I mentioned before Josh had two friends who were being forcibly retired, and one of those friends would be returning to the states. We tried to do many last minute things with the friend leaving to get as much out of his time in Europe as possible. This friend, Todd, went with us to London. While in London we talked about visiting Dublin because Todd loves Guinness. Dublin, and Ireland, are a place Josh and I have not yet been. Not for any particular reason, just because we haven't gotten to it yet. After our conversation and "idea" of Dublin, I decided to look into planning a trip there before Todd left. I found a good deal for airfare and an apartment over Columbus weekend. Josh and Todd were game to go, so I booked our trip. I started planning - the focus of this trip would be for Josh and Todd to enjoy Guinness and pubs. Around this time Todd had gotten word of a possible job back in the states, and he was staring the application process. Josh mentioned that Todd may or may not still be in Germany for our Dublin trip. I learned a long time ago to not take too much stock in the military or Josh's estimation of time or time-frames, as they usually aren't accurate. I went ahead with my planning. One of the main things I wanted to book for our trip was tickets to the Guinness factory. In my online searching, I found the option to have an exclusive tasting session. It sounded like something Todd and Josh would need to do. I saw this tour online, but kept putting off booking (for no real reason, just procrastination). Finally one weekend when I was doing other online things, I decided it was probably time to book that tour. I went online, booked three tickets for the exclusive tasting our first day in Dublin. The next day, Josh came home and announced Todd got his job in the states and was on the fast track out of Germany, so he would not be going to Ireland with us. Well. Crap. Fortunately, the only thing I had booked thus far was the Guinness Factory. Unfortunately, I couldn't cancel, change, or get a refund on the tour or on Todd's plane ticket (not that it was expensive - it was a cheap-y Ryan Air ticket). I had to switch around my planning - this was going to be a very different trip if it was two of us.
Prior to us leaving, Josh had temporarily been put on night shift for one week, then was moved to swing shift right before our trip. Swing shifts are better than night shift (hour wise, in my opinion), but it still proved to be a challenge for Josh. Josh got home Thursday night around 11:30 p.m. and got to bed at 1:00 a.m. (just because he had to wind down and couldn't get to sleep any earlier). Our alarm to get up went off at 3:00 a.m. Josh was tired (obviously), so I drove us to the airport. I was hoping he would be able to get some sleep on our two hour flight, but he only got a few little naps here and there. We arrived in Dublin at 8 a.m. and had the whole day ahead of us. We took a bus from the airport into the city, then had to walk around to find our apartment. We got a little turned around, and the early morning hour/lack of sleep made for some bickering... but we finally found it and dropped off our bags. We decided the first thing we should do was find a place to have some coffee and breakfast (technically, second breakfast as we had eaten around 3:40 that morning... but eating at 3:40, then again at 10:00... does that make it second breakfast or lunch??). It was still pretty early, and the city wasn't really awake yet. Many businesses were still closed, and there weren't too many people or cars out.
We walked from our apartment to Temple Bar - which is a famous pedestrian only area of Dublin which has many restaurants and pubs. We found a little cafe which was open and serving breakfast. I ordered eggs and toast, but Josh ordered a traditional Irish breakfast, which included eggs, toast, sausage, baked beans, and cooked tomatoes. He loved it. I thought it looked... interesting. I was, however, in LOVE with the fresh Irish butter. Holy mother of God it was delicious. I can't tell you what was special or different about it - maybe they get their milk from magical Irish unicorns or something - but it was hands down amazing. And no, I am not Paula Dean, I do not normally get all fired up about butter. After breakfast we walked around Temple Bar. Many pubs were just starting to get their morning deliveries, and more people were out and about. We returned to Temple Bar in the evening, and man what a difference. There were people
everywhere, crammed in the streets making it difficult to walk. Completely different from the ghost town it was in the morning. But, I got great pictures with the lack of people in the morning.
We then went from Temple Bar to Trinity College. Outside of Trinity College is a busy intersection full of cars and people. There is a large stone wall with an outer gate. Once you pass through this gate you reach a building with a big wood door, and through this door you are led into the courtyard of Trinity College. You would never think this was hiding behind the stone wall! The college was bustling with students and tourists, but at the same time it seemed a bit like an oasis from the traffic outside.
We bought tickets for the Trinity College tour. This is a popular tour, with a tour leaving about every 45 minutes. We were led around the college by a graduate student who explained the history of the college and pointed out various buildings. The campus is larger than I thought it would be, but it is at the same time relatively small - especially compared to where I went to school. There are some beautiful buildings throughout the campus
Our tour concluded at the entrance to the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells is an intricately illustrated copy of the four gospels of the New Testament from the early 7th century. They only display two of the four gospels at any time. The book is displayed open so viewers can see the beautifully decorated pages, and they turn the pages every few days to try to limit the exposure. The book is, for obvious reasons, housed in a dark, protected room. For other obvious reasons I couldn't take any pictures of the book. But
look at these Google images, it is beautiful. After you view the Book of Kells you are spit out into the Trinity College library, and holy cow. I was blown away. As a reader, book lover, and nerd, this was my version of heaven. If I am ever rich, I want to make a replica of this library for my lair.
After our time at Trinity College, we needed to make our way to the Guinness Storehouse for our tasting tour. We had plenty of time to get there, and we decided to walk there. It was a bit of a distance, but we knew we would see more sights this way. We saw many beautiful buildings, walked around the grounds of Dublin Castle (which is, oddly enough, in the middle of the city. You can go inside, but neither one of us had much interest in it), and stopped to have a cup of coffee in the courtyard of a church.
We continued our trek to the Guinness Storehouse, which turned out to be a bit further than we thought... just when we thought we might be lost or may have missed a turn, we found signs to guide our way.
As Josh said... they look like the gates of Heaven opening... We went inside and got our tickets for our exclusive tasting session. We waited for our tasting on one of the bars inside of the storehouse. Guinness has built itself one massive factory/tourist attraction. The storehouse has seven different levels with two different bars, two restaurants, and a multi-level tour where you can learn about the history of the Guinness brand and the brewing process. With our tickets we were able to take the tour at our leisure after our tasting. When it was time for the tasting to begin, a small group of us was ushered into a private bar which was made for about 20 people. Our "host" talked about the history of Guinness, the history of the brewery, and various formulas of Guinness. Then the tasting started. First we had a traditional Guinness. When I lived in the states I wasn't the biggest fan of Guinness, but it definitely is something completely different straight at the source. It is almost frothier, creamier - if a beer can be creamy. We then tried the bottled version of Guinness Stout, which is what is usually sold in the state. The big difference is the bottled Guinness Stout is carbonated with carbon dioxide, which the Guinness at the factory (or at pubs) is carbonated with nitrous oxide. I would have to say the nitrous versus the carbon dioxide is what makes the difference, because I did not like the Guinness Stout at all. We then tried two different bottled versions of Guinness. Our host explained that the brewers at Guinness will frequently go back and look through old recipe books and "cook up" an old version, and if it turns out well they may do a limited edition bottling of a certain brew. The two limited edition brews we tried were old recipes which were made back in the day to be shipped to the West Indies. I really liked one of them as it reminded me of Cold Smoke, my favorite local Missoula beer, but I didn't like the other beer. After tasting our four beers, our host taught us the proper way to pour a Guinness - yes, there is a certain method to pouring a Guinness which will make a difference in how the head of the beer forms. We then could each take a turn pouring our perfect Guinness
After our tasting session we were free to explore the factory. I let Josh decide what he wanted to do as this excursion was mainly for him. We have been to multiple breweries and are familiar with the "brewing process," and have discovered (for obvious reasons) any real specifics about a particular beer's brewing process isn't discussed. Josh said he was happy skipping over the rest of the factory. We still had one free Guinness to enjoy. A the top of the storehouse is a bar with 360 degree views of Dublin. We went up there to get our beer, but discovered everyone else must have had this idea as well as the place was packed. I snapped a few pictures, Josh got our beers, then we walked back down to another area to have a seat to enjoy our beers.
You would think by this point we would be drunk... but instead we were just tired, especially Josh. He was running on no sleep after a long week at work. We decided to check into our apartment and relax for a bit before finding some dinner. Originally I had booked an apartment thinking there was going to be three of us. It was a little silly to have an apartment for just Josh and I, but it was already booked, done, and I couldn't change the reservation. Although it was big for two of us, it was perfectly located to walk around, and it was quiet. We relaxed for a bit (no nap for Josh, which is what he needed), then went back out to find some dinner. Temple Bar is full of restaurant options. We picked a pub for dinner. Josh had Guinness beef stew, and I had cottage pie. Absolutely delicious. Part way through our dinner musicians arrived to play live music. Pretty much every pub in Temple Bar offers live music - something Ireland is known for. It didn't seem it could get any more Irish than it was at that moment. After our dinner we went to another pub where we were meeting up for a musical pub tour. I had read great things about this tour online, and I thought it would be neat. A huge group of at least 50 people met up, and we were led to a private upstairs room of a pub. Our two hosts explained the history of Irish music, features of traditional music versus pub music, and then played us some favorite Irish tunes. If you are curious - true Irish music is only acoustic, and is only played with a guitar, violin, flute, and hand drum. You do not clap when listening to the music, if you feel the need you stomp your feet on the ground.
As I said, the group we joined was HUGE. We were cramped for space, and many people in the group had been having fun before the tour started, so they were loud and obnoxious. Although we were having fun, the loud drunks and lack of space was annoying for both of us. The tour was leaving one pub and was going to walk to another one about a half mile away. We were close to our apartment, and we decided to leave the tour early and turn in for the night. Normally I want to get the full value out of every activity we do, but in this case I was content to leave. We needed to sleep.
After a good nights sleep we woke up ready to start out fresh for the day. the first thing we planned to do was go visit the Terracotta Warriors. When I was looking up things to do in Dublin, I saw there was a special exhibition of the Terracotta Warriors for a few months in Dublin. The Terracotta Warriors are a collection of warriors which a part of the burial of the first emperor of China to protect the emperor in the afterlife. There are over 8000 soliders, hundreds of horses, chariots, and other objects which were discovered in China in the 1970s. Going to China to see the Terracotta Warriors in real life is on my bucket list, but I was excited to have a chance to see some of them now. First we watched a video explaining the history of the warriors, how they were discovered, and the current excavation activities. Then it explained how the warriors would have been made, and man, what an undertaking of expertise, time, and manpower. After the video was over, we were able to see the warriors. It was hard to get good pictures as they are in dark/strange lighting in a glass case. Maybe that is to deter you from taking pictures, but it didn't stop me. Ha ha.
After our time with the warriors, we decided to venture to the parts of Dublin we hadn't seen the day before. We walked up O'Connell Street, one of the main streets in Dublin to Grafton Street, which is a pedestrian only shopping area. I wasn't interested in shopping, but it was neat to see people out and about on a Saturday. At the end of Grafton Street is a park, and it was a beautiful fall day. Josh and I enjoyed walking around the park a bit before finding some lunch.
After our lunch we walked to an area of Dublin which is filled with Georgian houses. There is one "famous" house which has been turned into a museum, but I didn't have any interest in looking through it. I was happy walking along the streets admiring the colorful doors and beautiful hardware.
We then made a loop back around to the park, and then decided to check out the National History Museum - which is free. I couldn't take any pictures inside (not that there is anything all that interesting you would want to see). It was a beautiful sunny day, and we were happy exploring more of Dublin's streets and shops. We went to an open air book market in Temple Bar were I happily shopped among the tables hunting for treasures. Then we stopped to have coffee and a snack at a cafe before going back to our apartment to rest for a bit.
We ventured out to enjoy a pint (or two) of Guinness before finding a pub to have dinner. We enjoyed some more traditional Irish food and live music. We decided to call it an early night because we had an adventure planned starting very early.
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