3/18 Home again

Monday morning we out for breakfast. We went with Glenda and Aaron to the Wooden Whisk, then we all went back to the corner deli where Joe and ourselves got something else. 

At 11 we took 2 taxi vans to the airport. Since we had to be there so early, we had plenty of time to eat a light lunch there - a tuna and cheese panini. 

It took some doing, but we were able to spend our last euros in the Duty Free shops.

We were pleasantly surprised that it took almost not time to go through customs - probably because this isn't the busy season. 

The flight home was very uneventful, for which I am grateful. Dinner was chicken ravioli in cream sauce, cold pasta and lemon desserts, as well as an ice cream snack. Those were OK but the morning burrito was, once again, truly awful.

No matter. It was an amazing trip and I am so glad we could share the experiences with our friends. And I thank God for watching over us and for the wonderful experiences we had.

3/17 St. Patrick's Day Parade!

No hurry this morning. The other 13 people on the tour left yesterday when the tour officially ended. However, when Randy set this trip up for us and our friends, he added one day on so we could spend St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland. It was too good of a chance to miss!  We had breakfast the hotel; now they have a machine that makes little pancakes while you wait. They also have a toaster that similar to the one we have at home. I may miss some of this when I get home but I'm ready for something different.

We spent some time packing for the trip home. When we were done we met Joe, Aaron and Glenda and went for a walk. The idea was to get something light for lunch, since we were no longer eating a lot for breakfast. We started at the corner deli, then to the Wooden Spoon, then to the restaurant Gary and Erin recommended, and finally ended up back at the corner deli for a sandwich and chips. 

Then we met everyone downstairs and went to find a place to watch the parade. It was really cold today so we bought a couple of warm Irish scarves. The seller wanted 5 euros or them but he couldn’t pronounce “five”. Everyone thought he said “four”. He laughed and said that always happened - as we walked on we heard his next customers saying the same thing.

The parade wasn't scheduled until noon so we still had time to look around. We found a shop for our dear friends Pete and Donna!

We also found shops to sell temporary shamrock tattoos and sticker shamrocks. Glenda and I got enough for everyone, then Glenda set about convincing everyone to put them on. 

She doesn't take no for an answer so soon we were all ready for the parade.

But not as ready as these guys! These were some tough guys to be walking around with bare knees in this weather.

Erin loves Ireland so much that she glows. She even got a couple of the Garda to pose for her.

It was really cold waiting for the parade to start. Aaron, Glenda and I walked back so Glenda and I could put on extra clothes, while the others held our places.  That was pretty nice of them because it was colder standing than walking. 

I finally was in a position to get a full picture of the Millennium spire!

It was a longer wait than we anticipated because the noon parade didn’t start until 12:25 - they were waiting for the President to arrive. When he did arrive I didn't get a chance to see him - he’s only 4’11’’ tall so I couldn’t see over the crowd. 

The parade started right after that with official-looking guys on motorcycles. 

They were followed by a beautiful horse-drawn carriage. This is the Lord Mayor's carriage, from 1757, and is usually just used once a year. It's gorgeous.

Before and during the parade there was a guy on the roof of the building across from us, keeping a watchful eye on things. 

The parade had a lot of marching bands and at least 5 of them were American school bands, who all did a great job. The Irish floats were not as large as some of the big ones in American parades but they were very imaginative, and not a flower in sight.  The rain held off but it was so cold that eventually my phone wouldn’t recognize my cold fingertips! No wonder the sun was crying on this float.

The floats were preceded by dancers in very colorful and imaginative costumes.

A pair of floats paid tribute to Ireland's musical heritage. 

The harp was great but the drums were powerful.

The floats didn’t try to hide the means used to move them; most were powered by guys pulling them along or by a couple of bicycles inside the framework. 

The last group were bicyclist representing a wide range of books. Good job!

The parade ended around 2 and everyone went back to their room, although somehow we ended at the Wooden Whisk again for treats. Then it was time for a nap. Several of us were interrupted by housekeeping who were just getting around to cleaning the rooms. No problem - that was about the time we wanted to head out to find a couple of pubs. Randy found seats for us in Mallory’s pub but a local guy told us of another pub just down the road with live music so we all went there. There was indeed music but it was so crowded that there was no chance of getting in. We checked out a couple more before squeezing into O’Shea’s where we found a few seats. Some nice people from Wales were sitting behind us in a large booth and the guys offered us their chairs. Soon their party  moved on and we quickly moved to the booth for a more relaxing round. On TV was a game that looked a lot like soccer except the players could use their hands - don’t know what that was. There was a 2-person band at the front of the pub and Erin finally got to hear one of her favorite songs - “Irish Rover”.

Time for a last dinner in Dublin, but where to go? We walked around but couldn't' make up our minds. Doyle, Cheryl, Gary and Erin could make up their minds - they got pizza and called it a night. That left Aaron, Glenda and us still looking for a meal. We saw a carnival a few blocks away and headed there. It was interesting, but didn't have anything we wanted to eat.

Nearby, however, was Lanigan's, which Brendan had previously recommended to us. We went in, were led upstairs where we ordered something not to complicated - chicken fingers. Oddly there were no drinks served upstairs, so Randy had to go downstairs to get our drinks.

On the way home we passed an older gentleman playing the violin. What a sweet sound. Glenda and I hurried over to tip him, in thanks for adding to our evening. 

3/16 Guinness

Guinness doesn’t have a tour, they have the “Guinness Experience”. That’s a good way to put it. It’s crazy busy - most people have a 2-3 hour wait to buy entrance tickets. Fortunately we had vouchers so we could get right in. Their entrance level has lots and lots of stuff to see, and there are 6 floors above that. The entrance level was packed with people. Servers and stilt walkers wandered through the very loud and very happy crowd. 

We learned that Mr Guinness leased his land for 9,000 years at 45 pounds a year, which was pretty shrewd of him. He and his wife had 22 children, 10 of which survived to adulthood.

We went through a lot of displays that were very interesting and looked wonderful but didn't tell me anything that stuck with me. 

One floor had sample room with a speaker talking about how to drink Guinness. 

The 4th floor was my favorite - it was filled with references to the funny advertising campaigns of the past. 

Our trip included letting us “pull a pint” on the fourth floor. There’s a specific way to do it. According to Brendan, you start with a clean dry warm glass. If you can find a harp glass with a fob in the bottom, that’s the best kind. Pull the tab back 3 seconds (which puts more gas in it) then forward to fill it 3/4. Never let the spigot touch the glass and always hold the glass at a 45 degree angle. Wait 60 seconds to let it settle (2 minutes would be better but most people don’t wait that long). Then fill it the rest of the way, holding the glass straight up with no angle, to put on a “Bishop’s collar” on it. Guinness did it the same way except for the 3 second back-pull. Randy decided to follow the instructor's way. 

It settled perfectly. 

And it tasted just fine. 

From there we paused at the 5th floor and didn't find anything interesting so we went on to the 6th floor, the room with the 360 degree view. And yes, the walls are glass and you can see for miles. 

But it wasn't much fun because someone had just tried to open an outside door and the high-pitched, very loud alarm was going off. And people were packed in here shoulder to shoulder. So we didn't stay long. 

So we took the stairs down to the bottom level and went to the gift shop, where we found a few things we couldn't live without. While we were in line a group of musicians played their way through the store. Guinness likes to keep things moving!

Right before we left, Erin and I got a shamrock painted on our cheek. Why not?

When we left there was still a big crowd waiting to get in. Man, Guinness has a sweet deal going on here! I'm glad it was part of our trip because I wouldn't want to wait in that line, but I wouldn't want to miss this, either.