Happy 250th Guinness

Since our plans had changed, we returned our car early to get the refund.  We had to return it to the car lot a few km from the airport, to get a shuttle to the airport, to get a bus to town, and finally a taxi to our hotel, the good old Travelodge. We went quickly to the internet to get more bad news about our Russian Visa.  Boy, do I hope it's worth getting into Russia.

So to cheer me up, Bill knew I'd been wanting to go to the movies.  So we took the bus to town and found the Savory Movie Theater.  Our choices that we wanted to see where Marley and Me or Duplicity.  We'd heard a bad review about Duplicity on the comical Irish radio, so we opted for the cute dog.  I enjoyed the popcorn and a night in front of a large screen where a large red curtain opened and closed before the movie.  We were in the premiere 1 theater where bathrooms we in the back and no previews where shown at all.  I thought that was Irish movies, but I would soon learn that it may have just been because they were having trouble with this movie and let us in 10 minutes before it started.

Since this had been the first day in ages that we were staying at a place longer than one night, I opted for sleeping in and having a lazy day.  I actually finished a book and in the afternoon, Bill and I took the bus to the center of town to walk around and find some food.  We had intended on staying out to watch Ireland play Whales in the Grand Slam Rugby tournament, but after eating, I felt a bit off and we ended up staying in.  Bill watched the game while I took it easy, and Ireland won which was the first time in 61 years.  This was Saturday and by Monday there we champion banners all over town.  We did go across the street for some Thai food to have a break from all the pub food.

The next day we took the long way walking to St. Patrick's Cathedral.  It cost €10 just to get in so we just enjoyed a walk through their park instead.  We kept on walking towards the Guinness Storeroom.  It wasn't that crowded the day we went, but if you ever go, the little trick is to go to the machines to pay with your credit card to avoid the big line or just buy your tickets online because the lines can be pretty long.

I'd been to their old building before they created this new one and Bill had come right when they opened the new one, but he had said a lot of things had changed.  I enjoyed how interactive a lot of the floors where.  They had an old video that showed how the wooden keg where made, and though they are now steel, it was interesting to see what an art form it was to made them.  The other really interesting thing was looking at all the old commercial, Guinness is Good for you as doctors use to actually prescribe it.

I know I'd never made the connection before but the Guinness book of World Records is their creation that started over a bar argument of what was the fastest bird in the world which an answer didn't appear until the second edition.  It's also the most widely read book after the bible but that could be because they're are new editions every year.  So I felt dumb for never putting two and two together and I'd visited this place before but it was much different in the old building and not as much information.

We walked through town a bit after this and had a snack at a pub along with another cider.  I think we have a drink with most meals simply because we're eating in pubs.  But since the movies where right around the corner, we went to see Duplicity as well.  I was trying to get my movie fix in as we had the opportunity to see some.  I had to agree partly with the review as the movie could have been better but the ending was definitely something different.

The next morning Bill took me to Starbucks since he said I'd been being good and hadn't had any for awhile.  We walked to the Dublin Castle which isn't really much of a castle as only a tower is left with newer building attached to it.  We walked around to the garden and enjoy a sit.  We ate at Johnny's cousin's for lunch, Eddie Rockets for some American food.

And then it was time for me to take the bus back towards our hotel while Bill took the bus towards the airport to pick up our next rental car.  We went with Thrifty again because it was the cheapest, but this time we got the insurance booked with the car for only €7.99.  However, when Bill got to the airport, the same lady that checked us in for the car last time was in the airport booth (which was closed last time as our flight got in late) and she said it wasn't enough insurance and he had to add to other kinds to raise it back up to €34.

And so, he'd had enough of her and went to try some of the other booths.  He got a car from National which charged only €3.99 for the insurance and the car came out to the same price he thought he'd been reserving from National.  The thrifty lady wanted to see the contract and was surprised at how cheap it was.  We'd actually had pretty good luck with thrifty up until Ireland, but car rentals are funny and it's always good to try different companies and read the fine print especially how much insurance you need to drive the car.

We then headed out to Maynooth to see one of Bill's friends, Gwen, from his time going to school here in Ireland.  She's actually German but he parents moved her before she was born, so she has an interesting accent.  We wanted to find a place to stay in the area but drove for a while and didn't have much luck so we just turned around to meet her.

She was in the process of moving so we went out to eat though she'd originally wanted to cook for us.  Her significant other, John, joined us as well.  We had a great time a quaint restaurant that had an empty upstairs where we were seated.  It was nice as there was only one other table filled, but our waitress hardly ever made an appearance.  And we headed to the pub for a drink before heading back for these two to get some sleep before they had to work in the morning.  Though I didn't feel too sorry for John because he was complaining about being at work by 9 since he usually goes in at 10.

And we drove around for a while until we found a hotel and Bill paid for a nice room.  It was a great hotel, we'd just wished we'd had more time to use the sauna and hot tub but it was the best we could find.  And we needed some sleep before we headed out on our journey through Ireland to see some castles and end up at Giant's Causeway.

Michelle