Dublin

What a day! We did Dublin proud. We were up very early to start our day off. We headed right out of our hotel and across the street into St. Stephen's Green. It is such a beautiful park in Dublin. We then jumped right onto the "Hop On - Hop Off" bus tour and headed straight for Dublin Castle. We took a tour of it and what interesting facts we learned. It is an active building in Parliament, where the current president of Ireland, Mary McAleese, holds social functions and entertains. We saw remnants of the original castle, the cathedral royale and the castle gardens. Dublin gets its name from the Black Pool (Dubh Linn) which was on the site of the present castle gardens. It was truly beautiful. After that, we headed up to Kilmianham Gaol, (pronounced jail). This is a focal point of many important events in Irish history, including the history of the 1916 Easter Rising. Since the 1980s this has been open to the public as a museum.  After this, we went to the St. James Gate Brewery, Guinness Storehouse.  Michael and my father certainly enjoyed this stop. This production site has been here since 1759, when Arthur Guinness signed the now famous 9,000-year lease. This is a walking, self-guided tour of the brewing process. The tour ends with a highlight at the Gravity Bar.  This is a 360-degree panoramic bar which has gorgeous views of the city of Dublin. There is also a complimentary pint of Guinness at the end of the tour. Dinner was at the famous Hard Rock Cafe in Dublin.  Great music, great food and great memorabilia of Irish music history, including great treasures of U2.  From here we walked back to our hotel via Grafton Street and enjoyed some shopping along the way. We ended our day right where we started it,  by St. Stephen's Green. It was a fun-filled day.