gollygoshgumgoonz: A day in Dublin with two Barrys

We flew to Dublin this morning and met Barry, Ger's brother. Ger is married to my cousin Nick as mentioned in previous posts.
Barry gave us a fantastic tour of his locale, starting with the beautiful Phoenix Park. We had a tour of the Farmleigh house and local food and craft market, then saw the Papal Cross (where Pope John Paul II delivered an open-air sermon back in 1979 to more than 1.25 million people), the USA Ambassador's residence, Ashtown Castle, and resident herds of deer. We also passed the zoo before arriving at Barry's house, which is right on the edge of the park.
Barry kept us entertained all day with his incredible depth of knowledge, history, and 'craic'. He cooked us breakfast before taking us on the brand new tram line into town where we were treated to another tour al la Barry, of inner city Dublin, going through backroads and side lanes, main thoroughfares, and market halls, several pubs including 'probably the smallest pub in Ireland' and across the bridges of the river Liffey. After a drink at a pub in a converted church (called 'The Church'), we took the bus back to Barry's for another home cooked meal.
How spoilt are we?
Dublin was absolutely humming with Christmas vibes. What a cool day and having two Barry's had its confusing moments but was great fun.