At 4:20am (12:20pm Ireland time) we are on the bus on the highway heading towards our first hotel. It's 17 degrees (Celsius) here.
Hotel
We are staying for three nights at a place called Ariel House (Ariel House site). We enjoyed the hotel. Breakfast there was good every day. Internet in the hotel room. Less than two miles to Trinity College and Dublin Castle and other sites, so we were able to walk to our destinations every day.
Dinner
After arriving in our hotel and settling in, we headed to our first meal. We dined at The Steps of Rome (link to a review) at 1:00pm PST, 9:00pm Ireland time.
I had a shredded beef with baby potatoes and salad, and Kristin had a margherita pizza. I also had my first taste of Messina, an Italian beer. We shared a Tiramisu for dessert. The Tiramisu has some coffee-ish substance in it and a strong flavor.
Pub hunting
After dinner, we went to a pub called The Oliver St. John Gogarty. The first floor was filled with revellers listening to modern day rock and dance on CD. Upstairs we found a traditional folk band playing a bunch of tunes. I had another first taste tonight of a draft called Kilkenny, which was thick and creamy like a Guinness, but much lighter. (Kristin tasted both brews and liked neither - but she's not a beer drinker by nature...)
From what I can tell, the band performs folk music (locally known as Trad or Traditional Irish) performed by themselves and other bands who play at the same pub. I got their CD, Gogarty's Music II, a collection of 18 tracks, as a gift for Ron Glass. I also had one of the band members, one Noreen Leech, to sign the CD - she even drew a little happy face (or something) in it. She was playing violin at the time we watched the band (for about 10 songs). She can be seen in this picture here on the far right.
Tomorrow is a tour of Newgrange, and we have to wake up in a short time for that.
Back to the hotel!
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