Grabbed a cab to my hotel and by some beautiful luck, a room was ready so I was able to change after the travels. Found a place called O'Neils, a cute little pub for some fish & chips and a cold beer - delicious and classic! The place had a food line of sorts to choose from and every item on the hot bar looked delicious.
Had no idea where I wanted to go from there, but 15,000 steps later, I'd explored most of Temple Bar area and St. Stephens Green, a beautiful park in the middle of a busy city. Ended up at Merchants Arch on the river with some awesome live music and made friends with Peter and Susan - a dynamite couple originally from Cape Town and now living in England, they've been married 5 years and I'm not sure I've ever seen two people love each other more. Grateful for their warm welcome and hospitality! Was even more grateful for the worlds best Irish coffee (which you NEVER stir, no matter how long it takes you to get to the actual coffee.) Somehow, that had been my first caffeine of the day. Also learned extensively about the game of hurling - its some kind of a mix of lacrosse, football, and rugby. It's one of the oldest sports, ancient Irish and Gaelic origin, played on grass. It's on every TV. I mean, every single TV. Pro tip: don't tease your bartender about his team losing. They take this extremely seriously here.
Navigated back to the hotel to meet the tour group and our CEO Mike. 7 from America, 8 from Canada & a Swiss (my roommate). Mike is born and raised in Cork so I'm confident he will have some good hidden gems for us this week.
Went and had dinner at La Gondola (there's a surprising amount of Italian influence food here) with one of the girls named JIll from Chicago - awesome 38 year old sales rep and this is her 6th trip with G Adventures so she had tons of entertaining stories! Stopped at the local market for some bottled water and ALMOST got sucked in by another quad, next door, but its 9:30pm, bright as day out, and I'm exhausted like its 2am, so its time for some shuteye.
Full day in Dublin tomorrow!
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