Touring Oireland: Days 4 & 5…

…Hello, everybodyyyyyyyyyy!!…Because the Wi-Fi at my hotel totally spazzed out on me yesterday, I’m going to try to roll my first 2 full days in the Irish capital into one post–Here we go!!…

Yesterday, our main attraction was the Guinness Storehouse–a former fermentation house that now serves as a museum devoted to the history and evolution of (you guessed it) Guinness…Like most every visitor to this Mecca for Stout Lovers, I ended up with my own pint of the black stuff at the end of the tour, and boy, let me tell you…I hated it…I don’t know–I’m not really that much of a beer person to begin with, but the taste of the alcohol was too strong for my taste (I’m a cider kind of girl)…But, hey–at least I managed to down over half of it…

That night, tired of waiting around, hoping that somebody would include me into their spontaneous plans, I took it upon myself to 1) enjoy some good Indian food at one of Dublin’s many fine establishments, and 2) explore Temple Bar and listen to some fine music–and I did both (especially in regard to the former [the people were so nice, they didn’t even charge me extra for the white rice I asked for])…Admittedly, the music left a little to be desired (I was hoping for some authentic folk music), but there’s always tomorrow!!…

Today was probably my favorite day in Oireland, besides that day that we went to Kylemore Abbey…We went to County Wicklow–more specifically, to the valley of Glendalough, a name that in Irish Gaelic means “Valley of Two Lakes”…Not only was Glendalough the site of several Early Medieval monastic settlements (founded by the likes of St. Kevin, St. Ciarán, etc.), but it has such a soft, yet spectacular, natural beauty…

And now, to prepare to get ready for our penultimate performance (gotta love alliteration) at Christ Church Cathedral, founded in 1080 and the seat of both the Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic archbishops of Dublin…