Shopping, Stopping and Guinness
Mood:  not sure
Now Playing: Drink and then sing!
After a good night's sleep, we woke and headed down to the ultra-mod restaurant for our full Irish breakfast. That refers to eggs,bacon, sausages, roast tomato, beans, etc. There was also a nice continental buffet for our selection. A high glass ceiling and a muralled wall with heroes of Irish traditional music depicted, struck a nice note for our chic digs. The Chief, himself, was apparently an ardent advocate and collector of traditional music from the turn of the last century through the 1930's.


Us and the restaurant at Chief O'Neill's hotel.


A mural covers the restaurant wall and it's emblazoned with the heroes of traditional music.

It's going to be another day of walking and exploring. So we start off at about 10 for our day's activity. It's a gray day,kind of what we expected Irish weather to be. But the good part -- so far no rain. The hotel is on the north side of the Liffey. Apparently, the north of Dublin is the poorer, more working-class section and hasn't received the attention of the south side of town. But, we note, it's coming. Right outside our hotel is the evidence. What was once an open market for horse sales, so-called Smithfield Village, is giving way to high rise, luxury condos (familiar phrase?).


Out with the old. In with the new. A horse market becomes luxury condos for the horsey set.

We're headed to Henry Street, another shopping venue. Lonnie's on a roll and I oblige. If Grafton is upscale shopping; Henry is decidedly lower scale for the working masses. Packed with people and stores, a green market, butchers, department stores
and more. We see a branch of the very dependable and affordable British department store, Marks and Spencer (or Marks and Sparksas the Brits call it) and venture in. I'm always on the lookout for woolen socks which are not easy to find in the states. Sure enough, they're loaded up with them here. And Lonnie picks up some underwear (which he forgot to pack).


Walking down Henry Street.


Matt tries on a hat in a camping store.


One thing I note about cities nowadays is that food has become so much more internationalized. Wow, it's like Manhattan: Every block has dozens of places to eat, drink coffee, drink beer, grab a sandwich. And such variety. If you thought that the Irish, like the British, are dullards when it comes to cuisine, think again: Thai, Indian, Italian, Chinese, Mid-eastern,

Malaysian, vegetarian; it's all here and in great quantity. Quality has been good also.


There's a very hip eating scene in Dublin.

We're back at the Liffey. At the time that Guiness was first making his porter (1760's) there was only one bridge to get across the river. Now there's a dozen. But this Ha'penny is the most charming I think. And it's so heavily used. Scads of people are always crossing from Temple Bar to the north side and back. Again, we remark to ourselves how young Ireland is.


The Ha'penny Bridge, crowded with walkers.


We stop for coffee and a self-portrait.

Making our way to another shop before our afternoon activity (a tour of the Guinness brewery) we have been impressed by the friendliness of the Irish. That's something I've learned from my previous two visits on bicycle trips. And other visitors to Ireland have said the same thing. They're also very witty and quick with a quip or story.


A group of skateboarders float into the camera frame.


And they immediately and enthusiastically join in the picture-taking.

A taxi takes us to the brewery. Again: friendly and funny; and a genuine character. Commentary all the way and jokes; jokes about beer-drinking, about women, about wives and also a little history of British/Irish relations thrown in as well. "See that church over there?", he asks. "I was handcuffed in that church." "What do you mean,handcuffed?", we ask increduously. "Well, that's where I got married" comes the rejoinder. On the way, he obligingly stops (at my inquiry) at the Raven's Head Inn so we can make a reservation for dinner tonight. It's the oldest pub in Dublin and comes highly recommended for its drink, food and music.


The brewery tour.

The brewery tour is in what used to be an immense warehouse on the Guinness site. The "site" is 68 acres of buildings, all working towards one goal: producing millions and millions of gallons of the famous brew for consumption around the world.

It's quite impressive. When last here in '98 the tour was in the brewery itself. Now it's in this converted warehouse with a Disney-like multi-media production to show the visitors the process. That's the downside. The upside is that you end up seven

floors above, in a beautiful bar/tower with an incredible panoramic view of Dublin and the surrounding bay, mountains and environs. And, of course, you get a pint of Guinness to boot!


The handiwork of the Cooper Whose job has been made redundant in more recent years with aluminum barrels replacing the hand-crafted wooden ones.


We couldn't resist this shot. "Cheers" says the young man when I thanked him for taking our picture .


Slainte! (pronounced: Slawncha, meaning "cheers!") I watched a group of girls celebrating and toasting and asked them to do it again for my camera. "Not a problem!"


The view from the Gravity Bar was 360? fabulous!


The Gravity Bar!.

We walk back to our hotel which is only a few blocks away across the Liffey once again. Now we can rest up for the evening's outing to the Raven's Head Inn for dinner.


One last look at St. James's Gate.

We took a little nap, did our ablutions and walked across the Liffey to Bridge Street and our dinner destination. Delicious seafood chowder and Irish stew for both in the restaurant upstairs, then down to the pub for some wonderful sets of Irish music. They were playing some my favorites by Christy Moore - some songs of social significance that bemoaned unemployment and the closing of the mills in some factory town. Haunting melodies. And many in the room, which was packed with young and old, sang along.


Checking the scene in the pub at the Raven Head's Inn.


Great music at the pub. Everyone was singing along.

Another great day in Dublin -- one more left before we hit the road. See you tomorrow!