FAB! We had a long wonderful day in a friendly, easily accessible ancient city – what a treat!

The Hop On Hop Off tour of Dublin is such a great deal that we couldn’t pass it up. We caught the first bus at Trinity College and rode it all around the city – what a great tour! I love a HOHO when I’m unfamiliar with a new place. There’s hardly a better overview. Even better if it’s inexpensive, like the one in Dublin! We got off the bus for the first time at Phoenix Park. We took a little jaunt through the grounds, saw the outside of Dublin Zoo, and some of the Peoples’ Park before we caught the bus to complete our tour.

We switched routes to the Docklands Tour (or Duck Lands as Shane has been saying) where we picked up the Jeanie Johnston tour. WOW!! The highlight of today for sure. The ship is an Irish replica of the Irish immigrant ship – the only one to never lose a life! As Irish Americans, it was moving to see what our ancestors endured to emigrate to the U.S. The tour was well done, interesting , and informative.

We finished up the docklands and ended up at O’Connell Street, the center of tourism in Dublin. From there we went to a pub for lunch, the Fitzgerald Bar. Not that great of food. Beer was good and the interior was awesome, so in the end it was a win. From Fitzgeralds, we went to Trinity College to take the tour and see the Book of Kells. Our tour guide, David, was a junior at the college and very helpful…but kind of boring on the tour. Regardless we enjoyed seeing the campus and learning about the university. Most interesting – it only costs €3000 for EU students to attend the college. The Book of Kells was very cool- we so enjoyed learning about the process, the monks, and of course the manuscript.

After Trinity College, we rode the HOHO around again and landed in Temple Bar. The rain accompanied us into the area. We found music and Irish cider – “Bulmers” – at Quay’s Bar. The duo was fabulous, playing Irish and contemporary music. The bar was full of wet Americans seeking shelter from the storm, as after a while we decided to move on somewhere else… And ended up back at Quay’s for dinner – a lovely snack! It was a little to0 touristy but the food was tasty!

After Temple Bar we took our tired selves back to our hotel – and bed!