A sea of silly hats and green t-shirts lays before us. St Patrick's day is well n truly underway. Even if it isn't till tomorrow. What to do now? Tourist centre. They'll know. Spoke to a bird that looked like she been out on the lash for a week, her hair was unbrushed and her false eyelashes were falling off. "go see the book of kells" she says. You'll have to get in before 5 though. What is the book of kells? Some old book. Do I want to go see that, or see the Guinness factory and have a free pint?? Mmmm which do you think won?

So, on the map from miss lashes, the Guinness factory is only 2-3 blocks away. However, in reality it's a 30 minute brisk walk, in the rain. Get there, soaked, and there's a queue. In the rain. Some 20 minutes later we are inside. Fantastic. And well worth the trip. It shows you how they make it and the history behind it. Each level higher you can smell the Guinness more. Tempting you. Grabbed a mug of soup with Guinness bread, which was basically cake! Then off up to the gravity bar, where you can see a 360 degree view of the city. Oh and get your free pint. What I didn't expect, was it to be the coolest place in Dublin with a dj setting the mood with some "banging toons". Well watched the sunset then hit the shop. Oh my god. Every Guinness branded item possible. Dave was a kid in a candy store. Made some purchases then off back to temple bar.

Guinness tour over and jumped in a taxi back to temple bar to see what all the fuss was about. The very nice taxi driver drops us in the heart of it and we decided to go in the nearest pub. Oh B'jesus it was rammed to be sure. Opened the door and I'm sure the building let out a sigh of relief. I'm now trying to find a route to the bar and if it wasn't hard enough pushing through making sure the path didn't seal up behind me before Fi could get through, I had to drag my bag of goodies from the Guinness tour that I , in my wisdom had decided to purchase. Managed to get served and find a spot with enough room to raise our glasses and quickly moved on for a bite to eat at the burger restaurant before more beer.
With bellies full we ventured back into the sardine tin that was Temple Bar but not before passing a busking duet who were extremely good. One on the guitar and the bass drum and his mate playing upturned buckets and a road sign post....I kid you not.

Ended up in a bar called Buskers funnily enough. Not as rammed as the first one but still a bustling hive of activity and a fantastic live duet on stage singing everything from the Beatles to U2. We had several more beers while we listened to the music and marvelled at the drunken chap at the end of the bar playing the bar drums and singing all his own words in all the wrong order whilst thrusting is arm into the air in time to his own internal rhythm.

Time to head back to the hotel now to get ready for an early start and long day tomorrow. Just got to find the bus stop.