Our continuing-exploits now found us in Dublin, Ireland. Home to Kilmainham Gaol (Prison) which held many of the leaders of the Easter Uprising of 1916 and also home to Guinness beer. This was going to be an interesting place…

Kilmainham is where the organizers of the Easter Uprising found themselves after the fact and where many prisoners were executed. It wasn’t until after the executions that the Irish citizens (who had originally opposed the organizers) realized what the rebels, and their uprising had done. It’d given them freedom from the British rulers.

The prison, now a museum, is one of the many “must-see” attractions in the town of Dublin. the tour through the prison gives you a good lesson in Irish history.

It’s pretty easy to imagine how unpleasent a place this would have been as even on a warm, dry day in Ireland (as our continuing good fortune would have it)it was a cold, damp place.

The Victorian-wing was an early example of individual holding-cells as opposed to earlier cells where many prisoners were thrown together (regardless of their age or gender).

The walls were definitely not made to climb, as seen here in the execution-yard.

The prison was last used in 1924.

After that lesson in Irish-history, we went to see if we could get some “Paddy-power” and have enough energy to check out the rest of Dublin!

We, obviously, heeded the sign and headed in the opposite direction…

Luckily for us, Gaelic isn’t the only language spoken here. It kind of has a french-sound to it, but is unlike any language that I was familiar with. Very cool to listen to it spoken by the natives though.

This sign (thankfully also in English) was sound advice as my Left-hand-drive Brother-in-law and my Sister were almost flattened by a tram coming from the opposite direction that they were used to looking! Good thing the Tram driver was paying attention.

Red hair was everywhere….

and so were the lasses that could stop traffic!

Now, to a place where dreams come true….

Into the Guinness-factory tour and a view as to how this elixir is made!

Like a lot of beers, Guinness too is dependent on a good water supply….

At the end of the tour, and at the height of the building is the Gravity-bar where you can trade-in your token for a glass of Guinness-stout!

the Gravity-bar has a wonderful panoramic-view of Dublin, but is usually far from empty as it’s a very popular destination.

Back to street-level, you’ll find that Dublin has a great transport-system (when it’s not running over tourists).

Pubs and Bars abound such as this “Sports Baa and Grille”….

While there, be sure to check out the Wackers….

…interesting sights abound, both high and low in Dublin…

…now, what exactly is this guy holding on to?….

…another amusing sight in the “adult” area was Holemasters (!?)….

But, a good Irish-citizen was just going aboot his business…

Remember, Bro’, look RIGHT!!

You’ll have no troubles cleaning up after your Terrier since the scoopers are even available in Police-stations (Guarda)!

Heuston-station is a very nice european style train-station.

Never know what you’ll find as you tour downtown including a “Moo on the Loo”….

The popular statue of Dublin’s own Molly Malone is another must see. She’s also known as: ‘The Tart With The Cart’, ‘The Dish With The Fish’ and ‘The Trollop With The Scallops’.

It was nice to see the lovely-ladies of Dublin were keeping the mini-skirt alive and well….

and we had to check out the Blarney and, of course, Knobs and Knockers…

Big, bad voodoo daddy…

The river Liffey flows through Dublin and is as pure as Molly Malone……

…and crossing the Liffey is the Sean O’Casey bridge.

a famous early-resident of Dublin is James Joyce the writer…

The Dunbrody is a replica of a emmigrant tall-ship that helped ferry starving Irish immigrants from Dublin to the New World…

all in all. a very colorful town with great people and lots to see…

even in the dark of night it seemed to be fairly safe.

and you never know what the cat might drag in…

So, if you get a chance, check out Dublin, it’s worth the trip.

To see more of the photos from this outing, just double-click on any of the photos to take you to Flickr where you can see more!