Cobb/Cork/Dublin - Ireland

A Dublin street band
The view from our pub
Dave & his foamy lip
fun for a photo but i don't like dark beer
inside of the Guinness factory
An Irish sweater store
Dublin music shop
Dublin music shop
my feet in Dublin

street signs

An artist draws with chalk

A local Irish band in Cobh

Banjo with the hands and guitar with the feet

Cobh Ireland

We had a few different stops in Ireland, we went to Cork via train (our first train trip in Europe) for an uneventful day except for the fact that we walked past a Subway sandwich shop. That smell – oh my Lord - I know that if I was at home this would probably not faze me at all – but after not being in the states since March – I wanted a 6” Veggie delight so bad I couldn’t see straight – we sat in the Subway sandwich shop munching on our sandwiches watching the pouring rain and I loved every minute of it. That’s all we did – walked around the town, took photos and had a sandwich.
Our next stop was in Dublin and it was the 4th of July. We walked around the town and found some cool music shops. I collect guitar picks and have been really hoping to find some rare ones during this time of travel – Jim Dunlop has the whole pick market cornered around the entire world – The Dunlop plant is in California. No music shop even had a pick bearing their shop logo – shops used to do that as advertising – an era gone by now. We found “Bewleys Café” on the famous Grafton Street. The balcony was called the James Joyce balcony – he was a poet and a writer. It was kind of a grumbley personality conflict day – so I decided we needed a break. We grabbed a balcony seat on the third story overlooking the crowd of people below. We ordered an appetizer plate of medaterrian food – and pesto garlic bread. We sat there talking, eating and drinking watching street performers. They paint themselves like wizards and such – springing to life when you drop a coin into their box.
We each decided that since we were in Dublin Ireland we had to go on the Guinness beer factory tour. After the self guided tour they treated you to a pint of beer. A pint in Ireland is not 16oz. It is 20oz. We had the option of having the bartender tap our beer or we could pull it ourselves – we opted for the latter. I’m really happy we did – the fella taught us the proper way to fill the glass, then let it rest so it can settle – then you tap it to the top. After we “pulled” our beers we got a certificate saying we had become master pullers of Guinness. There is a circular bar at the very top of the factory that has all glass walls – a panoramic view of the entire city lay below you – the place is filled with people all drinking their one free beer (you can’t buy a beer up there) the edges of the walls have cushions where you can sit for your beer and view. The speakers play loud rock music and I didn’t feel like I was in Ireland at all. Dave totally dug it up there – I felt like there were just too many people, but I did enjoy the view.
That’s all folks.