Dublin, Ireland, August 23, 2017

Dublin, Ireland, August 23, 2017

We ran into some bumpy seas between Rotterdam and Dublin. Once again the show featuring the singers and dancers had to be cancelled.

We arrived early, early the next morning at the dock in Dublin. It's another big, big commercial port. There were four cruise ships there tucked in amongst the freighters being loaded and unloaded. Nothing entertains a shipload of old patoots more than watching the big giant cranes grab ahold of a container on a freighter and then swing it around and deposit it onto the trailer of a waiting truck. Every time, "That's just amazing. How does that guy get that container on that truck?"

We had the morning free so we joined a three hour drive around Dublin. Jim had been here 35 years ago and me closer to 45 and the only thing either one of us remembered was the entrance to Trinity College and the repository of the Book of Kells. Like every major European city we've visited lately (Ireland remains part of the EU and thus uses Euros) Dublin was jammed with people, residents and visitors. School was just starting up again so add to that mix pre-teens in school uniforms (our guide, a mature woman, pointed out the girls in the mid-calf length skirts and matching burgundy sweaters as students at a Catholic girls school, the same one she'd attended a long while back in the SAME uniforms. No wonder the kidlets dye their hair green and get tattoos  when they're out of there! Ugly, ugly uniforms. With white knee high socks and black lace up shoes.) and 18,000 students at Trinity.

We rambled around town enjoying the Georgian and medieval neighborhoods and the front doors. So many of the buildings have the same appearance that the doors are the only feature to set them apart. Every door has a different surround, a different fan window over it and a different shiny brass door knocker (We passed a shop called Knobs and Knockers selling just that!) AND is a different color. And I'm not talking just the expected green, red and blue but also bright yellow, Caribbean teal and Barbi pink! And fabulous window boxes filled with bright flowers spilling over the edges. Once again, you live in a northern spot, you take advantage of the summer sun.

That afternoon we went to the Guiness Brewery. Interestingly enough, of the numerous ship's excursions we've been on since leaving Boston we've had just one member of the crew join us on one tour. But to Guiness? Five of them! And our guide was a Trinity educated, stand up comedian wanna be. The whole trip was a hoot and a half!

The Guiness brewery in Dublin is massive--60 acres in the middle of the city! Evidently when the original Lord Somebody Guiness started it up 250 years ago he signed a 9,000 (yes, Nine Thousand) year lease for that property at 45 pounds per year. The price remains the same. He also secured water rights from a pure river (not the Liffey which runs through Dublin and does not look the slightest bit pure) for the same number of years for even less. They produce millions of pints a day at this Saint James facility AND they've converted one of the original breweries into the Guiness Storehouse, nine floors of exhibitions of how they make the stuff, plus a Guiness Academy to teach the proper way to pour a Guiness, plus a restaurant featuring food that goes well with Guiness AND at the top of the nine story building a circular glass bar, the Gravity Bar where you get your pint and then wander about enjoying the 360 degree view of Dublin. Now THAT was a lively spot. A big circular bar in the middle manned with multiple bartenders drawing endless pints of regular Guiness and the other beers they make. The line is that a Guiness drawn there tastes so much better than one you can get anywhere else. I don't like beer but my inhouse expert, James B. Fisher, was willing to take the test. And his judgement? It's true! The Guiness was fabulous! I also polled several of the hundreds milling around and got the same answer. Oh, did I mention that on the first floor is a massive store featuring anything and everything that is either made from Guiness or can bear the name Guiness. This was our last Euro stop so we kept adding merch to our pile until the adorable clerk said we'd spent it all. At one point I said, You betcha, which just tickled him to know end. He said he just loved American slang. I taught him a couple more that wouldn't cause his grandmother to blush.

The ship wasn't due to leave until 11 but I was a whipped puppy. No shower and change and dining room for me just a quick bite at the Lido and then I was in bed asleep by 7:30. Jim said he checked several times to make sure I wasn't toes up.