Packed and checked out of our Dublin hotel at 9.30am and drove on the N4 towards Athlone. Stopped in Maynooth at Maynooth Castle. Ruins were in a peaceful area but the tour of the keep did not start until 11am so we took some pictures and video then moved on. Back on the N4 and a stop over in Athlone for lunch. Had some sandwiches from a small shop near the university..lots of students eating there too so the food must be reasonably priced. Continued on in the di...

After breakfast we walked to the nearby Dublin City Tour bus stop and after buying a ticket for €10 each we caught the bus to the Dublin Tourist Centre to buy an Irish Heritage Pass and tickets to the Guinness Hopstore tour. Paid €19 each for the heritage pass which got us into a lot of sites around Ireland on our trip and €10.50 each for the Guinness tickets. Caught bus to Trinity College and had a quick look around. Didn't see the library ...

Our flight arrived at Dublin Airport at 12.30pm and we went to the Hertz Car Rental desk after easily passing through customs. Caught shuttle bus out to Hertz office at the airport and after waiting in a long queue we finally got our car, a Volvo stationwagon after we had to be upgraded as they didn't have the car we were supposed to have! All the cars were dented and scratched so after our bad luck in England we made sure every dent and scratch was recorded....