Hello from Dublin!

Just thought I'd post a quick run down of the last 2 days.  Saturday morning I arrived in London about 5:30am.  Had a surprise education on learning London's public bus system since the Tube lines to my hotel were shut down.  Toured the Tower of London, which was amazing.  There's a nice, large sculpture in the place where Anne Bolyn was executed.  Inside the Beauchamp Tower, I took a picture of the inscription they believe to be Lady Jane Gray's (the 9-day queen in the 1550s) writing into the wall "Jane".  Being a room that many nobles, and two queens were imprisoned in before their execution, I couldn't help but feel a very strange energy.  Took a ride on the London Eye, walked through Harod's, and finished the evening with a pint of really good English ale. 

I arrived in Dublin about noon today, but I found Dublin could use some signage improvements in their airport terminals as it took about an hour to find a place to buy a bus pass.  I did a lot of walking around Dublin today, it's fairly touristy, but there is no shortage of pubs.  The Dublin Castle is barricaded since Queen Elizabeth is coming to Ireland tomorrow, which no English monarch has visited Ireland since they became a Republic I think.  This article from the Irish Times explains a little more:  Public banned from streets outside all Queen's visit sites

I'm downstairs in the hotel lobby, listening to the tapping of Irish step dancers perform live.  Earlier I came down for lunch and listened to an acoustic guitar/fiddle duo play Ring of Fire. 

So far, my highlights:

-Live Irish step dancing live
-I discovered a new Irish cider beer
-the 84 year old English queen is touring Guinness tomorrow
-Seeing a Coconcorde on the British Airways ramp with
-The Tower of London
-classic Johnny Cash music live

We start class tomorrow morning at 8, and my team and I have a meeting with the Lord Mayor of Dublin over lunch , so the less the jet lag, the better.  More updates and stories to come...