Day Fourteen - Friday, January 2, 2026
There was no way I could walk around the city with our crew. So I stayed in the hotel trying to hydrate and feel some semblance of normal. I spent most of my day trying to manage the heat of the room (not very well it was freezing, sorting through excursions for the upcoming Alaska Cruise and trying to catch up on the blog.)
The group met in the lobby and came up with their own walking tour of Dublin. Here are a several photos from the Madelyn Francesconi and Jack Daffada Dublin tour which included Trinity College and St. Stephens Green Park.
In the episode that this is a really small world while walking on the Trinity College campus Gary ran into a friend of his from graduate school - Sheila McCarthy - a woman he hasn't seen for almost three decades. She recognized him and the moment was captured digitally in the photos below.
The group returned from the Madelyn and Jack tour of Dublin. They had a great day with the sun shinning and temps in the 30s but with the wind chill it felt more like the 20s. We had our last organized event planned at 5:15 pm to see the Jamison factory on Bow Street for a guided whiskey tour. The group was starting to lose steam with Ben and I thinking of bowing out. Fortunately, we rallied. But given the extreme cold we opted for a taxi to the distillery.
The Jameson facility is impressive and of course with the holidays the bar and factory are elaborately decorated in celebration of the season. Our tour guide was James who shared that in addition to being a tour guide and whiskey expert, he was also an Irish musician. He was a theatrical and engaging lead and his tour was filled with facts and entertainment. It starts with the group sipping seasonal cocktails while you learn the history of the brand, how it is made and distilled and finally a tasting of three labels – the green bottle, the black barrel which tastes most similar to bourbon and one label to try which is only available at the Jameson distillery. We loved the tour and peppered James with the most questions after the hour long session.
The bartenders from Jamison recommended a small restaurant around the corner for dinner. We finally found vegetables in the form of garden salads before dinner! The group went in on pasta and fish and chips. I still wasn’t 100% so I opted for peppermint tea.
We considered walking back to the hotel about 1.5 miles away but given the cold and how I still felt we took another cab. We did get the chance to see yet another Christmas market in Dublin with a Ferris wheel and Merry-Go-Round. It wasn’t too crowded, but a few post holiday folks were still riding some of the rides. We drove past the River Liffey which runs right through Dublin.
So sad this was our last night of our trip.
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