American in Dublin

There are two things this is not: One, it is not the Rynek fountain (sorry); and, two, it is not Dublin rain. It is the water that made Guinness famous - bad line, sorry!! This was taken inside the Guinness Storehouse which is the commercialized portion of the actual brewery. Yes, it was cool and yes, we got to taste beer right off the line, and, yes we got a free pint but it was still very "touristy". We try to avoid tourist traps in our travels but the lure of a free pint (actually a 15 euro pint - 30 for two) was more than we could pass up. Just in case you really thought this was Irish rain I'll post a picture taken at the pub above the Guinness Storehouse of the real deal here.

And here is a picture also taken from the top of Guinness before the rain rolled in.

And just for the heck of it here are a couple more shots from Guinness:

Lots of barrels. Probably because the old wooden barrels have given way to steel kegs. I won't burden you with a picture of them - but I do have one, er actually two!

While at Guinness we ran into a tour group from Minnesota. I guess Craig's Minnesota attire must have been a giveaway since they initiated the conversation with "Go Gophers". Later the same day we met a young man from Plymouth, MN


who was in Ireland taking a four-week course in Irish gaelic to satisfy his language requirements at St. Thomas. Even odder was the 3M lab tech internship he did with someone Craig actually knows. Again, small world.

Funny, how talking about rain took me straight to day three of our trip. Maybe I should start out at the beginning.

We discovered how friendly the Irish people are when we got into a cab with the most talkative cab driver this side of the Atlantic. We learned more about the weather, her trip to New York, her brother who lived down the street from Bono (of U2 - who we are going to see in London) who actually told him to "stop the fu - -ing loud music" when Bono was just a teenager. By the way, Ireland is not the country for those not fond of swearing. The "f' word appears to be a staple of the Irish language. Young, old, didn't matter, everyone uses it.

Saturday evening we visited a neighborhood pub near the hotel. Unlike the Temple Bar area of Dublin (where there is constant Irish music being played by bands) the music at this pub was provided by drop-ins. Just show up with an instrument and you will get your turn to play and sing. Very cool. Of course, everyone sings, claps and has a pint or two. Nice start to the weekend.

Sunday was the concert. If you read this blog faithfully (my parents and parents-in-laws) you know our tickets for the concert never showed up so we had to walk to the concert venue to pick up the replacements. Of course, nothing ever really goes as planned. Between not being able to find the ticketbox, to the downpour I hadn't planned for, it was lucky we got the tickets, returned to the hotel for our rain gear and meandered back in time to stand in line for an hour to enter the venue. Since we didn't have reserved seats it was important to show up to ensure the best standing room available. We scored a place about 100 feet from the stage!! After making sure we were satisified with our location Craig went out to buy a couple of hot dogs (at the price of a good porterhouse) he was unable to find me amongst the crowd. I spotted his glaring head and forced my way through the crowd to save him from giving my hot dog away to the highest bidder. In the meantime, I acquainted myself with those standing nearby. Of course, everyone had a story to tell me about their visit to the US. The best???? A gentleman from Scotland who had visited the States wanted to try out his "American accent" on me. Never laughed so hard in my life! He did the classic New Jersey-Soprano TV voice; hence, his new name became Tony Soprano. He was a classic! Another concert neighbor proudly told us she had recently visited the US. Expecting the usual New York or Florida we nearly dropped our dogs when she said she went to Iowa. Who in their right mind flies 12 hours to visit Iowa!!! Evidently her brother relocated from New York to the Davenport area. Davenport I'm told is quite nice, but I hope she doesn't think that is what the whole US looks like (just kidding you know)!!!

We discovered where Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band were staying so I had to play papparazzi and hang out like some star-grazed fan. Craig was especially fond of this idea!! We never did get a picture of Bruce but here is a picture of some of his band members taken on the Monday after the concert. Craig wouldn't let me chat with them even though we walked right past them. Party pooper....

Dublin is a city full of taxi cabs, honking cars and people who speak a funny form of English. We sat at a Temple Bar area pub with Irish music and I couldn' t understand half of what they were talking about. I guess their music is their language.

Plus they drive on the wrong side of the street. Thank heavens the intersections are marked to tell us dumb tourists which way to check for traffic or else I would have been honked at and/or driven over by a taxi cab!

As usual we were able to take plenty of pictures. I haven't sorted through them completely but thought I would share a few shots now. Enjoy!

Dublin City Hall, coke bottles in an alley, St Stephen's Green, Bad Ass Cafe (told you the swear a lot) and the alley where the bottles were sitting.

Last but not least is a picture of a statute on the O'Connell Bridge which is the only bridge in Europe that is as wide as it is long.

By the way...we also had a sandwich at the Pub owned by Bill Clinton's cousin. He once sat in the same place I did. Pretty cool, huh?

The best part about getting back home???? Finding the travel books I ordered on Rome!!!!

My parting Irish words...Enjoy your "fu_ _ing day" or "shut the fu_ _ up about it"!!!!

Just kidding, mom!