Day 8, June 3, 2003

On our penultimate day in Dublin, we took a "hop-on, hop-off" tour. These are city tours where the driver (or a recording) provides interesting information about the places you've just passed or visited. You pay at the boarding point, can get off wherever you like, and continue your tour with the same operator within 24 hours to see all of Dublin's major sights.

Completely unexpectedly, we got off the bus at the Guinness Brewery for the first time and went to tour it. It took quite a while to make our way up to the eighth floor. After the informative tour, we finished off with a delicious, especially cold Guinness at the top. We enjoyed it with a magnificent view over Dublin.

We took the next bus into town. We walked through the shopping streets, watched street performers, and saw countless souvenir shops. The brightly colored front doors on some streets were particularly striking. The women are probably responsible for that; when their husbands come home at night, often far from sober, they can much more easily identify themselves by the color of the front door. Pretty clever, right?

As I said, there's an enormous amount to see in Dublin, far more than is possible in a single day, whether it's the Jameson Distillery, various parks like Stephen's Garden, the Garden of Remembrance, or the largest, Phoenix Park, or countless others. Those interested can also visit the Book of Celts at Trinity University or Kilmainham Jail.

It's impossible to list all the possibilities; it would take too long, and I'd still forget something. Anyone wanting to see more needs a lot, a lot of time, just for Dublin alone.