1700 Kilometers

I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see a Hertz rental sign in my whole life.  It was with GREAT pleasure that I handed the keys over to the clerk.  Can you believe it, we put 1,700 kilometers on that little Suzuki in 10 days.  That’s. 1,056 miles, an average of over 100 miles a day.  So much for leisurely traveling through Ireland.  I just did some high level figuring with liters vs. gals and kilometers vs. miles and I came up with 32 miles to the gal.  That’s OK, still doesn’t match the mileage of my Prius J  It was a good little car, but I did return it with a little Boo-Boo.  In fact, everyone returning their cars while we were there had Boo-Boos.  We noticed most cars in Ireland have Boo-Boos.

Our little car's BIG Boo-Boo.  Rod don't panic

My Boo-Boo.  I couldn't take a picture of the back side at the same time, but it's blue all the way around.

 

Now we can relax and just enjoy the bus. There would have been no way we could have found our hotel with it tucked away off an alley.  They put hotels in the oddest places. The days of stopping and asking directions are over.  Rita and I are still laughing over our last little incident going into Dundalk.  As usual, we took the wrong turn-off so I immediately stopped at a little Pub and asked the proprietor.  He was very excited to help.  He got a piece of paper and drew out every traffic light and roundabout.  I was to go left, then right, and down the slip and when I came to a Y in the road there would be a big yellow house and then go left.  Cross the highway and turn left and go to the Garden Center.  Then I was to get out and ask Paddy O’Grady how to get the rest of the way to the B&B.  Rita thought I was kidding, but we really did stop and ask Paddy the rest of the directions.  I made sure I had very clear directions before talking off for Dublin this morning.

After we got onto the bus we congratulated ourselves on being so wise to decide to turn in the car and not even attempt this town.  Gee!  It’s like Galway, Cork and your worst nightmare on steroids.  I will say it’s a pretty city with lots of history and charm.  Rita hasn’t been too impressed so far, but that’s because she ran into a brawl while looking for a restaurant while I was still at another location.  I can’t leave her alone for a moment.  Now she’s holding up in the hotel room watching TV.  We do plan to continue tomorrow to go on the Dublin Sightseeing Bus Tour and get off at the spots that we are interested, our last day in Ireland.

The Dublin tour bus

                                             One of the side streets of Dublin

  

In giving the bus tour a trial run today to see what we really wanted to see I couldn’t resist getting off at the Guinness Storehouse Brewery Tour.  Rita decided to go on without me and that when she encountered the brawl.  Anyway, the tour took 1-1/2 hours and that was pushing it.  The whole structure was jaw dropping.  It’s in a restored 1904 building.  You started at the ground floor and worked your way up 7 floors to a room that over looked the city (similar to the Space Needle in Seattle, but not so tall).  A little fact:  Guinness Beer is now produced around the world (started in Dublin) at the rate of 10 million glasses EACH day.  I had my first glass of Guinness that I poured myself and got an award that I had “crafted The Perfect Pint of Guinness”.  I have the signed
certificate to prove it.

There really is an art to pouring a Guinness.  You have to let it sit 2 min. before topping it off.

    We found a Subway about 2 blocks from the hotel.  It was stuck in a Convenience Store and you just order, grab and run.  All Rita wanted to do was get the sandwich and go back to the hotel and eat without some of the craziness.  This is the first city that we actually started to see rubbish.

Sadly, tomorrow is our last day and we are going to try to fit as much as we can into it.