Dublin, Ireland

We stumbled off the plane bleary eyed and excited. Making our way through customs was easier than anticipated, a single question regarding the length of our stay was all that was required to enter the country. This was a far cry from the barrage of questions and stare-downs that I have grown accustom to when crossing the USA/Canadian border.

Hopping a bus we headed into Dublin proper to find our Bed and Breakfast. Check in time wasn't for another 5 hours but we figured finding our home for the night was a good starting point for exploring our first European city. Turns out the B&B was easy to find and even allowed us to check in early.

We dropped our bags and headed out to see what we could see. It felt a bit surreal strolling the streets of such a historic and iconic city. Brad and I were both a bit baffled to be in that place at that time, it is always a striking moment to find yourself standing exactly where you dreamed of being and to consider the path that led you there. It was such an odd feeling, it was almost if we were in some Disney-fied replica of where we meant to be. It seemed to good to be true that the trip we had been planning for the past 4 years had come to fruition.

We wound our way through the old cobblestone streets and the modern shopping complexes, where I was able to witness my very first (and most likely my last) Zara. This was quite the sight for me as I had done several case studys on Zara in school. (Thank you business school for equiping me to ponder the power of an efficient "just in time" inventory mangagement system on a deeper level.)

We wandered along with the goal of stumbling upon the Guinness factory, to which we were successful. Fortunately we were spared the usual stale factory tour and were left to explore a beautifully designed exhibit that highlighted the brewing process with out destroying the brewing mystique.

As we ascended the great pint glass (there is an atrium in the center of the building that is supposedly designed to resemble a giant pint glass) we gleaned a plethora of knowlege about the Irish stout. Most impressive though was the free pint accompanied by a sweeping 360 degree view of Dublin.

It was 3:30 PM, but felt like 10 PM; we had been traveling for almost 36 hours with little sleep and were a bit delerious. We stumbled/shuffled back to the B&B and ended our day like a couple of rockstars by going to bed at 6 PM.