Ireland in 5 days: Day 2, Dubh Linn

We started the day with breakfast at the hotel, then a 45-minute tram ride into the city and straight to the Jameson whiskey distillery. We were among a 20- or so-person group for the first tour of the day. Before it began, the guide asked for volunteers to participate in a taste-testing session following the tour. The crowd was a bit slow to respond except, of course, for four of us who promptly raised our hands. Eventually, the guide coerced a few others into it. Perhaps it was the fact that it was 10:30 in the morning and not a typical time to have whiskey, but this was Ireland and there is no ‘wrong’ time for whiskey in Ireland! The tour was educational even if a bit ‘Disney-fied’ and certainly expressed their contempt for the Scottish whiskey makers. The tasting session at the end comprised of small amounts of three whiskeys: Jameson (Irish), Johnnie Walker Black (Scottish), and Jack Daniels (American). Our guide explained the differences in distilling each and attempted to guide us toward favouring Jameson. Of course, my Matt just HAD to complicate things by telling our guide his favourite whiskey was still Scotch above the Jameson. This would have been fabulous if it led to more tastings... but it didn’t.
We left the distillery happy we had had a full breakfast and made our way into the centre of the city for some geocaching, sight-seeing, and souvenir shopping (with a tea cup at the top of my list!). Geocaching was difficult given all the ‘muggles,’ but mostly successful. Sight-seeing led us to discover the questionable history of Dublin Castle. A castle? It looks like a castle and it was during part of its history, but only the Record Tower remains visible from the medieval fortification, even the battlements atop the tower were added in the 19th century. The ‘castle’ was also the seat of British rule in Ireland until 1922 after which it served as the temporary Courts of Justice for the new Irish Free State. Now, it’s mostly just a tourist attraction, though it does boast a newly refurbished conference centre and was used as “The Vatican” in the Tudors series. In the courtyard near the castle, we found amazing sand sculptures on display. Take a peek at the pictures to view the talents of the artist of the day. After a quick outside view of the castle and sand sculptures, we headed for a nearby geocache. This would be a special cache because it would mark the beginning of the Metras’ geo-coin’s journey.
Saving the best for last, we headed for the town centre and the Temple Bar (of course, this doesn’t mean we didn’t patronise at least two other pubs throughout the day!). This pub was especially fun thanks to the live musician who took requests. Matt Metras requested “Whiskey in the Jar” to which the singer begrudgingly responded, “I’ve already done that,” but sang it anyway. Unfortunately, but entertainingly, he repeatedly sang ‘whiskey in jarK’ rather than ‘whiskey in the jar.’ And I’m pretty sure it wasn’t his accent.
Our energy was teetering out by the end of our sing-song (likely due to the amount of alcohol intermittently imbibed starting with our morning whiskey). Matt and I decided we should set off to pick up our rental car and Matt and Jess could go back to plan our dinner. On the way to find our bus, we stopped for another musical interlude from a street band, quickly picked up their CD, and tried not to fall asleep on our bus ride to the rental facility. With the car sorted, we arrived back at the hotel to find the Metrii and sort some dinner – pizza was the consensus! That should be rather quick, easy, and leave us some time to go down to the pool... NOPE! Missed it again! Ug.
Oh, and by the way, all attempts at finding a tea cup were also unsuccessful. I thought these islands were full of tea-drinkers. I guess tomorrow is another day...

Wales & Ireland