6/6/05 Today was pretty mellow I woke up a little earlier and went to the City Centre in Dublin to do some more sight seeing. I tried to get tickets to Riverdance but apparently it doesn’t open for another couple days, for those who don’t know one of my favorite shows is Riverdance, I have already seen it 3 times. I think I will try coming back through Dublin to catch a show next week. After walking around for a couple hours I came across (by accident really, I swear) the Old Jameson Distillery. Being quite a fan of Jameson I decided it wouldn’t be proper not to take a tour so with my 8euros paid, off I went on the tour. Sadly to say it was kinda cheesy but very informative on the history of whiskey. Afterwards I bought a bottle of Special Reserve which is only available at the Old Distillery, the plan is to send it back to the states so on my first day back we can open it as a welcome home. The problem is I don’t know who to send it to that wouldn’t open it on some night they ran out of booze, no offense guys but . After I left the distillery I walked around some more till I found a great little restaurant and had a huge bowl of Irish Stew with a couple glasses of Jamesons to wash it down. The stew definitely lives up to its reputation and could also be a contributing factor to the “healthiness” of the women in Ireland. Once I finished my dinner I made my way back to my hostel where I called it a night. Today’s Specs Weather: Sunny 75F Distance: Dublin 6/7/05 Today is the big day I get the bike out of Customs. After 2 busses and 90 minutes I was at the airport but I still had to get to cargo terminal 2. Once I got directions from an extremely helpful information desk attendant (the Irish really are friendly) off I went lugging helmet, all my gear, and one of my panniers which was holding my tools. I needed my tools because I had to remove the gas tank to reconnect the battery and a couple other minor things I had done to prep it for shipping. As I was walking out of the airport and heading towards the Cargo Terminal I saw one of the luggage trolleys just sitting there by itself, quite lonely actually. Not thinking it was fair to leave this trolley by itself I quickly loaded my stuff onto it and off we went for a 15 minute walk to the Cargo Terminal. I am quite sure one is not supposed to take the luggage trolleys outside the airport let alone about a mile down the road to the industrial section but whenever someone looked at me I just looked I knew exactly where I was going and like I had a purpose, and well I actually did have a purpose, all that stuff is bloody heavy. When I finally reached the shipping company’s office they informed me it would be 36euros and I had to go to a different office to get some paperwork and then to customs before they would release the bike. No problem, so off I went to the third floor of a building a block away to get my paper work. Sounds easy enough until you have ridden in an Irish elevator. The floors are labeled 0-1-2, so when I got in I was quite confused that there was no 3rd floor, scratch scratch scratch (that is the sound of my scratching my head) ahh it must be floor 2 which is really the 3rd floor. Once on the 3rd floor which is really floor two I found the office but it had a sign that said relocated to the Floor 1, Ok so off I went lugging all my stuff to the first floor, in the elevator to the ground floor. Down the hallway, wait OH Shit this is floor 0 not floor 1. See aren’t you confused too. After getting finally getting my paperwork I went to customs to find quite a sour customs agent who wanted nothing more to ruin my day, but as luck would have it his boss was quite a motorcycle enthusiast and after spending a good 20 minutes discussing motorcycle his sour underling handed me my papers with the all clear. So back to the shipping company to get my bike, once at their office they were ready to release my bike for a low fee of 70 euros, wasn’t it 36 euros an hour ago I asked, I got the standard blank look response. Ok 70euros it is I am just happy to have my bike. So after a quick reassembly it was road worthy and I was ready to conquer to Irish highways. All right I want you to stop reading this and pick up a pen with your left hand if you are right handed or vice versa. Now try writing a sentence or two with the wrong hand. Well that is what riding on Irish roads are like, very hard but unlike writing there is consequences, such as large semi’s. I quickly found it easiest to just follow people and well hopefully they were going close to where I was, needless to say it was a long trip back to the hostel. Today the GPS was invaluable as I had marked the hostels location in the GPS before I left this morning, cause trust me Dublin is not an easy city to navigate. Once back at the hostel I locked up my Little Lass and went into town for a dinner with some people I had met at the internet café the day before. After a great dinner at an Indian food restaurant it was off the pub for some Irish folk music and ale. After a couple days in Dublin I have noticed that allot of Irish girls, not all but allot, are quite fat I don’t mean South Dakota fat but just a little soft. It could be why the Irish like to drink, hhhmmmm just a thought. Today’s Specs Weather: Sunny 75F Distance: 30 miles, Dublin Airport to Hostel in Monks town (includes detours due to inept driving ability on left hand roads)