Day 6 November 29

Dublin

Most people from our tour flew out this morning, but we chose to extend one day and see more of Dublin. We woke up leisurely and then started exploring the city of Dublin. We started at Trinity College and the Long Room.

Then we walked to Dublin castle, where they were decorating the grounds for Christmas.

We wandered over to the Guinness Storehouse…took all of these photos on the way. I cannot remember all the places…I should have taken notes or photographed a reference of placards.

Here are some photos from in the Guinness Storehouse. When we got there, we headed upstairs for our Guinness and the panoramic views of the city. This was a tip that I had gotten, so the Sky Bar wouldn’t be as full. Sky bar was still full, but not elbow to elbow like it normally is in the afternoon. I took these photos as we toured the storehouse backwards. From sky bar down to the gift shop.

After the Guinness storehouse, we headed to lunch. Lunch was phenomenal. There was no detail left out. They require reservations, but still sat us and gave us better service than I’ve ever had before. They take your coats and packages and then they will show you to the restrooms (if needed). They will escort you to the table, making sure you were seated in your chair. We had a supreme dining experience at Glovers Alley.

I had pork cheeks, carrots, olives and verjus for my lunch course. The pork was perfectly paired and melted in my mouth.

For dessert, I had the Mont Blanc. It was so rich and delicious.We also had chefs tastings before our appetizer, meal, dessert and after dessert as well as fresh baked bread. The wine selection was nice too. I had Santos de Casa Reserva Alvarhino 2016. All the flavors were delicately balanced. We had multiple servers that were ensuring everything was perfect.

After lunch, we headed down Grafton Street to Anne’s lane.

Grafton Street was decorated for Christmas…but it was still a little light when we were there, so didn’t get to fully enjoy the lights.

Believe it or not, Ireland doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving…but they sure do capitalize on Black Friday. There were people shopping as fast as you could see.

These umbrellas are on Anne’s Lane near Grafton Street at Zozimus.

After Anne’s Lane, we headed back to the hotel to rest for a little while. Once we had rested for an hour or so, we headed to O’Connell Street for more shopping and Christmas decorations.

The spire. It had absolutely no purpose, but is a highly photographed location in Dublin. It was dark, but I got at least the bottom part of it.

We learned the hard way that if you want great food, especially on a Friday night and Black Friday at that you need reservations. We went to 3 restaurants and all were booked full for the night, so we settled with O’Connells pub. Service was slow, but I had the Cottage Pie. The flavor of the Cottage Pie was nice. After dinner we strolled along the Liffey River to photograph a few bridges.

We arrived back at our hotel, showered and packed our suitcases for our early flight out. Our airport transfer will be picking us up at 5 a.m. to head to Dublin airport for our flight at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow morning.

XOXO

-S