When in Ireland...

Happy Leap Day!

In Rome, one of the only English stations we could find on our hotel tv was CNN and it was doom and gloom about the Coronavirus. Then we get an email from the state department yesterday requesting no non-essential travel to Italy. By now, Brian and I were just ready to go. And then we walked outside to meet our car this morning and came upon a huge x in the sky right outside. If that’s not a sign, I don’t know what is.

About half our day today was spent in transportation. We had quite a jump to make, going all the way from Rome to our next stop - Dublin, Ireland. Once we arrived and got through security we grabbed a taxi into town. Our driver was quite the introduction to Ireland. Every other word was the f-word or “shite”. He wanted to go over our plans and make sure we weren’t wasting money at the Temple Bar or going to the Guinness storehouse. It was pretty funny.

A terrible storm has hit the area and our original plan today was to take a walking tour around town but it was way too bad out there for 3 hours in the rain. Instead we decided to do what you do while in Ireland - a whiskey distillery tour. It was only about an 8 block walk to the distillery but the wind and rain were blowing sideways. By the time we reached the distillery we were pretty wet and cold. Nothing like a little whiskey to warm you up though.

A quote from Brian's Facebook: "They say when in Rome..... So it only make sense, when in Ireland!"

The tour was good. We got to see a working distillery and have a tasting at the end. I’m not much of a whiskey drinker so I got the small tasting. Brian got the big one.

After the tasting we were finally warm and dry again - just in time to go back out in the whipping wind and rain. We found a store called “The Sweater Shop” and got our first souvenirs - a wool scarf for Brian and a merino wool hat for me, both made in Ireland.

By now it was almost dinner time and Brian and I were ready for some meat! We walked down to our first Irish pub experience at The Brazen Head. Brian had fish and chips and I dug into a big old burger. Yum! It was quite the experience - a table of young men whooping it up and a group of old guys racing to see who could chug their beer the fastest.

Thankfully, by the time dinner was done the rain had stopped. We grabbed a few things and headed back to our air bnb to do laundry and turn in early. We have a packed day tomorrow and are hoping for a bit better weather for it.

So glad to be in Ireland!