We enjoyed our two days in Dublin and could have spent a few more days there. I found it to be a great city. We stayed in a B&B near St. Stephen's Green. Most of our time was on the south side of the River Liffey but we did walk into the north side as well. We walked about town our first day and took a hop-on, hop-off bus the second day. The whole central area of Dublin was easy to walk for us and the weather was beautiful.

St. Stephen's Green was about a block away from our B&B, #31, in the city center area. It's a key and historic park. It's an old garden square and public park and at 22 acres, a large park. The park has lots of features including many informational signs, statues, ponds, and extensive plantings. Signs give information both of historical nature and about the park. The Green was full of people this day as it was 61 degrees and mostly sunny. I would guess that the park had at least 100 benches and every single one of them had people sitting on them. It was full of both locals and tourists.

From St. Stephen's Green, we walked down Grafton Street. This is a major shopping area, and we took lots of side streets. But we liked the Temple Bar area more and spent much more time there. We had a late start this day and had lunch in the Temple Bar. It was decorated for Christmas, and it was only October 7th. I asked our waiter why. He said that they only redecorate the Temple Bar twice a year. Fall gets it decorated for Christmas. It stays that way until just before St. Patrick's Day. Then it stays decorated for St. Pat's Day until the Fall again.

While I knew there were Irish whiskey's, I didn't realize how big whiskey was in Ireland. That's probably because I'm not a big whiskey drinker. We visited the Irish Whiskey Museum and found out more about it.

We crossed over the River Liffey but looking back towards the south side, we got a good view of the Clarence Hotel. It was built in 1852 but in 1992 was purchased by U2's Bono and The Edge. It's supposed to have a happening bar on the top floor but we didn't make it up there.

Our tour of the Guinness Storehouse was one of the highlights of Dublin. It far exceeded my expectations. We not only learned about the entire brewing process, but my favorite part was about their barrel making. Through old photos and videos, we got to see them making barrels back in the day and the worker's skills were incredible. I took loads of photos but I'll only include one here. And who counted all the bubbles?

The Guinness tour is a self-guided tour going from the ground floor up seven floors. You can take the elevator or the stairs and hurry or take it leisurely. We spent two hours getting to the top. Once to the top, the tour ends at the bar where you get some Guinness with a view of all of Dublin. I probably shouldn't have included this photo.

We were tired our first night and ate dinner near our B&B at Madigan's Bar. We went traditional and Vicky had beef and Guinness stew while I had fish and chips, along with some Lamps beers, both IPA and lager. Everything was excellent and we had a great night's sleep.

This was our second day in Dublin as we enjoyed more of the sites. I was surprised by how much fall color we saw in Dublin. Many of the buildings in town were covered with vines which turned many fall colors. Below, Vicky is eating breakfast (eggs benedict) in our B&B, and you can see some colorful vines growing behind her.

The Trinity College, founded 1592, and the Book of Kells, created around 800 AD, is a "must see" in Dublin. We made the stop and it was very worthwhile, despite the crowds. It is the largest library in Ireland with over six million printed volumes. Most of the 200,000 volumes in this two-story section were being digitalized and boxed, so no longer on the shelves. But there was still a couple of sections with the books. It was great just being inside this library and imagining all the people and scholars that had worked here. This section of the library has also been used in various films.

The harp below is in this same area of the library. I hadn't realized that the harp is the national symbol of Ireland and a symbol of its Celtic origins. The harp has a rich history in Ireland and great cultural significance. It's also the Guinness emblem. This is the Brian Boru harp and the oldest known surviving Irish harp.

We decided that we wanted to visit a whiskey distillery, so we went to the Jameson Distillery on the north side of the River Liffey. I was surprised to learn how much whiskey distilling resembles beer making. John Jameson started his whiskey making endeavors in Dublin in 1780 and they're still going strong. We had a great tour guide and were given more than sufficient tasting samples.

We ate dinner this night at Bruxelles Pub. I had lamb and Guinness stew, and Vicky had seafood chowder and brown bread. Both were excellent as we stayed with the tried and true Irish food.