Dublin

We arrived in Dublin on Wednesday and were greeted at the airport by Brenda's ex-coworker, Gerry. She and her husband, Eddy, were kind enough to offer us lodging during our stay and took the time out of their schedules to act as tour guides.

On Wednesday afternoon, Gerry drove us out to
The Wicklow mountains, where we visited Hollywood (the original) and Glendalough, which contains the ruins of a sixth century monastery. As we drove the different cycling routes that Eddy frequently rides, we were treated to breathtakingly beautiful vistas.

Since this was my first time in Dublin, Brenda and I bought a two day Dublin Pass, that granted us admission to more than thirty local attractions, including the Guinness Storehouse and the Jameson distillery.

We managed to get good return on our investment by doing a complete bus tour of the city and visiting the Dublin Castle, Jameson, Christ Church Cathedral, Dublinia, Teeling Distillery and Guinness.

The church is very strong in Ireland and, according to our bus tour guide, there are 651 churches in Dublin. When you consider that 25% of the country's population (1.5 million) is concentrated there, the number sounds reasonable.

However, one institution of contemplation outranks even the church since there are 851 pubs in the city. With statistics like that, it was easy for me to cross the "Drink a Guinness in Dublin" item off my bucket list. And yes, it's true: the Guinness is better in Ireland.

And now we fly back to England to embark on the last leg of our European vacation.

Exciting times ahead!Read more