Dublin's Hop on Hop off Bus is a Great way to see the city

A wonderful way to get to know a city is taking a tour.  In many European cities they have the hop on hop off buses, Dublin being one of them. It allows you to sights see at your own pace which is exactly what I like. We got a 2 day pass which was great, hopping on and off at all the different pubs along the way it took us that long to do the whole loop, 23 stops.

Our first stop was just one stop after we got on for a beverage and a bit to eat at the Porterhouse.

The race to the top of Blarney Castle

Traveling with George is a bit like being on the amazing race. Not only on travel days does he have me racing through airports but many times our tours are like this. In Paris we went to Notre Dam Cathedral, where he walked in looked around for 1/2 a second and said "I'll be buying the postcard outside." But nothing compared to the race around the Louvre Museum. In his defense we did have limited time but it was crazy how fast he had me moving around the museum. It was a quick blur of art but I did see the Mona Lisa & ancient statue of Aphrodite, Venus de milo.

That brings me to our recent trip to Ireland and the Blarney Castle. Our tour group arrived first thing in the morning so for a few minutes we had the place to ourselves. We had a tour guide who talked to our group for just a few minutes about Blarney Castle, the history, and the gardens surrounding the castle.

Ireland

Last year when they announced that Penn State University would be playing their first football game in Ireland, I couldn’t think of a better reason than that to plan a trip around the game. Here we are now in Ireland with just a few Penn State Fans.