Goal was a prison built in the late 1700's which held many leaders of the Irish rebellion. The jail provided us with a lot of Irish history along with many stories of escape attempts. We were also lucky enough to view the beautiful St. Patricks cathedral, the largest church in Ireland.

Sorry the blog is a pretty quick run-down. It is around 12:30 am in London and I will be in the air in less than twelve hours....time for some sleep!

As always, never stop exploring.

Cheers!