Dublin International Youth Hostel

The dining hall looks like the one from Harry Potter, so we'll be getting pictures of that today. They have “free” Wi-Fi with the purchase of a voucher, but the vending machine that has them is broken, so no internet I guess. Maybe when we get to Shannon I can start uploading these posts.

Yesterday was fun, even though we only did a couple of things. First, we had breakfast, and decided that we ought to get some real tea/coffee, so stopped by a cafe on our way to the bank. Then we withdrew some cash and bought a day-long tram ticket. I'd only ever been on a tram that takes you to different Denver airport terminals, so to be on one that takes you through the city was nice because you can look outside and actually see one. We went to Guinness first. It was a self-guided tour of the brewery, and then you get a free taste test and one free drink later on. You have the choice for the second drink to try to pour your own or to just get one on the top floor (8 floors), so we were gutsy and tried learning how to pour it. I'm glad we did! It was fun! Then we got artsy fartsy with our cameras taking pictues of the beer, and us holding the beer and such. Then, we found out they have a photo contest for people who went on the tour! So we're going to have to enter a couple photographs and see if we win! We have some really nice ones. On the top floor was a panoramic view of Dublin. The sun was just at the height where it shines in your eyes so that wasn't the funnest part. Then we went back downstairs and bought a bunch of crap.

After that was Jameson. The tram takes you pretty close to there as well. Guess what. We met a huuuuuge Packer fan behind the counter! He asked where we were from, and when we told him we were from near Chicago in Wisconsin, he went, “Packer fans?” Shelly said “Not really,” and I said, “Yes!” I was excited to meet someone who knew what Amerian football was, and he showed us our wrist band, and it was a Packers one! It was green with a golden embroidered G! So he told us I could come in but maybe not Shelly (kidding of course) and then we were told that we could start drinking right away and bring our drinks with us from the bar. So basically Jameson was all about drinking. I didn't get anything from the bar, but Shelly and Rachel let me try theirs. Shelly and I volunteered for something because, heck, we're in Dublin, we have to do what we can when we can, right? Turned out that at the end of the tour, we had to taste test the whiskey! So now, I have been converted to Jameson. There may be no turning back. We tried five year old scotch, three(?) year old Jameson, and Jack Daniels. Here's Dave, bragging about how the Irish invented whiskey but the Scottish made it drinkable, and every single person chose Jameson. After comparing all of them, I disliked the perfumey flowery Jack Daniels so much that I moved it back instead of forward haha. Such a masculine name and a feminine taste and smell! Not that that's bad, but it reminds me of soap. Scotch is very good. It has a delightful smoky flavor because they make their grist with an open fire with lots of peat so it literally gets smoky. But I have to say Jameson is hands-down the smoothest stuff you'll ever taste with a definite taste and smell of vanilla. Who'd have thought I'd come back from Ireland a whiskey snob? And again, we bought gifts for everyone. That was a bit difficult for me seeing as my tolerance isn't very high so four shots' worth of whiskey at once kind of made me a tad drunk. Plus I was hungry, so I'm sure that wasn't helping.

After that, we had some dinner (yay paninis) and walked back home. Shelly and I showered, and then we all just stayed in our room talking for the rest of the night. Very stimulating conversation. We went over both topics you're not supposed to mention (politics and religion, especially religion). Then we went to bed, but I had a very hard time sleeping. I dozed from midnight until one, then got up and went to the bathroom, and didn't sleep until probably 2:30. I'm very tired this morning. Got up at 8. We'll definitely have to hit up another cafe becuse I'm going to need a coffee fix.

Today is our history themed day. We're getting a bus pass and visiting museums, art galleries, the archives, cathedrals, and Dublin Castle. Bing bang boom, in and out, tourists, here today, gone tomorrow.