Dublin continued finally

Sunday was a long day, but it was relaxing. There wasn't too much rushing about which was nice...but we started the day out in the pouring rain! Yuck. We were really wet..and my shoes were soaked through. We walked about 45 mins. down to the Guinness Storehouse, since that was the furthest away. It was definitely worth the walk I think though. It's an awesome place. They have a self guided tour and as you follow it along and keep going higher, you are going up escalators in the part of the building that is shaped like a pint! The tour was of the history of Guinness and how it is made. There were a lot of quotes and real items that associated with Guinnness and Arthur Guinness, who started it all. Interesting Fact: Arthur Guinness actually signed a 9,000 year lease for the Guinness Storehouse...and this year they are celebrating 250 years, so it looks like they have a long time to go! When we made it to the top in the Gravity Bar we had an awesome view of Dublin, and we were happy to see the clouds were leaving and the sun was coming out! This of course made the view much better. We got our free pint of Guinness, drank some, then headed out.

We walked over to St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was nice. We walked along the park/garden type area and took a few pictures, but we didn't go inside the Cathedral. We kept going and the next stop was Dublin Castle...which was closed. It didn't open until 2pm, which was still a couple hours away so we just went to lunch! We went to a small cafe and I had a really good sandwich. Then we went and did some shopping! Found some gifts, and our next stop was Trinity College for the Book Of Kells, which I decided not to go in and see. Instead, I walked around in a few stores waiting for the other girls. We then took our time and walked back up O'Connell Street towards The Writer's Museum! Along the way we stopped in the Garden of Remembrance, which is a pool of water, statue and flowers dedicated to those who fought for Irish freedom. The Writer's Museum was right across the street. I thought the Writer's Museum was really interesting, although it was small. They only had a few rooms, but they had a lot of information. It covered a wide range of authors and poets, including some of the more famous Irish Writers, like James Joyce and Oscar Wilde. There were so many original and first editions of books! I wish I could have taken a first edition Oscar Wilde book!

After the Writer's Museum we kept with the original plan and went back to the hostel and Jenn and I got our bags. We then just walked down O'Connell Street again waiting to get the bus to the airport. We had a extra time and ended up going to the airport earlier than we really had to, but we had a really good day. And for that matter, a really good time in Dublin!