Ireland! We have been looking forward to having 9 days off to tour Ireland for quite some time! We arrived in Dublin early yesterday morning and met our friends, Andrew and Emma at the airport. Our first day in Dublin was quiet, but in the early evening we joined Andrew and Emma at the bar and met up with my ex-co-worker and friend Natalee (who is now staffed in Paris!) and her new boyfriend Nico. Then it was time to go out and explore the legendary Temple Bar nightlife of Dublin and see if it really lives up the Craic that it’s supposed to be! We had a great time partying with the gang!

In the morning, we all met for breakfast and had our first "full Irish" at Brewleys café. Apparently, Brewleys is the "Starbucks of Ireland"... although I can’t say that I thought there was much of a comparison. (I’m still a Seattleite at heart!) We walked along Grafton High Street and took in the sights and then walked across town to the Guinness Storehouse. Of course, Guinness is one of the great Irish exports and also one of Mark’s favorite beers! The tour was a "must do" on our list! The museum displays do a great job of telling the Guinness story! Both Mark and I agreed that we learned a lot, but the highlight of the tour is the free pint of Guinness you get in the Gravity bar. With excellent views over Dublin, you really can’t complain! After the tour and the free pint, we sat down in the 5^th floor bar and enjoyed many un-free pints of beer while listening to some traditional Irish music.

Did anyone know that Guinness and Black Current is a drink? I had never heard of it before... so, of course, I wanted to try it. For my second pint, I had asked Mark to get me a pint of Guinness and black with a shamrock drawn in the head. (It’s pretty impressive what those guys can do when pouring a pint of Guinness!!) Apparently the barman responded to this request in his Dublin Irish accent... "It’s a good t’ing she’s not fussy in’t it?" We had a good laugh about that one! After an afternoon in the Guinness pub, instead of walking back to the hotel, we opted to take a horse drawn carriage ride and tour, which was really a lot of fun!