The plan was to be up and down to breakfast as early as possible so that as much as possible could be fitting into the day. However because of the late night previously we were unable to keep to this plan, I was rather disappointed with the breakfast you had a choice of a continental breakfast, a full Irish breakfast or a fish breakfast. I opted for the Irish breakfast and I really do wonder how the Irish have the strength to go though the day.

Please don’t think I am some greedy pig but in most of the hotels I have ever stayed in will allow you to have a bowl of cereal or some fruit along with your cooked breakfast. After breakfast we made our way to the Bank of Ireland which is located in what used to be the old Irish parliament. And was the world's first purpose-built two-chamber parliament house. It served as the seat of both chambers (the Lords and Commons) of the Irish parliament of the Kingdom of Ireland for most of the eighteenth century until that parliament was abolished by the Act of Union in 1800 when the island became part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was an interesting chat, not that we got to see a great deal of the building as it is a working bank and a lot of the building had to be changed when the bank took it over. It is worth noting that this presentation was free and you might be surprised to learn that not many locals know a great deal about the history of the building or what it was used for. So if you’re in Dublin it is well worth a visit.

Afterwards we had planned on jumping on one of the frequent open top tour buses that you can find in Dublin, the aim was to visit all the sights of the city on the bus and having the chance to take photos. It cost €15 for adults and the ticket lasts for 24 hours and with two routes which are slightly different it is well worth travelling on both. The bus we caught was the red route and this bus has a recorded guide in a variety of languages, they even provide headphones - I found that English was best!! As you would expect I must have some complaint about this aspect of my trip, and that would be as it was a recorded guide when we were stuck in traffic the guide was still harping on about things we could not see, also I found it very hard to actually take any photos. I had hoped on the second circuit to have an idea of where we were going and to be ready with the camera but again found it difficult to get any decent shots.

On this second circuit we got off at the Guinness Storehouse, to visit one of Ireland's top tourist attractions. If you have arrived here on one of the tour buses be sure to mention it when you buy your tickets, as you will receive a discount, or like me show your student union card for an even bigger discount. If you are interested in the history of brewing or just like Guinness then you will more than likely enjoy your visit, you do get a sample half way though the tour and an explanation of how to taste test the product. I would imagine that a child who be bored senseless here as there is a lot of reading and videos to watch, the videos are presented well enough but I felt there was not enough “hands on” activities to try out.

Eventually you get to the top of the building and to the “Gravity Bar” which provides a 360-degree view over the city of Dublin to enjoy your free pint of Guinness. I found the views pretty good but there was not really the opportunity to sit down (lack of seats and lots of tourists) to take in the view and relax. To exit the tour you take a glass lift down to the foyer where you are more than welcome to spend your money in the Guinness Store.

In fact it had taken a few hours to get around the Guinness Storehouse and once back into the heart of the city we decided to get something to eat before returning to the hotel. I really did not want a repeat of what had happened the day before so I suggested that my friend pick somewhere and fair play he found somewhere that had a set menu and the prices were reasonable, unfortunately we soon discovered why they were so reasonable it was because the portions were so small. I had ordered the chicken and that is exactly what I got, chicken and nothing else, I was not expecting much but it is normal to have even a token amount of vegetables!

Once finished we made our way back to the hotel, it had been decided that we would go our own way that evening and that is exactly what we did.

The third and final day saw me have the continental breakfast with the waffles, and I was able to help myself to two other items from the table! We had decided that the first port of call would be to check out of the hotel and get to the coach station to store our luggage before spending the rest of the day going around shops. It did take us slightly longer than planned to get to a position where we were free of our luggage and it had been hoped that we could use the 24 hour pass for the bus to have another spin around Dublin but could we find one of the buses that had been all over the place yesterday - no.

I think the third and final day was the only day where I took charge, I suggested that to save walking back on ourselves that we get back to the main area of Dublin, close to the statue of Molly Malone. As my friend wanted to do the touristy things such as shopping of all things, now I can think of nothing more tedious that shopping, so suggested to my friend that we once more went our separate ways he could go shopping and not have me following behind wishing I was anywhere else. So it was arranged that we would meet back at the statue of Molly Malone and go off for lunch, I had even decided where we would be going for lunch, it was all a part of my plan to get back to the coach station in time for the bus back to the ferry port. I used the time to visit a St. Stephens Green, which is a large green space in this busy city and just spent the time walking around. The weather by this time had taken a turn for the worse with rain so I was glad to get to the pub I had selected for lunch. I would call it a pub as it was nowhere near as formal as a restaurant, I quite fancied the full Irish breakfast they were serving, after seeing others who had obviously ordered it but I decided to opt for a burger and it was a pretty good size. Service was rather slow, not in getting our food to us just in taking our orders for desert, the choice was rather limited with only two deserts but considering that it was more a pub than a restaurant it was fine and again the portions were ample. We had yet another long wait for the bill to be bought to us, some people might complain that they had some waiter/waitress hovering around as they ate. As I said to my friend I thought it completely possible to just walk out of that place without paying and they more than likely would not realise.

We did end up spending more time there than I had planned for but as I saw it better to be sitting in a pub than waiting around in the coach station. A three-hour coach journey later and we were back at the ferry terminal where we had a further two-hour wait to board the ferry. I hope I have not put you off a visit to Dublin, maybe I had not done enough forward planning for my stay and needless to say Erin I doubt the Dublin tourist board will be looking for any reviews from me.

For more information on Dubin.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 8th, 2007 at 5:45 pm and is filed under 1001, Personal, Photos, Rants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.