Wexford Ireland:

Bumper sticker says practice random acts of kindness, like keeping your little dog locked up  in your car on a warm day.  A Confederate flag?  Really?

Wexford Ireland

Dublin is remarkably free of Dog doo but not so Wexford.  There is a fine of up to 3000 Euros for not cleaning up after your pet but it doesn't seem to matter.  I think we saw more dogs in Wexford (including two Irish Wolfhounds) in one afternoon than in 4 days in Dublin.

Dublin, Dooley Car Rental Agency:

They give this to everyone who rents a car but I believe they are targeting one particular country...They are so subtle.

Real Irish music by the Molly Malone statue in downtown Dublin.  Molly is the most photographed statue in Dublin.  The nicknames for the statue include: Tart with the Cart and the Dish with the Fish.

LA Times had an article about Ireland.  Thanks Tom Martinet...

http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-ireland-20120930,0,2202707.story

The first couple of days in Dublin the weather was terrible.  It was raining with gusty wind.  We didn't have umbrellas so we went to some off-street store and got some for 2 Euros.  Believe it or not they have held up, unlike the one in the photo (someone was frustrated).  Anyway, in Seattle the rain is generally light (but constant) so people usually don't use umbrellas.  As such we were not aware of the unspoken code of umbrella etiquette.

First, always pay attention to people coming in the opposite direction.  Dale was walking with his umbrella and hit someone else's umbrella coming in the opposite direction.  Apparently, because he was taller he should have raised his umbrella to avoid smacking umbrellas.  He didn't notice but the woman with the umbrella that got hit was very irritated.  So when you are walking with an umbrella be aware of oncoming traffic.

Second, always be careful when you open your umbrella. We found some protection in a pub when it was raining really hard.  On the way out, I opened my umbrella.  I was a few feet away from the guy in front of me but when I opened my it, all the water on it flew into the guy's face, with force.  I got a really bad look but when I apologized  he could not have been nicer.

So mind your umbrella on the street.

Dublin, "Arthur's Day" (September 27)-

Rockin' at the Morgan to the finest Bongo/Sax player in all of Ireland.

Dublin Hard Rock Cafe-

Nothing says hard rock like the "Spice Girls."

Dublin and Trinity College from the Gravity Bar at the Guinness Brewery. 

Dublin Tesco-
Some Knorr sauces are not available in the US like Bread Sauce...mmm good...

Last night Dale and I turned in the car, so I thought that I would make a few comments about driving in Ireland (although I didn't drive at all).  First, driving on the opposite side of the road (driving on the left not on the right) in never referred to as driving on the "wrong side of the road."  It is not "wrong" but "different" according to the Irish people we have met.  I would like to add the adjectives "weird" and "disconcerting" to the description.  I found it just unnatural.  There are a lot of weird things associated with driving on the "different" sides of the road.  For example, the escalators are opposite as well (the normal up side is down and the reverse).  As a pedestrian you have to look in the opposite way when crossing streets.  The Irish acknowledge this problem by painting "Look Right" and "Look Left" on the crosswalks.  In addition, the whole issue of driving on the different side of the road is compounded  by the really narrow roads.  As the driver, it looks like cars in the opposite direction are about to plow into you, so you have a tendency to cheat toward the curb on the left.  With the narrow roads though, you end up on the shoulder and worse.  We had a small incident, that will never be spoken of, but we survived. There are other questions that remain unanswered like...Are motorcycle sidecars on the opposite side?  Are golf cart or tractor steering  wheels on the opposite side?  The thing that is the most interesting to me though is, that on the sidewalk, pedestrians walk on the right, not on the left, opposite to the way the Irish drive.  So, it seems to me that if the Irish don't drive on the "wrong" side, they drive on the "unnatural" side.

Dublin, Ireland

So, if you own a pet store...locating your business between a Chinese and Korean restaurant may be convenient but is it a really good idea?

Shouldn't they sell gloves instead of shoes?

So at bars and restaurants they usually have a tray with condiments, ketchup, mustard, mayo and..."brown sauce."  The package has no ingredients listed so I am a bit leery of trying it.

Photo of the day from Carrickmacross, Ireland:

Off Licence is the same as a package liquor store.  So Deery's is a liquor store/funeral parlor.  Convenient but kind of creepy.

First day in Dublin, we arrived at 0800 and couldn't check in to the hotel until 1500.  Rain pouring down and we are soaked.  We run into our first pub and the major decoration is...old west memorabilia  including a buffalo head.  So we come half way around the world from Seattle and we and we get rain and cowboy stuff...Great.

So, this is my first blog so don't expect much.  I am going to write about some observations, details of our trip, and add some photos.