Trip Index
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Saturday was our last full day in Dublin. After breakfast, we planned to check out the city on the
HOHO (hop-on-hop-off) bus as we got free passes from Railtours Ireland. The pick up was on O'Connell Street, near the
Spire of Dublin.
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| the Spire |
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| picking up the HOHO |
Our bus driver was a very good storyteller; he also had a great sense of humor, making fun of other HOHO buses passing by or in front of us. Some of the streets were so narrow, it was amazing to watch him make turns and squeezing by corners without hitting parked cars. Unfortunately, we passed by so many significant buildings that I don't remember all their names.
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| so much ivy |
We hopped off the bus at
St. Patrick's Cathedral to look around. There was a service in progress so we didn't go in.
We hopped back on the bus and headed to the
Guinness Storehouse. It sat within a huge complex called the
St. James Gate Brewery, which Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease for in 1759, paying only L45 a year...what a deal!
I purchased the tickets online to save 10% and to bypass potential lines at the ticket register. No need to print out; the tickets could be picked up at any of the registers or you could use the automated ticket machines along the wall. It looked like you could use the machines on the wall if you want to buy tickets with a credit card.
There were many floors to the Storehouse, with escalators and elevators abound. It was a self-guided tour; you just followed the arrows on the ground, just like inside an IKEA store. :)
3-second video of the escalators:
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| old Guinness ads |
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| bottle designs over the years |
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| fresh water for beer |
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| "the backside of water!" |
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| Mr. Guinness |
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| moving along the tour of how Guinness is made |
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| one of the best parts of the tour...tasting! |
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| this would be a busy job |
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| cheers! |
Also included with admission - a free pint of Guinness at the Gravity Bar on the top floor of the Storehouse. This was definitely a popular stop on the tour! You could also "pour your own pint" on the 4th floor, instead of having it poured for you at the bar. There are even instructions on how to
pour the perfect pint.
3-second Guinness pour:
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| view from the top |
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| refreshing |
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After finishing our free pint, we shopped for souvenirs, then hopped on the HOHO bus to get back to the hotel and drop our things. We had dinner at a Italian restaurant, which was decent.
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| minestrone soup |
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| penne |
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| fusilli |
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Afterwards, we wandered around the area looking for more souvenirs and had one last round at the Celt bar.
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| big intersection |
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| TGI Friday's here |
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| roaming around Temple Bar again |
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| still pretty bright for 9pm |
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| river Liffey |
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| along the quay |
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| the Celt |
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| listening to live music |
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Sunday morning, we were leaving quite early so we were not able to enjoy a hot breakfast. During our stay, I had informed the front desk our departure time so that they could secure reservations on the Paddywagon shuttle to take us to the airport. Kaleb and I were waiting in the lobby but no sign of Sue or Gerry, so he ran upstairs to check on them. It turned out they overslept and were in a rush to get packed and ready to go! The shuttle wasn't going to wait for them for sure. But fortunately, it arrived a few minutes late, plus we took our time getting out the door, slowly rolling our luggage to the bus, stalling enough for Sue and Gerry to make it, whew! If they ended up missing the shuttle, they would have taken a taxi.
One nice thing about Dublin airport is that you pre-clear U.S. Customs before boarding the plane, so you don't have to go through it when you land and possibly missing your connection. This adds a little bit of extra time to the front end of your journey, but it's worth the trouble. One other item that you may need to budget time for is if you want to receive a
VAT refund for your purchases, which can be up to 20%. Some stores display "Tax Free Shopping" signs; if you show your passport, they'll give you special receipts to redeem at the airport to get your money back. It can be a complicated process so read up if you want to take advantage of it. I didn't buy enough to qualify, but Sue and Gerry were able to use the service.
The flight back from Dublin to Philadelphia was uneventful. We bid Sue and Gerry goodbye as we transferred to our flight back home. Our trip to London and Dublin was over! Nine days was enough to only give a taste of the region. You could easily spend a week in either London or Dublin and not be bored.
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| lunch on board, not too terrible |
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| pre-arrival sandwich... |
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| ...that was packed 7 months ago? |
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Next trip up - a 9-day sojourn into the magnificent Canadian Rockies! It's become one of my favorite places to visit, so stay tuned to find out all about it...
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If you
missed any of the segments of this trip so far, refer to the links in
the Trip Index at the top of this page. Thanks for reading!
