so it took 50 minutes for the "night owl" room service people to make a fucking tuna sandwich. i ate at like 1am. poor paul got a horrible headache from the lingering cigarette fumes in his hotel room, so they opened up the windows in their room and hung out in the hotel lobby (with free wi-fi) until god knows when. meanwhile, leeya booked me a separate hotel room (we were going to all share one) during our stay in galway. i think it's a good idea; instead of cutting down costs, i think we'll all be happier to have our own privacy.
this morning, we got up and met at around 10am, and the new rooms weren't available until noon, so we drove about half a mile to the liffey valley shopping center and had breakfast. shit, stuff is really expensive here, way more expensive than in scotland. we had pre-made sandwiches at M&S (i had a BLT, which was actually pretty good, how can you go wrong with mayonnaise and bacon?) and a hazelnut latte (once again). we shopped a bit, and then went back to get paul and leeya a new smoke-free hotel room. they were happy.
then, we drove about 15 minutes into town. and... we hit the jameson factory! it was the ONLY destination on the ENTIRE trip that i said was a *must* visit place. it was actually pretty cool, too. the guy who we bought the tickets from was well-versed in american football; he was a packers fan, and i was impressed that he knew all about tony romo's broken finger.
the tour was very informative, as we went through like the 9 or so steps of making whiskey. i learned some stuff about what makes jameson special (like triple distillation, how it's different from the smoky flavor of scotch when the malt is created from barley, and how they use used barrels instead of new oak ones). eight volunteers did a taste tests of jameson vs. johnnie walker black vs. jack daniels as the tour guide told us the differences between each one. and of course, we all got free jameson.
there was a special reserve jameson that you could only buy at the gift store for about $70. i didn't buy it, but i did try a shot of it (neat, no ice) for $8. it was ok, but i wasn't head over heals with it.
afterwards, we had a meal, and i tried irish stew. it was damn fucking good. it was like a tasty soup with potatoes, carrots, and lamb. i shall get it again if i have the chance.
then, we walked around the old medieval part of town, visited dublin castle and the christ church (yes, that's what it's called), and then drove back at 5pm in rush hour traffic. there was a HUGE number of cars going to the mall, and we suspected that it may be for early showings of the 007 movie.
i'm blogging early because i have free internet for once on paul's computer. we'll have dinner later and maybe watch a movie. dublin isn't going to be cool as glasgow (as in the experience) because we're outside of the city this time, and it's not like i can just walk out and hit a pub and see the sights. bummer. i had high hopes for dublin, but with the location of the hotel, it's just not going to happen. let's see if galway will be different.
oh, and for hygiene reasons, i stopped sleeping naked. i'm afraid of catching some STD or nasty skin disease from rubbing my genitals on the sheets. paul and leeya had a minor face skin breakout early on in edinburgh, and they think it was from the sheets. so no way i am risking something on my schlong.
ok, see you later!