2. Ireland, Day 1, Part 2...

Day one Ireland, Dublin tour continues. This installment of "The Traveling Bean" will take you from interesting places and sites in Dublin to my very first ever Guinness in the wee hours of the morning! And We're off... Here is the busty statue of lovely Molly Malone. She's sometimes refered to as The Tart with the Cart. You can go HERE to listen to the song of Molly Malone or also known as Cockles and Mussels.

Of course if you spend your time looking up you'll no doubt miss all the little things on the ground!

This is the "Interesting Sign and Store Names" section. The name "Chinese Ma Ma's Restaurant" made me giggle!

Okay, I know that my mother and other family members will be reading this but I couldn't resist posting this picture. I mean, here in the States a place called "The Eager Beaver" would require the cover of night, and a wallet full of ones! But this is a Ladies and Gents Quality Next-To-New Clothing store!

Once you get the hang of how to say the name of this store you can't help but use a Ted Kennedy accent!

This is their Exit sign. This sign was actually the first sign that I saw when I stepped off the plane in Ireland. It really made me laugh out loud. I mean it's a person fleeing for it's life from some sort of disaster as far as I can tell. It made me look around and wonder what sort of attack was eminent!

You didn't think that I could go to Ireland without looking for a box of Lucky Charms did you? Of course not. While wandering the streets of Dublin we wandered into an American Shop to find some items for Erynne that she can't find anywhere else. Ok, this is the only place you can find Lucky Charms and they are 8.75 Euros for one box. With the exchange rate that's WAY expensive for marshmallow clovers! Also the Jiff is interesting because in Ireland their peanut butter normally comes in a tin can.

Here are some other cereals to check out. Notice the packaging, it's all different.

Here I am as we are returning to the car in the "Car Park" aka parking garage of a mall in Dublin. That's David in the background paying the parking fee. We couldn't resist taking a picture of the really low ceiling. I'm 5'4" and I could touch it! That's short.

As we were leaving the city I got to ride in the mini! I couldn't resist snapping a photo of me on the wrong side of the car! That's my lap on the left and David driving on the right. I can't even begin to tell you what crazy drivers they all are over there. I would totally LOVE to live there and get to drive like an Irishman! I've been told that my driving style is similar to that of a "Getaway Driver" so I think I would TOTALLY fit in! First step, learn to drive stick!

No trip through Dublin would be complete without seeing the Guinness Factory!

At this point in my life I still had never had a Guinness.

We arrived at our home base destination of Kiltimagh in County Mayo. That is Where Erynne and David live and would be home base of operations for my most of my trip. We stopped at the local grocery store and I just had to have a picture taken of me with this little bear. Now, quick sidebar for a moment. In Ireland "chips" are not chips, they are "crisps". This is a bag of bear shaped crisps with a fun bear mask that comes free on the bag! Kinda creepy kinda cute. Another interesting note is that they don't really have large bags of "crisps". they all come in small single serving snack size bags. The larger bags are just bages of several smaller bags inside. It's great! No American mentality of eating the whole huge bag!

Here is photographic proof that my very first Guinness ever was in Ireland. Sorta like saving yourself for marriage. Why would I want Guinness anywhere else? Now, my glass looks different because I am a complete light weight when it comes to beer so I always drank a "Glass" of Guinnes instead of a "Pint" like Erynne and David are sporting in this picture. I could drink one glass in the time it took them to drink a pint. Erynne was very good at making sure the locals didn't over load me with pints or glasses of Guinness during my trip. I was determined to remember every detail of this trip clearly and not through a Guinness haze! Mom, you'd be so proud of me!

I love the sign! Guinness is good for you, gives you strength. I must say that it tastes lovely and you wake up in the morning and feel good. No swollen fingers in the morning or ache in your head. It goes down so lovely smooth. I think I miss it already!

This is the last picture from my first day in Ireland. We went to the local Chinese place to get some food in the belly. I had heard about this place and the lovely girl that works behind the counter from Erynne so I was interested to meet her. She was so nice, she even signed my "Take Away" menu for me to remember her by. Oh yeah, they don't have "Carry Out" it's called "Take Away".

By the time we arrived home, ate our food, chatted some and I settled into bed I had been up for over 36 hours straight. Wow, what a whirl wind of a day that turned out to be. I was so excited to be there, to pal around with my best friend and see all the things she had been telling me about for the last 4 years. I truly had made it, and was soaking it all in. I layed in bed, took a deep relaxing breath and with a smile on my face fell into a deep sleep for the next 12 hours!

Ireland, Day 2 soon to come. As always, speak up and let me know what you think!