3/15 part 2 - Whiskey and Dancing

After our visit to the Monastic settlement we headed to the oldest pub in the world, Sean’s Bar. This pub has a documented history going right back to 900 AD. During renovations in 1970, ancient walls and old coins dating back centuries were discovered. 

The guy who runs it now explained to us that the Irish invented whiskey. In fact, he says it started in this town. Moors distilled perfumes and the local monks turned the process to make whiskey.  And whiskey is an Irish word with means "water of life". He also said that because English whiskey must be aged 3 years, Irish whiskey must be aged 3 years and 1 day (although it can be aged more). Randy got a free Irish coffee. Because I got one too, he got a second free Irish coffee.

They served us an assortment of sandwiches and really good vegetable soup (pureed, of course; we think think this one had a lot of squash in it). Afterwords we had to pay for the meal which was a surprise, but it was good food and pretty inexpensive. 

We had some free time (I could have stayed at the monastery longer!) so I wanted to see the 12th century Norman castle that had a huge "Open today" sign. But it wasn't open today. Oh, well, here's a church. 

Brendon got us back to the hotel and later in the evening he drove us all to Dublin’s Abbey Tavern for an Irish dinner and lively show. It's in the pretty area of Howth.

Dinner was great. Randy had a chicken and smoked bacon salad, fillet of salmon. 

I had the soup and Corned Beef and Cabbage. We both finished with something called Bailey's Frischkaese Kuchen - really good. 

Dinner came with a drink. Randy got Guinness, of course.

I got the Hop House 13 Lager, which Randy had to drink for me. He has all the tough jobs. 

When everyone was finished we all went to the next room where some entertainers were waiting for us. They sang songs like "Star of the County Down", "Danny Boy", , "Oh Grace just hold me in your arms" and "Tell me ma when I go home (the boys won’t leave the girls alone)". The fiddler played several tunes including ""Washerwoman Jig". Loved all it all!

In between sets a group of Irish Dancers came out. All four were very good dancers, and the youngest man could kick right over his head.