500 reasons why: Dublin, Ireland

We went to Dublin for my birthday - kind of fitting since I'm over here on an ancestry visa because of my Irish grandmother and I had never been to Ireland before. Anyway, we left Thursday afternoon and arrived in Dublin where it was possibly even colder than it was in London. Dublin is small (5 million people total in Ireland) but the traffic is a nightmare. Arriving at peak hour doesn't really help, but apparently it's like that always. We found our accomodation, a guesthouse called 'Number 31' (with no help from the cab driver...) - highly recommended by the Lonely Planet as something 'special'. That could mean anything really, but we risked it and were very happy. Apparently the house was owned by Sam Stephenson, a famous Irish architect, and it has been kept in pretty much original condition (traditional Georgian-style main house and 60s kitsch in the mews house). Check out the sunken lounge -

Small, comfortable, convenient and awesome breakfasts!

On Friday it rained, and rained, and rained. And rained. Nick and I are still not quite down with real winters so got very wet until we bought a Guinness umbrella from the Guinness shop at the Guinness Brewery...at which point it stopped raining... Anyway, the Guinness Brewery was interesting (self-guided, unlike the Budweiser tour we did in St Louis...brewery tours - who would have thought?) and we found out that Guinness the beer and Guinness the book of records are the same Guinness (or are we the only ones not to realise that? According to the display, they first published it to settle arguments in pubs.) Final stop was the 7th floor bar where we got to sample a Guinness over-looking Dublin. Note menacing clouds in background.

On Friday night we did the famous 'Literary Pub Tour' which is led by actors who perform relevant pieces and recount interesting bits of history in/around pubs in central Dublin. I think it lasted about 2 hours and 4 very quick pints (that probably should have been a few half pints except for the looks of disdain we noted when other people ordered half pints of Guinness - some kind of insult we suspect - they take their Guinness very seriously).

On Saturday we started at Trinity College. We originally intended to take the Historical Walking Tour, but quickly decided the leader wasn't half so interesting or funny as those on the Literary Pub Tour (was the beer possibly the difference?) So we veered off and went to the Book of Kells exhibit, a manuscript dating around 800AD - ridiculously over-priced admission, but interesting nonetheless. Is it just us, or do the illustrations look faintly South Park-esque?

We also went to Merrion Square (one of the very many lovely gardens of Dublin) to see the statue of Oscar Wilde.

We walked around some more, checked out the National Gallery and then tried to go to the Dublin Castle, but we were too late. We went back to Number 31 to take a late afternoon siesta after which we couldn't be bothered going out again, so watched some TV and had an early night.

On Sunday we went to the Museum of Contemopary Art, housed in an old hospital with loads of little rooms which seemed almost the perfect space for contemporary art. Afterwards we went to Kilmainham Gaol, penitentiary of choice during the Potato Famine (where they threw thousands in gaol for stealing food - men, women and children) and after the uprisings of 1798, 1803, 1848, 1867 and 1916 (!!) Not as good as the tour of Alcatraz we did in San Francisco which was brilliant and truly spooky (gaol tours...who would have thought?) but still very interesting and well worth it.

Later, Nick did some record stores around Temple Bar and I went to Dublin Castle - sections of which (like the Record Tower below) remain from the castle built by the Vikings, but most of which was built in the 1800s. Most interestingly, it's still used by the Government and all the very important people like Bill Clinton and the Queen stay there when in town.