Day 5, Dublin, Ireland

Dublin was a much earlier arrival and we were all tired from our late night escapades.  We had to move early though because we had tickets for the Guinness Storehouse at 11am.  The port of Dublin is no where as scenic as Cobh.  We found a taxi right by the ship and he took us to St. James Gate for our Guinness experience.  Note that most cabs in Ireland do not take cards, so be sure to have Euro on hand.  It's been interesting coming in and out of the Eurozone with respect to currency and as you can imagine, Brexit is a hot topic in the UK and even in "Southern Ireland".  Chris chatted with the cabbie about Brexit a bit a later, in Northern Ireland about the struggle for independence or not with some wishing to unify Ireland.  

​ The cab driver was very friendly with great Irish humor.  He joked about our itinerary for the day.  The Guinness Storehouse building is quite amazing.  It is designed like a pint glass.  You work you way up 7 stories learning about Guinness.  Of course you get a tasting along the way.  At the end, you find yourself in the Gravity Bar with 360 degree views of Dublin.  You can get a free pint of Guinness which we did.  It was very crowded so after our drink we went to one of the restaurants.  Veronica and Chris really wanted Guinness Stew.  It did not disappoint.  With full bellies, we walked to our next destination, Jameson Experience. 

​The Jameson building was very cool as well. We purchased tickets online but was able to switch to an earlier time.  You go to three rooms on a guided tour.  The first room teaches the history while the second teaches the process of how Jameson is made.  You get to taste and smell various ingredients and stages.  The last room is the tasting room.  Here you compare Jameson to Scotch and American whiskey.  At the end, you get your daily grog which is either straight, on the rocks or with ginger and lime.  Chris and I both chose the ginger and lime.  The daily grog was a tradition of the distillery.  Workers were given a shot at the start of work and one at the end.  Maybe some other employers should try this! 

​We decided to walk back to the ship.  It was a nice walk to the town center.  Past the town center, the walk was not as lovely.  It is very long and noisy from the entrance of the port to where the shuttle takes you to the ship.  Some parts were very smelly as well.  I’m not sure I’d recommend this walk but we got extra exercise. 

​We went to trivia and then changed for dinner.  Veronica was meeting her friends for dinner at the buffet later so Chris and I went to the buffet earlier.  The buffet was very nice.  We both made big plates of vegetables as this is our normal diet at home.  Then, we went to pub trivia and won!  Chris pulled it out knowing what is created from diamond dust from a laser.  We then went to Galaxy to play This or That.  Tonight’s show is the magician.  Chris went to the show while I decided to write.  He enjoyed the show and told me about it when we met to listen to big band music in Galaxy.  The showband did a wonderful job playing the classics and we enjoyed quite a few swings and foxtrots before heading back to the cabin.  We arrive in Belfast at 7am with an early morning tour scheduled so it was off to get some rest.