Ireland Insights 2.0

After a much needed slumber we were ready to tackle Dublin. We slept strait through breakfast, but were able to have a some soup and tea in the restaurant downstairs. Strong tea with real cream was a nice start to the day. We needed a good start, for we were in for the first of many long trips on foot. Just as a disclaimer for following narrative, yes the drinking age over here is 18, and yes we are being responsible. There was an attraction we just couldn't pass up: the St. James Gate Brewery, home of Guinness. We weren't quite up to tackling the bus system, so we took a 30+ minute stroll down O'Connell St, over the canal, and to the west on the twisting, narrow streets of lower Dublin. We ran into sign trouble again, this time there were no street signs whatsoever, at least on the occasion that we were nearing a turn on our route. After a few wrong turns and back tracing our steps a bit, we finally arrived. (And I must add that the Dublin road system is, um, interesting. Some roads change names every block with many curves and corners filling the city. So it can be a little difficult at times for the new traveler to find their way. -Eric)

Guinness has put much effort into making a high quality experience. Due to sanitary regulations, the tours are not allowed in the actual brewery, but they have created a 7 level, self-guided tour in an old warehouse - hence the name Guinness Storehouse. The info from the tour could be a book in itself, so I'll keep to the highlights. A fun fact: Arthur Guinness, the founder, was so pleased with his location and the high-quality water supply that he signed a 9,000 year lease on the property to make sure the business would have a proper site for years to come. They've only got 8,750 year left! (We got to see the original document that had the signatures of the men involved in the lease. I wonder what was going through the man's mind when Arthur Guinness was attempting to negotiate for a 9,000 year contract? -Eric) The ground floor detailed each of the main ingredients(hops, barely, water, and yeast), as well as the importance of each. The first floor went through the steps of malting, roasting, milling, and mashing the barley, adding the yeast, and completing the brew. (Right after the area explaining the process of making the porter - the type of beer Guinness is - there was a sampling area. In the room they had instructions explaining the proper way to swish the glass to get all the flavors properly. It also explained how when it hit your tongue you would get different flavors and tastes, on different parts of your tongue at the same time. It was quite amazing. -Eric) There was a very cool original video of coopers making the barrels by hand, each one was truly a work of art. The second floor was fun, for here we learned how to pour our own pint the correct way, for optimal taste. This involved pulling the tap a certain way, letting it sit a specified amount of time, and then topping up the glass. We are now certified to craft perfect pints of Guinness, but I can't tell you how. (So don't ask. -Eric) It's a secret that we pint masters guard with utmost care. (The picture on the right shows a pint that was very recently poured, the glass on the right, and one that has set for a certain period of time, on the left. You can see how the beer is a much lighter color at first then turns darker as the head is formed. -Eric) On the next floors we were amused by their advertising past, with blatant generalizations such as "Guinness is good for you!" and "Guinness gives you strength!" as their catch phrases. They even detailed stories of how nursing mothers and patients recovering from illness were often prescribed Guinness to feel better. Add a quote from a doctor I just had to share: "I often prescribe Guinness... a bottle in front of a dispirited, health-greedy convalescent has a wonderfully cheer producing effect. It makes the patient feel better and eat better and think cheerfully." Needless to say, they had a bit of a racket going on in the early years. The subsequent floors talking about using the product responsibly, (Ha it took til the 3rd floor to finally mention anything about responsibility and also being able to choose not to drink. Irish people are funny. -Eric) as well as more advertising. The top floor, the Gravity Bar, provided a 360° view of Dublin, advertised as the best views of the city. From here we saw the lush green hills that we hope to visit some other day. The tour took us about 1.5 hours, but could be done quicker if you desire. I highly recommend it if you are ever vacationing here. We then got the joy of a long walk back to the hotel. The realization of how much we were going to be on our feet this summer was really setting in at this point. For dinner we found Murray's, a local bar and grill, and had a proper meal, much better than the previous evening. Afterwards we explored the city a little more, and ended up down by the canal, where we took this shot was taken. The next day was mostly uneventful; already getting sick of the concrete jungle, we journeyed out to Phoenix Park, and spent some time relaxing on the greenspace. On the way back we stopped at a little sidestreet tavern for lunch, (We got a little confused because the tavern had a bar on one side then lounge on the other, so we weren't quite sure which side to go in but we got it figured out. -Eric) and walked back to the hotel. The task of re-packing 2 months clothes into one suitcase each was definitely a challenge to say the least. (Blythe had to help me out by sitting on my bag as I zipped it up. -Eric) Wednesday afternoon we were back on the street with bags trailing. Caught our bus back to the airport(double-decker, rode on top, it was sweet) and by the evening we were back in the air, off to conquer London.

-One thing I'd like to add that i just remembered: Going through security on the way out of Dublin was the first time in our trip Eric's backpack didn't throw any red flags in security. Hooray for and a big thanks to Ireland!