The trip was pretty good. No potatoes, unfortunately. I did drink a lot of beer, if that counts. We didn't get to see nearly as much as I would have liked, but w lost over half a day (and daylight) with a delayed flight out of Frankfurt to Dublin. The Guinness Storehouse was my #1 priority, and we got to that on Friday. Pretty cool to see, though it is more of a museum than an actual factory tour, as the Anheuser-Busch tours are where you get to see (and smell, unfortunately) actual beer being made. It's a tourist trap, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I asked around at the few pubs/restaurants we stopped in, but no one knew where to buy cigars at. My wife smokes, so I'd notice when she would be out smoking, but I honesty didn't see that many people who smoked. There was a smoking room at one pub we stopped at, but every other place around you had to go outside, and many places outside you were corralled into a small area to smoke. I brought two sticks with me, but it was rainy (pretty much non-stop) and VERY windy and chilly. It wasn't so much that it was extremely cold as it was just excruciatingly windy. It bit when you were outside. I left the outside smoking to my wife at the hotel. Would have loved to have lit one up for the New Year, but it just wasn't happening.
We took a bus trip down the south coast a bit from Dublin, and circled around to the Powerscourt Estate, where we stopped and walked around the grounds. Nice to see. Once. I guess during spring when the flowers are in bloom it is something else, entirely. My daughter enjoyed the pet's cemetery. Interesting...
We took the DART buses from our hotel into city center, then used the Hop In/Hop Off tour buses to get around. We found that to be the best way, and the kids really enjoyed the double-decker buses and seeing everything from up top. There's a good chance we are going back in September for the Notre Dame/Navy game, and I hope to see more of the things we missed... like all the historical stuff. It's always a balance when traveling with kids to see the really cool sights that they don't care about, and keeping them entertained at the same time.
The original 9,000 year lease for the St. James's Gate site signed by Arthur Guinness is inlayed in the floor
My kid looking down the giant barrel to three floors below
The best part of the tour...
I have some pictures from out and about outside Dublin, if anyone cares. However, it was pretty dreary, so the photos are all kind of drab for the most part.
Glad to hear you had a pretty good time, though.