Dublin - Day 1

Dublin was not originally supposed to be a stop on our trip as we planned to return home from Brussels.  Our plans changed when we learned that flights to New York from Brussels were prohibitively expensive, but flights connecting through Dublin were considerably cheaper.  Plus we got to add another city to our trip!  Dublin promised to be just a fun, all-around, good time.  AND it was the only city on our trip (other than Hawaii of course) where English was spoken by everyone.

Before we left on this trip, we reached out to any other travel-passionate friends around the world to see if they wanted to join us on our trip.  Kate's sorority sister Amanda who lives in Scotland was able to join us in Dublin!  We were so glad to have met up with her on our last stop!  Plus, it was fun to celebrate our engagement with friends.  After arriving in Dublin and checking into our hotel, we met up with Amanda for lunch to discuss our Dublin plans and to catch up.  We learned during the 2 years that Amanda had lived in Scotland, her West Texas accent had developed into an adorable Scottish accent!  We had a great time catching up over some hot delicious Irish food (it was quite cold outside!) and beer, although Amanda being the true Texas girl that she is, had Coors Light draft - apparently a rareity in the U.K.

After lunch, we went to the tourist center to plan our time in Dublin. We had two main attractions to hit: the Guinness tour and the Jameson tour.  We booked both; the Guinness tour took place that afternoon.

The Guinness tour took us through the history of the beer, and highlighted the ingredients.  One of those ingredients that is very important is water. 

Chris in front of the waterfall

Kate and Amanda in front of the waterfall

The tour included a free taste of the Guinness beer.  Surprisingly, this was Kate's first Guinness!

Amanda and Kate

Chris and Kate

Guinness used to be stored in wooden barrels, but these have now been replaced primarily with metal kegs.

The tour also included a full-glass of Guinness. Either at the bar upstairs or you could take a lesson on how to pour the perfect Guinness.  Of course, we wanted to learn how to pour a Guinness!  It was a long line to get into this part of the tour but well worth the wait.

First you pour the beer at an angle into the glass.

Then you let the beer set so the foam can rise to the top.

Then you top off the beer by pushing the tap backwards.

Chris and his perfect pint!

Yum!  Beer mustache!

Kate's certificate

And Chris' certificate

Kate presenting her perfect pint

The building of the museum used to be the primary factory for Guinness, but the brewing today takes place in the same few blocks around the factory... you can smell it before you see it.

The building that houses the Guinness museum was the original Guinness factory.  Alexander Guinness had so much confidence in his new beer back in the 1600's that he signed a 10,000 year lease on the building, and the original lease is displayed today in the floor of the ground level of the building.  So, after 400 years of use, first as a factory and now as a museum, the Guinness corporation has only used up 4% of the total term of the lease.

After the tour, we took a quick nap and then headed out to Temple Bar.  This is the "party" area of the city and was just across the bridge from our hotel. We enjoyed several beers, liquors, dinner and even saw an Irish band. This was our only night in Dublin and although we didn't stay out very late, we definitely partied it up a bit!

When in Ireland... drink Guinness!

Statue inside Temple Bar

That night we settled in for our LAST night on our trip.  Tomorrow, after spending more time in Dublin, we would board our flight home to New York City. 

(Note: Thanks to Amanda for sharing some of these photos with us!)