Day One:

We left Indy and changed planes in Atlanta on our way to Dublin Ireland. We arrived in Dublin Wednesday morning early. After a quick trip through

Irish Customs we found our selves on the Hertz bus to pick up our car. We went through the terminal so fast we never had time to exchange any

currency and this would cause issues later. At Hertz we found we had been booked for a Smart car, not so smart in my book. So 280 (E) poorer we had a

Ford Focus automatic.

We headed out on the M1 and soon found ourselves lost. After heading the wrong way on the M50 I luckily got turned around before the toll booth. We

finally got headed in the right direction but were faced with the tunnel and prospects of a toll and no Euros to pay it with. I turned off in north

Dublin and found my self in the back roads that seemed to have about every car in Dulin on them. I then zoomed the GPS out and could see a road I

knew we needed to be on so I zig zagged on the local roads until we got there. This took us to the toll bridge where they let me pay with my credit

card and also provided directions to Stillorgan where our hotel was. A half hour later we were there. It was noon and they let us check in early.

I knew better than to attempt to drive into Dublin so we walked out and took the city bus into City Center. There we found a bank to exchange dollars

for Euros. I know banks in Ireland are being robbed a lot and found out they, the banks, rob the tourist too. The exchange rate was high. From the

bank we found our way to the Hop-On/Hop-Off bus stop where we could buy tickets and so took a tour of Dublin until we got to the Guinness Storehouse.

We got off the bus and did the tour.

The Guinness Storehouse is an interesting exhibit as long as you like hiking stairs. There was a lot of interesting info given and the small samples

of stout were good. From there we headed down and then up the elevator to the top. Boy was it crowded. I got our two pints of Guinness and then we

hunted for someplace to sit which was harder than climbing the stairs. We were already dead tired as we hadn't slept much on the plane so we only

took a half dozen sips of the beer and left.

On the Hop-On/Hop-Off bus again we continued our tour of Dublin out by the Presidents House and back in. Around the Half Penny Bridge we got off and

walked over the bridge into Temple Bar. That time of the day there wasn't too much doing and we found the cost of the meals to be way too expensive.

With that we kept walking trying to find a bus to take us back out to Stillorgan. The Irish are friendly and helpful people and with a few questions

we had the right bus back to our hotel.

One thing we lacked was a cell phone that would work in Ireland so I wanted to find a Tesco store to buy one. Again we had to get on the bus and ride

further out of town where we found a small shopping mall and a Tesco store. Understand, shopping malls in Ireland are not what they are in the US.

There where three Tesco stores in this particular mall. One sold basics, another alcohol and a third produce. The basics store had the cell phones

and I got one for $17 Euros but it didn't come with any minutes on it. Trouble was the printer at that particular store wasn't printing clearly so I

had to go to the liquor store to buy the minutes. There I was told there was no SIM card in the phone so back to the first store where I was told,

and shown, that there was a SIM card in the phone... problem solved.

Next we were a bit hungry so we wanted something to eat... Oh, a Mc Donalds, Ok, might as well, big mistake. As I said earlier, the meals in Ireland

are expensive and Mc Donalds is no exception. A Big Mac cost almost $8.50 (US) by the time you figured the exchange and all. This was probably our

single biggest complaint on the whole trip, the cost of meals. It was echoed by most all other tourist we met and most Irish too.

Anyway, after walking around for a half hour we finally found the correct place to wait for the bus back to our hotel. By that time we were totally

wacked and ready to sleep and thus ends day one! One thing I will report is "Take FACECLOTHS" as they don't provide them most places in Ireland. Fact

is we had only two locations that had facecloths. We ended up buying some at a Tesco.

Not too exciting but then again we are a couple of older, retired folk and have now been up for almost two straight days and walked about 20 miles

between all the walking at the airports and in Dublin. I guarrantee you it gets much more exciting on day two.

Walt