Max and I got off the plane, but couldn't check into our hotel yet. We went to Max's gym to shower, which was a few blocks from our hotel. It was wonderful after two days of gross hostel showers to finally have a (relatively) clean shower and time/space to get dressed. We then dropped our things in the hotel and had lunch at a good old fashioned Irish pub. I had my first glass of real Irish Guinness - much better than Guinness anywhere else. It's so heavy, but so delicious. We both had beef burgundy, potatoes, carrots and brown bread to eat. After lunch we explored the city, which isn't very large, and returned to the hotel at a reasonable hour. The hotel was very nice, and very conveniently located. We actually were going to stay in a hostel that night, but Max did some research and found that it was actually cheaper for both of us to split the hotel room than for each of us to pay for our own bed in the hostel. Really, there's no better feeling than a real bed in a nice room, with a clean bathroom, after hostel living. Our hotel bathroom also had a really deep, nice bathtub, which was a great way to relax at the end of the day.
The next morning we got up early for our Coast and Castle tour, complete with the singing Irish bus driver. It was a lot of fun, though we were in the middle of a group of 16 crazy Portugese tourists, who sang loudly and liked to talk over the bus driver. The castle we visited was Malahide castle, just outside of Dublin. Since it had been lived in until about twenty years ago, it was not exactly what I expected from a castle in Ireland. It was cool nonetheless! The coastal part of the tour was not as satisfying, because we didn't get to get out and walk anywhere. Still, as I said, the Irish countryside is beautiful!
Max and I got back in time for a slow lunch and a short walk around the city before we headed off to our next tour, the Viking tour. The viking tour is probably the best tour I've ever been on. It's like the ducky tours they have in Boston, the kind that are in big yellow WWII boats that have wheels and can go in the water or on land. Except, since they're viking tours, the driver pretends to be a viking, and makes you roar at unsuspecting passersby. So much fun. Whenever our driver would see a group of tourists, or people on their cell phones, he would call out "one, two, three...ROAR" and we would all roar. Half the time the tourists jumped out of their skin! Soo much fun.
That night Max's boyfriend and his three friends arrived, and we tried to go out with them...except that it was Good Friday and EVERYTHING shuts down in Ireland. So we went to bed and got up late the next morning. I left the group for the afternoon, and explored the coastal town of Bray (see the next entry), while the guys and Max did the Guinness factory. We met up again at night and went out to a few good Irish pubs together.
Again, I wish I had had more time in Ireland! I got to see my castles, but no Irish sheep, and I had no shepherd's pie. I did, however, buy some good Irish mittens. Oh well. I plan on going back, though maybe not this trip.
Thunder Road cafe. Named for the Bruce Springsteen song, of course. Apparently they love "Brucie" in Dublin.
The view from our hotel window. Not much to see, but it was immensely better than our view of construction in London.
Max walking through the castle gate
The view from the front of Malahide castle. It's way more majestic in person, especially when there aren't tourists carrying their luggage across your view.
The castle
Me in the castle doorway
There were peacocks roaming the castle yard!
My future front door, I have decided. 
Part of the coast tour. This is actually a lookout, to make sure the coast wasn't going to be attacked by the French. Or so the bus driver told us.
Viking tour! The sign on the windshield says "Goats are accepted as tips, but cash is better"
Dublin's river, the Liffy
The bridge in front of our hostel
U2's recording studio
This boat is made of concrete. If I were to build a boat, concrete would not be my first choice of materials. Apparently, though, it was built right after WWII, when concrete was the only available material. 
Notice that only the left side is painted. This is because the people who live on that side of the river complained about how ugly the boat was, but the people living on the right side didn't. I guess it was cheaper to paint half of it than to remove the boat, so half was painted and people don't complain anymore. 
The whole group at one of the pubs, eating fish and chips.
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