Dublin - continued

Dublin has been crippled by a snow storm and they tell me the city has used up its entire snow removal budget! The sidewalks are icy so I had to walk on the street to get to the Guiness Brewery - thank God for bike lanes! I came across the Oscar Wilde memorial on my way and you can see the snow. The second photo is his house and you can see the ice on the sidewalk. Here is a tidbit - I bet you think "daylight robbery" means daytime crime. The term actually come from the days when the Brits taxed glass thereby robbing the Irish of their daylight. To save tax the Irish used smaller windows on each succeeding floor - just look at the photo.
Stopped in at the National Gallery- saw a Picasso, several Gainsborough but still not a single Bidet? The guard says the walks are so icy he has never seen so many sober Irishmen falling down.
Guiness was interesting. It is the largest brewery in the world. Arthur Guiness leased the land for 9000 years at 45 Irish pounds a year. What a negotiator. After Guiness I was off to Temple Bar area for a pub lunch. Callum, an elderly gentleman from Wicklow I met on the ferry, suggested The Duke because he believed it was a condition of their lisence that at least one story teller and one philosopher be on the premises at all times. The Temple Bar area actually has more pan handlers that Spring Garden Road, I never would have thought it possible.
Tonight I attended a presentation of Handel's Messiah with the Irish Philharmonic, a 30 voice Bach Choir and four of Ireland's best known opera stars. It was awe inspiring, especially the Hallelujah Chorus, of which they played an encore.
Tomorrow I am off to Northern Ireland on Paddy Wagon Tours ( honest to God)

Quote of the day - "If you don't understand English, move to the left." - Guiness Guide