Out and About in Dublin: May 14th

(I'm not sure why this first half is hyperlinked...but don't know how to fix it and am too lazy to retype it all). I got up early today to take the Luas (light rail) into the main city centre. The Luas is so easy to use and so clean...compared to the lovely Pittsburgh buses. But I'll have to ride the Dublin bus to see how the buses are here

The centre is full of shops, restaurants, coffee shops, etc... It's a really cute area and it's nice to be able to enjoy nice weather while doing some shopping (not so nice when it rains though). I went on a "Hop-on-Hop-off" bus tour where you pay for the ticket and you get a audio-guided tour of the city. If you want to get off at one of the stops to see the location you can just catch the next bus when you're done. Unfortunately this morning was quite chilly and windy...so it was quite a cold ride sitting on the 2nd level of the double-decker convertible bus.

The only stop I got off at was the Guinness Storehouse. I got a tour of the place and a pint of Guiness. The brewing process is quite interesting--they went step-by-step explaining how they make their beer. They also had their marketing posters on display which I thought were quite cool. At the end you are taken to the top of the building where you have a great view of the city and you can enjoy your complementary pint. I've had Guinness in the States before and didn't really like it. But the beer today was great! I'll try it again when I'm back in Pittsburgh, but I'm sure it will never taste as good as from the storehouse.

Afterwards I hopped back onto the bus and continued the tour and learned some interesting facts like that the original MGM lion was born at the Dublin Zoo. After the tour ended I decided to walk around..get a little lost..and then finally asked for directions. I managed to wander off the boundary of my map...so there was no way knowing where I was haha. But it all worked out because I saw more of the city so no complaints about getting lost.

I stopped in a TkMaxx (note: not TJ Maxx)...but the same nonetheless. It was insanely crowded. Women were all over the racks and I barely got a chance to look around. It was really overwhelming so I left haha. I guess they don't see good deals very often.

In the evening I went to the Dundrum Cinema again with 2 girls, Marie and Claire, both of which work for Farmer's Pharmacy. It was nice to finally go somewhere with people my age :)