Woke up to snow!!!!!

I had been planning on going to Howth (a nearby fishing village, pronounced Hoth) in the morning but once seeing the snow on the streets and the snow/rain falling I decided to stay in Dublin with the girls. I did not want another day like Paris.

Ellie and Erin went on a bus tour somewhere outside of Dublin while Dawn and I walked around the city. We hit the major sites: Jameson Distillery, O'Connell Street, Trinity College, Dublin Castle and St. Patrick's Cathedral. We also did some souvenir shopping (I got a lot of stuff for people). We did stop a couple times to grab some snacks and warm ourselves up. Then we made our way to the Guinness Storehouse (we were supposed to meet Ellie and Erin but they weren't back yet).

The Guinness Storehouse is a pretty interesting place. It isn't the actual brewery (that's next door). It is a visitor centre. The centre of the building is a large shaft, in the shape if a pint glass. It was very interesting. You make your way up the floors going through exhibits explaining the ingredients, brewing process, heritage, exportation, advertising etc. of Guinness. About halfway through you are given a sample of the stout.

Further up there are two places to get a free pint. The first is a bar where you are taught how to pull your own pint (a very specific process is necessary). Unfortunately the line for this was too long, and we wanted to see the view from the Gravity Bar (the other bar).

The Gravity Bar is at the tip of the building and allows for a 360° view of Dublin and its surrounding areas. The views were stunning, although it was very crowded. Here we got our pints, complete with shamrocks drawn in the foamy head. As I knew before we came here, I am not a huge fan of stout but 'When in Dublin,' so I drank about 1/3 of the pint (if this were cider I would have had no trouble finishing it). Overall the whole experience was really fun and interesting.

After that Dawn and I went back to the hostel for a while before going to dinner with Ellie and Erin in the St. Stephens/Graffton Street area. After that we came back and organised our stuff (Ellie and Dawn leave early tomorrow morning, Erin leaves tomorrow afternoon).

I am very excited to meet the Wicklow Canavans tomorrow. Barring any further snowfall, we are going to the monastic site at Glendalough (pronounced glen da lock). It should be a very interesting and exciting day. Luckily I can sleep in a little as they are not picking me up until 11:30.