Thursday, March 15th

If you would have told me when I woke up this morning that I would touch an 800-yr-old dead person by the end of the day – I’d have called you a liar. But – what do ya know – before Noon today I had not only enjoyed a delicious Irish breakfast at our hotel…I had also touched the hand of a real mummy.

I can’t even begin to put this experience into words. One minute we were touring St. Michan’s church – and the next – we were underground, in a crypt, starring at four mummies. Truth be told, we weren’t supposed to take pictures…but you know we couldn’t pass up on the opportunity. We snuck a bunch of great shots…and Danimal even got video footage of Fisher and I touching death, literally.

So, you’d think that once you’ve touched a dead body by Noon, your day has pretty much hit it’s peak, right? Not even close. After our mummy adventure, we all dropped by the Old Jameson Distillery while Fisher did his broadcast. And then afterwards, our 97X fam hit the streets of Dublin – hard.

I can only tell you that our afternoon ended with a cab ride home in which we were singing Irish tunes with our cabbie…I’m pretty sure we were trying to overthrow the Brits – but – in all fairness – we were just going along with the lyrics…‘For 800 years, we fought you with our tears. And we’ll fight you, for 800 more.’ (Yep…still stuck in my head). J I’m pretty sure there is also a video from this awesome experience on our website.

By now, I’m sure you’re thinking that our day was over, right? After all, touching mummies – Dublin explorations – cab ride sing-a-longs, it all sounds like a full day, right. Sooooo wrong.

If you have followed any of our Jameson trips in the past – one thing that you know is these guys bring it…and they bring it BIG. When we first found out that we were coming back to Dublin for Paddy’s Day, we were told to bring black pants and a white shirt for our first night’s event.

As people from all 35 stations from around the world (Japan, Argentina, Uruguay, US, etc) hopped on our busses – we had no idea what we were in for…

We arrived to dinner with the sounds of police officers screaming at us to sit down. We each found a necktie, a top hat, a harmonica, and a pair of sunglasses, and we were suddenly in the middle of ‘The Blues Brothers.’ Dinner came fully equipped with servers dressed like officers, performances from the Blues Brothers and James Brown look-a-likes, singing, dancing, and as much Jameson Irish Whiskey (which, btw, is the official drink of St. Patrick’s Day) as you could consume…plus a bottle or five. J I can’t promise you that everyone in our party (Danimal and Geo) remember the evening – but I can absolutely say that it was the most fun I’ve ever had at a dinner.

We are doing our live broadcast in the AM – and I can’t wait!! I’m off to bed…can’t wait to tell you guys the full version tomorrow on the radio. JJ

-Danielle

Wednesday, March 14th

Hiiiiiiiiiii!!!!

We are in IRELAND!!! Where do I even begin!?!

Let me start out by saying THANK YOU to the wonderful people at Jameson who have brought us back to this amazing place for a second straight year. I would also like to give a shoutout to Advil PM - aka the ONLY reason I got a ton of sleep on our 8-hour flight into London last night...and even more sleep on our connecting flight into Ireland this morning.

Once we were all checked-in at our hotel today, we met up for some lunch. Afterwards, Fisher, Drew and Geo went pub-scouting, Seth and Danimal (who will be uploading all of the videos and pictures from our trip) went out to explore some history at Trinity College, and I wandered the streets alone - which is one of my favorite things to do.

When we were here last year, I had such vivid memories of where everything was - and I put myself to the test today. Sure enough, I found my favorite pub - The Clarendon Bar - some of my favorite shops, and I even found the pay phone that I would run to every night to call Derek (we have upgraded to Skype this year). :)

I did some shopping and came back to our hotel - The Fitzwilliam (google it if you get the chance, it's INCREDIBLE) - to find an amaaaaazing gift package from my peeps at Jameson...a specialty bottle of Jameson, mini-bottles, a carrying bag...you name it, WE GOT IT!!

For dinner, Danimal and I checked out this pub near the hotel - Davy Byrnes - and I'm pretty sure I found the best dinner ever...sausage and chips - aka mini-sausages on top of a bed of french fries. Add in some malt vinegar (which is found in every restaurant in Dublin), plus a large slice of delicious chocolate cake, and I am one happy girl.

I am sitting in my room right now (11:30pm my time, 7:30pm your time) still in disbelief at the opportunity that we have again this year with Jameson. But I am also tired, so it's off to bed for me...I hear we might be exploring some old crypts in the morning. :)

I'll check-in again soon!!

- Danielle