Guinness for breakfast?

Yes, today we hit the famous/infamous Guinness tour for our free pint of the black stuff. Pray for me. In fact, this will be the first ETOH to pass our lips since arriving in Ireland. Really. It's a glorious day - sunny but windy. DL slept in a bit. I was out & about hunting for coffee or chai. Insomnia Coffee doesn't open till 0930 - excuse me. I do love that place because they use...are you ready...Oregon Chai mix! God love them! Anyway, wound up getting some "peel the skin off the soles of your feet" espresso - that I thought was coffee. Woo hoo! Finally found my way back to the hotel. (I still can't figure out directions in this town, but D is a pro.) I'm met at the elevator on our floor by DL herself - with curly hair. She told me she was going to work on her hair before I left on my walk & for me to take my time because it took a while to do her hair. ;-) So her hairdryer died. I didn't pack one because I had no room for it in my "medium" suitcase. I also knew 3 of our 4 hotels had them in the room. The only iffy one is in Fort William in the Scottish highlands. So D looks really cute with her hair au natural - I don't. If I have a scarf wrapped around my head on the Hogwarts Express you'll know the Alexandra didn't have hairdryers. Couple of random observations about Dublin thus far:

• there are lots of kids/babies here - Catholics!
• it's very windy
• seagulls & pigeons abound
  
• many of the shopworkers are of Chinese or East Indian descent
• while they don't allow smoking inside, so many people smoke here
• people in general are very helpful, whenever we stop & pull out our map someone always stops to ask if we need help :-D
• there are beauty salons EVERYWHERE
• this is a very clean city, mobile street sweepers are going all the time - there's also a 150 Euro (that's about $209 USD folks) fine for littering
• the bathrooms are also very clean; with deep toilets; sanitizers for the seats; blowers to dry your hands

Talk to y'all later.