Day 1: From Dublin to Enniskerry

We landed in Dublin around 8:15 am on Friday, September 12. The flight was a relatively smooth 7 hours, despite not having the luxury of business class, like we did on our previous trip. After a long line for customs, we got our bags without problem and quickly grabbed our rental car (a Tucson SUV).

We headed into Dublin with a rough plan of going to a museum or two. After curving around a series of tight one-way streets, criss-crossing bridges over the River Liffey, and avoiding a plethora of pedestrians frequenting the weekend shops, we settled upon a public parking lot and headed to the square of the national museums. We settled upon the National Museum of History and Archaeology - which was an impressive display of artifacts from the Irish landscape, telling the tale of Ireland's Neolithic, Celtic, Viking, and Roman past. Perhaps most impressive and intriguing were the bog mummies - four remains of men from 400-200 B.C. that were remarkably well-preserved by the peat bogs that they met their maker in, millennia ago.

After the museum, we heading to The Duke, a local pub for lunch (although the Irish dialect pronounces a "D" as a "J" and we initially thought we were looking for a bar called "The Juke"). The pub lunch was great - and on the way we stopped by a government publications office where we found a list of West Galway's archaeological sites (hoping to use it later on our expedition).

After lunch, we walked around Dublin for a little bit, but were dissuaded from going to the Museum of Natural History because it was closed to public, following the collapse of a staircase (apparently it is housed in a very old building). We headed back to the car, stopping by a street magician for a bit, and then went to the Guinness Factory.

The Guinness Factory tour was impressive - a well-done, tourist-friendly display of the begging to the end process of brewing Guinness. After a quick sample in the "tasting lab" we finished the tour and went to the top of the building (the 8th floor, which is among the tallest buildings in all of Dublin). At the very top is the "Gravity Bar," a bar in the middle of a 360-degree, floor-to-ceiling glass wall, overlooking the entirety of the city. After enjoying a pint, we decided to head to Enniskerry to Craigie Cottage - the home of Noel and Ann Barry.

After a short drive through Dublin, out to the M5 and the M11 highways, we eventually found our way to Ballyman Road, north of Brey, and navigated to Ann & Noel’s lovely home. Noel was on the late shift of the bus route he drives, so we wouldn’t see him until the morning; however, Ann’s son Cheiron, his three children and his fiancé all came over for dinner: authentic Irish beef and potato stew. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and a long night of conversation. Ann was sure to emphasize the natural beauty and strengths of the Scottish people whenever possible. It was a terrific evening, followed by a long night of sleep (due to the time change, we had only slept 1-2 hours in the last 34 hours!).