S & J Adventures

Up at 7 to get ready and finish packing. We had our last breakfast and, while some of the group already left very early this morning, there were quite a few that we saw again at breakfast. Feels a little odd after saying our good-byes last night … what else is there to say?!

I’d booked a private ride through an app I discovered called Mozio, and Priscila picked us up right at 9am as scheduled. Having never used the app before, I was a little nervous but it worked out perfectly. It cost about $600, a bit pricey, but it was the quickest and easiest way to transport the 5 of us plus luggage to Dublin and maximize the time we had there today.

The remaining passengers from our tour were getting on the Blue Bus also at 9am, so more good-byes, and then we followed the bus for about 30 minutes along the windy roads and through the villages. It made us appreciate Ray’s great driving even more, seeing from behind that the lane is really so narrow that one of the buses tires is on the left line and the other is on the center line. That doesn’t account for the width of the mirrors! We followed the bus to Ennis, and when we got on the Irish version of the autobahn, Priscila pulled around them and we left them in the dust - Dublin bound. Ray was taking the others to the airport in Shannon - most flying out today, some others making their way to Dublin via bus, taxi and train.

Priscila dropped us off at our Dublin hotel around noon. Our room wasn’t ready so we checked our bags with the front desk and used their lockers to store our backpacks and valuables. Then we headed out in search of lunch, which we found in the dining room of the Arlington Hotel with a view of the busy street out front, although watching the two technicians troubleshoot the security camera proved to be the most entertaining.

After lunch, we walked along the River Liffey about a kilometer, before heading back into town to the Jameson Bow Street Experience. We were a little early, so I ducked into a linen shop and bought a table runner embroidered with pine trees for our lake home, and Morgan hit a souvenir shop for a few more gifts for her kids. We checked into the Jameson tour and had a complementary cocktail, all choosing the Jameson with Ginger Ale and Lime - refreshing on what is again a very warm day! Jeff and I had done the tour before, but I still found it interesting. Our guide, Jack, was very animated … must be studying acting! After the tour, we tasted 3 whiskey’s: original, Black Barrel (my favorite) and Distillery Edition (most aged). On top of that, we’d paid for the “Cask Draw,” so we also tasted some of their whiskey that is brought back to the small room to age at Bow Street (the other millions of barrels age out at County Cork). The whiskey we tasted has aged about 17 years, and is at cask strength - about 60% - wowza!

Even though we hadn’t done much today, we were all feeling pretty exhausted by that point in our day. We walked the mile back to the hotel, through a busy shopping district which was just crazy on a hot Friday evening. We got the keys to our rooms and removed our luggage from storage, then said goodbye to R&M. They are flying out tomorrow, so are taking a taxi to their hotel near the airport, while the three of us will stay in town for two nights.

We got settled into our room, cranked the AC just because we could, and rested up for a bit. Dublin is a bit overwhelming after the serenity of the Irish countryside … last time we did this trip in reverse!

About 6:30pm, we headed back out. We walked across the river and through Trinity College, then through the Grafton Street shopping area that was alive with buskers and young people dressed up for an evening out. Jeff and I had stayed in this area in 2023, so I was familiar with it and knew it had a lot of restaurants. We browsed a lot of options - overwhelmed by the choices!! We walked by two pubs and each had about a hundred loud patrons on the outside, some sitting on the curb, all having some “craic” after work on a gorgeous Friday night. We came upon a restaurant called Bailey’s and knew we had to eat there … not only that, Bailey and I had to buy hats! B had Fish and Chips (not the greatest she said), JT had Beef Pie and I had a yummy goat cheese and beet salad. None of us had room for the Bailey’s Cheesecake, or even ice cream on our walk back to the hotel.