Ireland

This weekend our travels took us to Dublin, Ireland. Leanne had to go for work on Wednesday, Thursday and half the day on Friday. I met up with her and her coworkers on Thursday night at a pub were they work. After a pint there we went to a pub called Mulligans, for what one of the guys said was the best Guinness in town. It was good, but to be sure we had a few more.

The next day Leanne would go to work in the morning and meet me afterwords. The plan for the day was to have lunch and then go to the Guinness brewery.

As we got on the elevator an elderly couple also got on. Leanne commented on how nice the women's jacket was. The husband just said "mustard". The jacket was a mustard color, apparently he did not care for the color.

  We passed this statue along the water pulling a boat in, Lee decided to give him a hand.

We had lunch at the Hairy Lemon, an had some good Irish food and some Guinness. From there we walked to the Brewery, It was a good stretch of the legs. 

Arthur Guinness started brewing beer at the St. James brewery in 1759. In that year he signed a 9,000 year lease for the unused brewery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness

There is a lot of history on the web site that is worth reading. One little snippet is, Before 1939, if a Guinness brewer wished to marry a Catholic, his resignation was requested.

This was one of the many buildings on the property.

One of the gates at Guinness,

Guinness Storehouse tour

The tour does not go thru where the beer is brewed but does explain the process.

https://www.guinness-storehouse.com/en/ground-floor

 At one point we we did a tasting. They explained how to taste it and what to expect.

We went thru an area of  old machinery, old bottles, a section on barrel making and advertisements from years past.

Not sure if it was part of there advertising, but Leanne like it.

and here is the fish on the bike.

We did get a pint of at the end of the tour and went up to the Gravity Bar on the top floor. Its a good place to get a 360 view of the city. Well it a good view if its not crowded. 

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a restaurant for some great food. Leanne had a rib eye steak and I had a burger. Both were great.

The next day we took a bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliffs_of_Moher

We didn't go 2 miles and one of the passengers realized he was on the wrong bus. This was after the driver had everyone find there name on the list. So he stopped the bus and let the guy off. 

The driver then said he was on a tight schedule and would leave us if we weren't on the bus when it was time to leave. He was a good driver, he just wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page.  

 The bus ride was long and we were able to see a lot of country side. 

This carved statue was at the welcome center.

This is the country side at the cliffs, and when you turned around you see

this.

This was one of our many tries at doing a selfie. 

We did not get close to the edge.

This is a view of O'Brien's tower.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%27Brien%27s_Tower

Built in 1835 for tourist that visited the cliffs. 

Another try at doing a selfie. I need to wear a hat and Leanne needs to jump up when i say smile.

Another view farther down the cliffs, 

Next stop was lunch in the small village of Doolin. And Remember the driver saying he would leave you if you weren't back in time. He left two people at the Cliffs after waiting an extra 5 minutes.

We had Irish stew and fish and chips. The stew was fantastic, i need to learn how to make it.

After lunch we were off again, everyone made sure they were on the bus. He drove farther down the coast and stopped for another view of the ocean.

Leanne had mention that there were not any coastal houses. When we stopped we could see why. It was nothing but rock. A very barren area.

This was the view behind Lee. The tall building in the background is an old Norman castle. 

 We would see more of them as the day went on.

Well this is a better selfie----i seem to still have a hair problem. The problem is i don't have any.

This is the land of stone walls, miles and miles of stone walls.

 I can here a mother tell her kids "go outside and build something.

This one even has a spot for the little animals to get thru.

Back on the bus and we were off to see a monastery, that was converted into a Norman fort and then back a monastery. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corcomroe_Abbey

The monument at this grave site is a Celtic cross,  a cross with a round circle. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_cross

Interpretations claim that placing the cross on top of the circle represents Christ's supremacy over the pagan sun.

The monastery dates back to the 11th century.

It was a large building for the area.

As with most church's in Europe there are grave inside. The grave yard on the outside of the church is still in use with many new graves.

Stone fences that led to the church.

Another view of the area.

Did i mention we were close to Boston.

Another Norman fort, this one was bought years ago and is now a home.

We stopped in a fishing village for cheesecake and coffee. We saw what looked like a bad attempt at boat building.

The boat was bad but the oars were---well look at them. 

They better say with building rock walls.

After a long ride back we walked around looking for a place to eat.

Opps, Leanne caught me checking out the Molly Malone statue.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Malone

Time to eat, but first Guinness and a flight of Irish whiskey.

An Oysters appetizer for Lee

and corn beef and cabbage for the both of us. This was one of our best meals.

Up and off for breakfast---still have that hair problem.

It was a great weekend although we didn't see any leprechauns, fairies, pots of gold or green beer.