May 6 - Dublin

Today we grabbed a light breakfast. We went to a place small chain called Obriens. We had a light bite and headed out for day 2 on the bus. Today was our day to go to the Jameson Distillery. Jameson was a couple of blocks for the bus stop. We lucked out as the next tour went was to only start in a few minutes. In the beginning of the tour, the tour guide asks for 3 female and 3 male taste testers. Well I guess my imitation of Horshack (from "Welcome Back Kotter") was enthusiastic enough, because I wasn't picked.

We went through the tour and then received our choice of a shot of Jameson, Jameson and Cranberry, Jameson and Ginger ale, or Jameson and lemon I think. After grabbing our drinks, we gathered around the taste testers who tasted 6 different whiskeys, including the most popular Scotch (Johnny Walker Red), and a couple of other Irish Whiskeys.


We went back to the hotel, rested for a short time, then headed out for an early dinner at a local pub. We both had a delicious meal. Whoever said Irish food is bland, hasn't been to Ireland lately. While we ate our dinner, we listened to some live Irish music. It was a little loud, since they also had speakers throughout the pub. After dinner, we walked around a bit, then went back to this same pub to start a Musical Pub Crawl. For 12 Euro (10 for Students), a couple of musicians lead you through the streets of Dublin to various pubs while playing traditional Irish Music and giving you some history behind it all.

We went 3 pubs in all. After it was over a few of us decided to try one more pub. One of the folks, Megan (from Australia), was familiar with Dublin and brought use to an Australian Pub, The Woolshed Baa & Grill, not far away. When we arrived, she ordered a pitcher of rum (or so we all thought). The bartender took a pitcher and started to fill it with rum. All our eyes bugged out when we saw this and asked Megan what the heck she ordered and she said a pitcher of rum. Why not just get the whole bottle we thought. Well it turned out she actually ordered a pitcher of Rum & Coke (Whew!). She introduced us to an Australian Rum called Bundaberg Rum. It is definitely worth trying it you get the chance. The rest of us ordered a variety of pints.

There were 6 of us a the table. Two college grads from Kentucky - Shannon was here name and I don't remember his - we'll just call him "Kentucky" - a recent graduate from UK (University of Kentucky that is) in Electrical Engineering, Luke from Ohio, Megan from Australia (a horse expert), and the two of us. It was a fun group, Kentucky had loads of Kentucky "Redneck" stories, the more he drank, the more stories he had. If you can imagine a redneck story, I think Kentucky told it. Shannon just sat there and smiled as he rambled on, however she didn't have such stories to tell. It was an entertaining evening and a fun group.