Finally an update from Dublin!

We were finally able to get the internet to work on the computer the last day of our stay in the hostel in Dublin, but then after completing a whole write up the computer freaked and accidentally deleted the whole thing.  So here is another stab, I know everyone has been pining for stories of our travels.

It is a weird feeling flying into an airport that is not in the United States.  Maybe it was just the timing or just sheer luck but we had no issues or wait getting off of the plane and going through the visa and customs procedure in the Dublin airport.  Visa stamping was more of just going to a window where a upset lady grabbed your passport, stamped it and said move along without any other questions.  Customs was even easier, we all just waked strait through to doors from the baggage claim and ended up basically on the street, I guess I was expecting more of a process that was going to drive me crazy standing in lines and waiting, guess we got lucky!  On the taxi drive into the city you almost lose all of the preconceived thoughts of Ireland as a land of rolling hills, pubs and dotted with castles, replacing them with the knowledge of knowing it is a modern city.  The highways are like the United States, except people are driving on the wrong side of the road.  Interesting, though, all of the street signs are written in both English and Gaelic.  There has been a push in the past couple of decades for the schools in Ireland to teach the children the original language of the island, in hopes to restore more of a sense of national pride.  Still I am not quite sure what the driving laws are in this country, to me it seems like more of a free-for-all, very chaotic, but maybe it is the way it always has been and people are used to it.  Seeing a city for the first time in the seat of a car is always exciting, none of it you have experienced before.  The streets of Dublin are lined with modern buildings next to buildings of some age and historic importance.  After getting out of the cab at our hostel and checking in we caught the first glimpse of our room for the first time.  The pictures on the website must have been done in another room because ours was nothing like what we saw when we first booked it.  Feeling like sardines in a can, our room was small, three bunk and warm room for six.  Being five of us we figured they would never put someone with us so we felt ok with the fact it was all friends in such a tight area.  We settled in and decided we all needed to eat and probably grab a pint somewhere close by.  We found a good place to eat the first night, and we drank our first real Guinness.  Now I have had my fair St. Patricks days in a bar and have had what America calls a Guinness, it does not compare to a fresh glass in the city of its creation, simply magical.  (Wish we could bring you one Brian!) We walked around after, taking in some of the sites that were close by, but we all got pretty tired quickly and decided it would have probably been best for us to head in for the night and get an early jump the next day.

On our first real day we decided we would go check out the Kilmainham Gaol and the Guinness Factory.  Both of these did not disappoint.  First, Kilmainham Gaol was a prison built in 1796 and is very a large part of Irish history.  Many leaders of the rebellion were imprisoned and some even executed here.  While on the tour we got to walk through the jail, stand in the cells, sit in the chapel, and see where some of the executions even took place.

Looking through a peep hole into a cell

The group in one of the cells at the gaol

Children were also imprisoned at the gaol, this is where they got their one hour a day outside.

After the tour of the gaol, the tour of a brewery sounded pretty great.  Then we were off to Guinness.

We learned the art of pouring a proper Guinness

Now that we have figured out the wifi situation we will update more often.  More stories and more pictures to follow, sorry for the delay!