50th Honeymoon Trip Day 5

Wednesday May 17

Second day in Dublin. This day we are on our own and Barb found a park that is a hidden gem with fountains and a waterfall. Well we walked and walked and then crossed through a cute park with sculptures and a water fountain. The trees were in bloom and tulips were also, daffodils have already finished. It must have been beautiful here when they were in bloom as there are tons of them planted around. Finally we made it to Iveagh Gardens. Well the water is turned off and there are no flowers. This was a waste of a trip and we could of done Merrion Gardens which was right beside the shuttle drop off area. We head back to the tourist information area and get tickets for the hop on hop off bus and head to Guinness Storehouse. We have to walk about three blocks to pick up the bus and pass a flower seller on the street and a girl doing chalk art on the sidewalk. Our first hop off is Guinness and off to the tour. It is very well done and covers 6 floors of displays and working vats. We watched a video on how they use to make the barrels and those men sure were in shape. We got to go to class and learn how to pour our own glass of Guinness and we both got the head just proud of the rim. Then upstairs to the Gravity Bar. This bar has windows for a 360 view of Dublin and was very crowded. I drank my glass and Barb’s. We were shocked when we got out and found out we had been in there for 3 hours. Then we got on the wrong bus and had to jump off at the next stop.

Got on the right bus and headed around downtown Dublin on the bus. We passed the new needle called the “Monument of Light” that was built to replace the sculpture of Nelson’s Pillar which was destroyed by an IRA bombing in 1966.

We got back to the shuttle area with enough time to spare to get a picture of Oscar Wilde laying on the rocks.

Now back to the boat and not long after we are leaving shore and heading to Belfast. We walked over 11,000 steps and we are both exhausted so down we went to supper. We sat with a couple from San Francisco and had a very nice meal with them. My chicken was a bit dry. We haven’t done much of the evening stuff as we are just too tired. After dinner we went up to the room and watched a movie and went to sleep early.