Lost Luggage, Irish Whiskey and London Love... Part 3

Day 2, our last day in Dublin, started quietly with some coffee at the Starbucks (I know, I know) on Dame St. It was a rainy morning, and didn't look like the rain was going to break any time soon, so we wanted to sit down and plan our day. We love hop on hop off bus tours, and found that the City Sightseeing tour stop was just across the street. We made the plan to ride the full tour once, while deciding where to stop.

We finished our coffee, bought tickets in the tour office, also on Dame St, and waited four our bus. We elected to take the "blue route" tour, since it would take us close to the Jameson Distillery. This route also stopped at St. James Gate, but we had been to Guinness on a previous trip and decided to pass this time. The tour gave us the opportunity to look at the fall Dublin streets, without getting soaked. The ivy on the buildings we passed was a beautiful mix of greed and red, which, to me, gave the city a cozy feeling.

Sorry about the black window pane line.

We made our way to the stop for Jameson, just as the rain was really picking up. We hustled a couple of blocks to the entrance, and procured tour tickets.

The tour started just a few minutes later, and walked us through the history of Jameson, and the distilling process. The tasting at the end of the tour consisted of a comparison of Scotch (Johnnie Walker Black Label), Irish Whiskey (Jameson, duh), and "Bourbon" (Jack Daniels). I say "Bourbon", because JACK DANIELS IS NOT BOURBON. IT IS TENNESSEE WHISKEY. It says so right on the bottle.

I know it is splitting hairs, but it is important to me, because I love Bourbon, and I don't like Jack Daniels 👸. Jack Daniels is so sweet to me, whereas a Makers Mark or a Knob Creek would have been a better representation. The Dutch couple next to me asked if I drink this, and I explained that this is way sweeter than what I would drink. The gentleman said that he could see mixing it with Coke, but not drinking it on its own, and I told him he was spot on. When the tour was over, Rico told our guide, Eoin, that they really needed to get a better Bourbon representation. Eoin agreed, and said that he had mentioned it to their head of marketing, but kept getting shot down. I know I just ended with a rant about the Bourbon, but the tour was really good, and Eoin was really entertaining.

The tour ended with a complimentary beverage, either a Jameson Cocktail, which I think was Jameson, Ginger Ale and lime, or a Jameson neat or on the rocks. We both went for a Jameson on the rocks, and found seats in the packed bar area. We were quickly joined by a young Dutch gentleman who explained that he lived in Amsterdam and was in Dublin for the weekend. He asked us if we had any recommendations on what he should see next, as he had never been to Dublin. He said that he was trying to hit a new European city every few weeks, since it was so easy to travel in the EU. We asked him about the European airlines, and he told us that his flight was about €30, and he was staying in an Airbnb, while Airbnb'ing his apartment while he was away. He then laughed as our jaws hit the floor, and our skin turned green with envy. We explained to him where we live in the US and pointed out that to fly to Chicago, which would only be a 4 hour drive for us, would cost roughly $500. We grabbed a couple more drinks, chatted a bit longer, then our new friend had to take off. As we sipped our second round, I contemplated home redecoration, and decided I needed a couple of candids of Rico.

This would look great in our tiny 1st floor bathroom.

We finished our drinks, and headed out. The rain had let up, so we decided to head to O'Connell Street to find Beshoff's, which had gluten free fish and chips.

View of the Spire from O'Connell St

We found Beshoff's, I thoroughly enjoyed my GF fish and chips, and we decided to take the night tour of Dublin that came with our hop on hop off tickets. The tour didn't start for another half hour or so, so we ducked into a pub for a drink. We we were enjoying our beverages, when we were "treated" to a woman loudly sing/screaming the University of Wisconsin fight song. Seriously, people, don't do this. Time came to board our night tour bus, so we headed over to the stop and were lucky enough to get seats on the upper level, where to our delight, our tour guide was sitting, with a guitar, and explained that between commentary, she would be singing traditional Irish folk songs. Everyone on the upper deck seemed really happy about this, with the exception of the woman behind me who loudly said that she hoped our guide's guitar would break. Delightful. This woman also spent the majority of the tour loudly complaining about anything she could think of, so that was awesome. Our guide had some great stories and facts to share with us, and was an incredible singer. She encouraged us to sing along with her, which we did, and I got to hear some beautiful songs that I wasn't familiar with. The lady behind me had finally stopped talking, except to tell her date that she was glad he made her come on the tour because she was really enjoying it. Our guide said that she had time to sing one last song, and began to strum a few notes, when Swishy McJackass behind me started to loudly tell her date that she hadn't eaten much that day, and went on to list her entire Taco Bell order, with detail on what she didn't like about her chicken soft tacos. I don't think she was talking directly into my ear, but she had to be damn close. I heard someone sitting behind her politely ask her to lower her voice so that they could enjoy the song, and she finally stopped. Our guide then surprised us with one additional song, Carrickfergus,which was so sad but so beautiful.

We wanted to catch the 7:20 train to Kilkenny, so we knew we'd have to head back to the hotel soon after the tour ended, but we wanted to have one last drink, and we wanted to do it in Temple Bar. We found a couple of seats at a nice pub, where Rico could order a Guinness and I could get a Cider.

We sipped our pints, and listened to some more music, and chatted up the bartender who told us how much he loved Kilkenny. We also met a couple who lives about 30 minutes north of us, and laughed about how small the world can be sometimes. We stayed a bit longer, relishing the last few moments of our last night in Dublin, and then headed back to the hotel one last time.

Up Next: Kilkenny is Awesome.