Who starts drinking before noon...? We do!  

Don't judge us too harshly. As our last day in Ireland we've made our way to Dublin to go on the infamous Guinness Storehouse tour. This is the most visited attraction in Ireland, and being a fan of the stuff myself, you can be sure we weren't going to miss this opportunity.

I have to admit I was a bit unprepared for what was to come. The tour begins at the center of the building where the 9000 year lease has been built into a display in the floor. Looking up was the real surprise as you can see all the way to the top of the building in a dazzling display of glass and metal beams.  

They have really spent a lot of time and money to build this up right... It feels a bit like Disneyland for adults.  

The tour is self guided, so you can really take your time and see everything at your own pace. This is good because there are 7 floors, each packed with a variety of displays and information areas.

My favorite part had to be walking into the tasting room. They have you walk down this long hallway which is very dark towards a pair of closed doors. As you get closer to the doors at the end they dramatically open by themselves into a bright white room, making you feel like you are entering heaven. It's all very dramatic and quite unexpected.

The white room has 4 pillars, each pumping out a white cloud of different aromas from the Guinness ingredients. Here you are handed a tiny little taste of the black stuff that you take with you into the next room to learn how to drink properly (or just eagerly pound it down like the guy next to me did).

At the very top of the building is a bar/observation deck where you can nearly see 360 degrees around you, giving a great view of the city. We had our complimentary drink and took a moment to gaze out at the city before heading out.

Our only other stop was across town over at Trinity College. The actual campus is pretty cool to experience. You have impressive buildings surrounding you on every side coming to a point at the very middle. Granted I know very little of the college (shame on me), however we enjoyed the courtyard.

The real reason we were there was to see the Book of Kells exhibition. At least, that was part of the reason... The other was to see the fantastic Old Library. I had purchased tickets online while walking over, and that ended up being a very good idea as the line to purchase tickets stretched around the building. We got to stroll on up at our designated entry time and walk right in.

The first half of the exhibition was devoted to the various pages of the manuscript and explaining what you are seeing and how it was made. At the end you get to see the actual book, however I found the blown up images and descriptions to be more interesting as you could actually see the detail there.

You then walk upstairs and enter the "Long Room".  

Breathtaking. You can feel the age around you as you look down the entire length and take in each row.  

Everyone in there was muttering the same thing: Harry Potter. Or was that just Amanda???? I don't know, I'm pretty sure everyone else was thinking the same thing too. It definitely feels like something straight out of that story.

We have another early morning flight as we leave Ireland and head over to London for a week. In an attempt to nail down our plans for the remainder of a trip (as far as where we are staying) it's come down to this:

1 Week in London

5 days in Edinburgh

1 week in Glasgow

3 weeks in London (2 different stays in different parts of the city)

2 weeks in Paris

We're hoping to use London as our hub and go on a few tours to other parts of the country, as well as just enjoy the city. Also, same for Paris we hope :) Lots of interesting activities are lined up, and more still to be planned. It's only just getting started!