We got up early today (some of us feeling more sorry for ourselves than others), got some breakfast, and waited in the reception for the paddywagon bus, and our 9-day All Ireland tour. Our guides name was Darren, and we got on the bus and drove to the Guinness Storehouse, which is in Dublin. The place was massive! It's kind of designed around a large open circle section in the middle of the buildings, so all the 7 levels look like they're going around a massive pint glass! Pretty cool. We walked around for a while. They had lots of exhibitions on how it's made, and the history of Guinness, advertising, and other general Guinness-related showcases. Then we went up to one of the upper levels, where there was a bar. The bartender showed us the art of how to pour the perfect pint, then we each got a turn at pouring one. That was pretty fun! (Mine was the best, of course!) We took our drinks up to the top level, where there was another bar, in a circular room with all glass windows, and a brilliant view out over pretty much all of Dublin and the surrounding area. We didn't finish our drinks, because we were running short of time (and were still a little hungover), so we left our drinks and headed back to the bus. We headed to a place called Dunamase Castle, which is the ruins of a massive castle on a huge hill. We wandered up and through the ruins, surrounded by daffodils and buttercups. One of the American girls on the bus, Haley, hung around us there, and we took some photos and all that. After we left there, we headed to a stop on the motorway, called Midway, which was pretty much just a massive highway stop filled with a bunch of fast food places. We got a burger for lunch, and I got some lollies for the bus, which I ate pretty quickly.... Our next stop was a little town called Adare, which seemed like a pretty town, but there wasn't really anything exciting to see there. We were a little unsure why it was included as a stop... So we went for a walk up the street with Haley, and got a takeaway coffee/tea at a little cafe there. The next stop for the day was the town we were going to stay at that night. It was a very small little village called Anascaul. We checked in to the hostel, met our room mates, who were a couple of people who were volunteering in the hostel, then went for a walk up the street. It was still early so we weren't hungry enough for dinner yet, so we kept walking past the Main Street, and came across a pretty little river with a green bank, so we lay in the grass for a while to soak up the last of the Vitamin D. When the sun set past the trees, it was a little too cold to stay there, so we went into the pub next door, which was called the South Pole Inn. We had a drink and some food, and had a chat with the Canadians, Peter and Grace, who were on our tour. (We now have a place to stay if we ever want to stay in Toronto!) A few of the other guys from the hostel came in not long after and sat with us too. Mel from Sydney, Michael from Perth, Marilou from Montreal, and Haley. After a bit I headed back to the hostel to go to bed, and Darren and Lyle stayed on for a bit. I got back to the hostel and had a shower. Best shower ever! It actually had hot water and adjustable temperatures, and I didn't have to hold a button the whole time to keep the water going! What a luxury, to actually have a good shower!! Apparently 5 minutes after I left a couple of guys started playing some traditional music. Their fan base were there singing along too! The average age of the fan base was probably about 65 though!