Later that same day...

Our first day is coming to a close. John and I took a "hop-on, hop-off" bus tour of Dublin today. This is a really cool way to get to know where all the major sites are--the bus driver explains the different items of interest, including history or other interesting facts, and you can get off the bus at any of those sites, then get back on the bus later to continue your tour. Your ticket lasts for 24 hours. I was SO sleepy that I nearly fell asleep on the bus, and when we got back to the hostel, I took a nap. Even though I was sleepy, the tour was good. We went by St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christ Church's Cathedral, Dublin Castle, the Archeology Museum, the Guiness Storehouse, and et cetera.

This evening, for supper, we went to a place called The Shack that advertised authentic Irish food. Since I'm a vegetarian, I got veggie stir fry (not exactly authentic Irish food), but I also got my first Guinness of the trip. It was really good. John had mussels and a Guinness. The Shack was right across the street from The Temple Bar which has live music every single day. This is all in the Temple Bar district, a place with a lot of eclectic shops and pubs. Our hostel is in the Temple Bar district right across the street from the River Liffey and the Halfpenny Bridge, which is bridge that used to have a halfpenny toll (you probably could have guessed that one!).

Tomorrow we're doing real site-seeing: The Writer's Museum, the Archeology Museum, and the zoo among other things.