SUNDAY 27th MAY 2012

DUBLIN

Had a good sleep in and then had a beaut brekky at the hotel, so nice not to have to pack up and load the car!
We caught the hop-on, hop-off bus tour of the city and spent a great hour and half taking in all the major attractions - we did a complete loop just to get some orientation of the place - sitting in the open top deck in glorious sunshine!
The tour gave us a much better perspective of Dublin and softened our attitude quite a bit. It's just so old that the buildings etc make it look drab, but it is quite dirty and the "River" Liffey running through it is filthy and bounded by only brown stone walls!
Lots of history and if you are into that sort of stuff it would be an absolute dream, but for me it is pretty boring! We saw some beautiful parks, including one of a thousand acres which was packed with people, being Sunday morning. It was by far the best part of the city and really a very lovely place.
After completing the tour we got off at the Jameson's Whisky factory and did the hour long tour - it was a display only as all the whiskey is made at the other factory in Midleton. But it was a very interesting exhibition and we scored a sample at the end. Sue volunteered for a whiskey comparison test and got three shots!!!!
We stayed and enjoyed a quite drink, then wandered into the city proper - O'Connell Street - but there were way too many people about to walk comfortably so we caught the flash new light rail tram back to our hotel for a nap and a shower!
Later we went back to the same restaurant as last night and had another great meal, and were very pleased when the waitress told us that all the staff remarked last night on what friendly, polite people we were! Score one for us!!!!!!!
Back at our room we repacked the cases and got organized for our ferry trip back to the UK.
Overall we have loved Ireland, especially the beautiful countryside and the beaut friendly people, glad we have seen it but probably won't come back again!