Day 2 or Talking in My Sleep

A new day dawns...or does it?

Yesterday started with Ken having a conversation with me that I have NO recollection of whatsoever.  It seems that he was up and watching me sleep for about an hour.

Ken:  Are you getting up today?
Me:  I don't think so.
Ken:  I'm going for a walk.

An hour later Ken returned to the room.  I was still out cold.  I had no idea that he left and no idea that he woke me earlier.  I don't have any sense of having spoken with him at all.  Anyone who knows me 'in the morning' will know that the language I speak at that time of day often does not resemble English.  The fact that my response to him was intelligible speaks volumes (pun intended).  Apparently, I was in another universe entirely.  Needless to say - I did get up and we had a lovely day.

We walked around Dublin taking photos and heading in the direction of the Guinness Storehouse.  The beer itself hasn't been fermented there since 1988 but it is a nicely designed attraction that gives you the history of Guinness and it's importance and place in the history of Dublin and Ireland.  They have, of course, a gift shop with everything Guinness you can possibly think of.

We had a pint at the Gravity Bar.  This is the top floor of the building (7 stories if memory serves) and 360 degree views from the glass windows.  It reminded me of Windows on the World.  I also learned how to pour the perfect pint.  I have my certificate to prove it! 

What I don't have is any other photos as I have discovered that my very old laptop is not compatible with my very new (large) memory cards.  I guess most of the photos will have to wait until I return home and can upload then to my new laptop.  Originally, we weren't going to bring a laptop at all so I bought lots of memory.  It's good I didn't return said memory when we decided to bring the old laptop.  I will try to take some photos on my old, small memory cards so I can post a few.

Anyway - back to yesterday...

At one point in our walk over to St. James' Gate Ken stopped me from taking a picture of a church.  Apparently there were three guys who, as Ken put it, were either diabetic or shooting heroin.  I was oblivious. All I was interested in was taking a picture of the building!  Sometimes oblivious is a good thing.

We did get hit up 3 times in 5 blocks for money our first night in town.  Luckily, I put my 'New York' on and just (sing it with me) walked on by...

Ken tried to post our photo taken at the Storehouse on Facebook but it posted a photo of the people before us.  I tried to send it to myself as an e mail so I would have it and it doesn't appear to have made it into my in box.  I guess there isn't supposed to be any damaging evidence of our visit to Guinness.

When we left St. James' Gate, it was drizzling and misty and cold and damp.  All the things Ireland is famous for.  It was dark and we were hungry.  We had a 15 - 20 minute walk back to our hotel and to the restaurant where we planned to eat dinner.  Enter the magic of tourism.  Lined up outside the Guinness Storehouse was a row of horse and carriages.  We took a lovely, albeit, blustery ride back to the Temple Bar area where we were staying and got out of the carriage a block from our hotel.  We regrouped and headed on out to dinner at Eden Restaurant.

The service was lovely, the food excellent, and we had the added fun of being able to watch the kitchen from our table.  From there, we headed back to O'Neill's for another evening of Irish music.  We only wish they'd play longer and later.  The music doesn't start until 9 PM and ends at 11:30.  We wound up talking with a couple who had been to see Arlo (Guthrie) that night in Dublin.  We knew about the show but decided to pass on it.  It was nice to hear that it was a good show and just to hear folks talking about Woody and Arlo.

We walked back to our hotel and that is the end of Day Two.  Dublin was quieter on Thursday night than it had been on Wednesday.  That is a good thing as I wasn't nearly as tired!