Tour du Mont Blanc via Dublin and Greece with Two Old Beans!

Here we go again! You are invited to come along with Vern and I (the two old beans) as I pen a few words and post a few pics of our just completed Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB). Always rated among the top 10 hikes in the world, the TMB circles the range around Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps. It is about 100 miles long, winds through France, Switzerland, and Italy, and gains and loses 33,000 feet (yes, thousand) over the ten days we took to complete it. As always, I (not necessarily Vern) was under-prepared so Ibuprofen helped the first few days!? Even better than Ibuprofen, though, were the 360 degree unbelievable views we were offered every day...well, except the sideways sleet day where we navigated 3" of new snow on steep trails...and also the pouring rain day where we slipped and slid our way to the Refuge Elisabetta. But more of that later.  If you know Vern and I, you know we travel in the cheap seats. Sooooo, there are often layovers at multiple airports, thus long trips. This one involved a 22 hour layover in Dublin, Ireland on our way to where the tour begins in Geneva, Switzerland. And we had a BLAST :) Stayed at the Barnacles Temple Bar House smack in the middle of the city, saw the famous Trinity College, Book of Kells, the ancient harp, Dublin Castle, an interesting public meeting notice, and a 10th Century church. We ate traditional Irish Stew and drank a Guiness, while we watched a soccer game between Ireland and Serbia. Later, after the best gelato ever, I posed with several ladies in front of a sweet shop where a couple of Irish guys photo-bombed us. The three bars adjacent to our hostel were bursting at the seams and the music was crazy, very Irish, and awesome - well, I thought so anyway. Though things did not quiet down until after 2 am, we got up, had a nice coffee by the O'Connell Bridge and caught a bus back to the airport to fly out by noon. SUCH a fun 22 hours. On to Geneva and the TMB!