Powerscourt Gardens

Powerscourt Gardens were the last great victorian garden adventure. They're south of Dublin and the first adventrure for my hiking group. We all me Sat. afteroon and were whisked away to Powerscourt to have a look. It's hundreds of acres of highly manicured stuff with a Japanese garden (seems odd for the time) and a pet cemetery for all the pets that had lived at the mansion. you can't visit the house - it's still standing but the interiors burned in the 70's

Howth

Went out the coast to a tiny village - Howth, they have these great harbor seals that come ask for fresh fish - they slat the water and it looks like they are waving at you. You can buy scrap fish from the local fishermen to feed them. so funny! Also watch a kids sailing class. you could hear them yelling at each other. They all sounded exactly like 12 year olds from the US!

Dublin

Spend the last few days in Dublin seeing all the basic sights Trinity College (hundreds of years old), Dublin Csstle (Thousands of years old)I tried to take a funny picture of me in King George and Queen victoria's thrown, but the horde of Spanish high school students wouldnt get out of the way); Christchurch catheral - (which is currently outside my hotel window - no kidding, you should hear the bells!)-

One of the first priorities was to visit the Guinness Storehouse! It's the "experience" they give their biggest fans - 7 stories of how they make it from the water and roasted barley (yum, we tasted) to the years of clever advertising- It's the Disneyland for beer! I even attended a training class in how to pour my own pint!