5.17.12

We arrived in Dublin at 9 AM, and decided to take a nap for a while before heading out to lunch at the ‘oldest pub in Ireland’, the Brazen Head. Had my first Guinness in Ireland (not my first, just the first there), and some amazing Irish stew with lamb in it. Admittedly, being American, lamb is a bit of a stronger flavored meat and took me some getting used to.

After a great lunch, my sister, Natalie, and I went to a tour of Trinity College. Our tour guide was a quirky grad student who did a great job of explaining the grand history of the college, while giving us plenty of personal anecdotes to make it clear that it is still full of crazy college kids.

We finished off the day on an Irish Music Tour. Two local musicians go with you from pub to pub, telling stories on each other, giving history lessons, and sharing their craft. Albeit a tiny bit touristy in its presentation, there was nothing touristy about the two musicians (locals of Dublin) or about the music. At the end of the music session, they even invited anyone to come up who played, and so I got to play one of my songs for a pub full of people!