European Adventure Day 2 (July 2nd, 2016)

We allowed ourselves to sleep in a little after our big day yesterday! We woke up about 9:30 and decided we needed to go back to Violet's for coffee and chai tea. We also decided to take advantage of our hop-on hop-off sightseeing bus that came with our Dublin pass. (Our feet were tired from our 9 hours of walking the previous day.) The weather in Dublin is absolutely crazy! We can no longer joke about the weather in Missouri changing! In Dublin they say they have all four seasons in one day and that is no joke! When we began our trek in the morning it was about 60 degrees and sunny. By the time we made it to our stop for the hop-on hop-off, it was raining and I was freezing my patootie off!

Our tour guide was very knowledgable and quite funny as she made sure we knew she was "Anne-with-an-e" in case we wanted to mention her on Trip Advisor. We were excited to make our first stop at the Guinness Storehouse. We were greeted by Irish Dancers at the front doors. We were very excited that our Dublin Pass allowed us to skip the line for tickets so we could get in straight away.

We enjoyed learning about the process and tools used in making this fabulous nectar of the Irish. We were delighted when we entered the room that allowed you to experience the different aromas created by the hops and indulge in our first tiny taster of Guinness.

We then made our way to the top floor known as the Gravity Bar to enjoy our complimentary pint (Shawn was most definitely having a spiritual experience) and to take in the view of Dublin from this perspective.

From here, we hopped on our bus again for our next destination - the old Jameson Distillery. We booked the last tour of the day but had a couple of hours to kill before our tour so we headed off to enjoy some dinner at Ireland's oldest pub, the Brazen Head. This pub was established in 1198. Yes, you read that right! Dinner was wonderful, but Diane's meal was the most heavenly! She enjoyed the Atlantic Chowder, but was kind enough to share with the rest of us. 

After dinner, it was back to Jameson. I learned that Jameson is triple distilled. I was able to taste what that meant as they put before us a taste of Jameson (triple distilled Irish Whiskey), Johnny Walker (double distilled Scotch Whiskey) and Jack Daniels (single distilled American Whiskey). The Jameson was palatable to me, the others were, in a word, nasty. We ended with a lovely Jameson Ginger and Lime cocktail at the end of the tour and earned our Jameson Tasting Certificates!

After dropping the boys off at our flat, Diane and I stopped in a local pub for some dessert and wine for the perfect finish to a perfect day. On our way back to the flat, we stopped by the grocery store to pick up a few items and giggled at the description on the orange juice cartons. What we call "pulp," the Irish call "juicy bits." What fun!