The first of many posts featuring Guinness and rain
For two weeks prior to leaving for Ireland, I checked the weather. Showers. Every day. Every single day for the entire two weeks. Needless to say, Grant and I packed for showers. And we got them.
But we also got beautiful sunshine and high cloudy spring-like days. In one hour we were roasting in the sun and the next, shivering under my pashmina. Ireland has, without a doubt, the most changeable weather of any place I have ever been. We quickly learned to always carry an umbrella and light jacket.
Dublin is a really nice city. Our hotel was directly across from one of the walls encircling Trinity College and very central to shopping and many, many pubs. We went for our first of many pub meals; I had Guinness Stew, this particular version was beef, carrots and lovely pearl onions floating in a dark stout broth, and two pints of Guinness to accompany. Mmmmmmm, Guinness.
The next day, we started walking. We went to Dublin Castle (it was closed for a government affair. Stoopid politicians), the Chester Beatty Library (Leonardo da Vinci Codex and gorgeous religious texts), Christ Church, the Jameson Distillery, Kilmainham Gaol (lots of Irish Rebellion history here), and the Guinness Brewery (mmmm, Guinness). If you are familiar with Dublin, you will realize that we pretty much walked the entire city. We took a cab back from Guinness, and were shocked to realize we were a good 15 minutes from our hotel by cab.
Dublin Castle
Gardens at Beatty Library
Tile floor at Christ Church
Kilmainham Gaol: the "nice" part
Kilmainham Gaol: the terrible part
At Jameson, my fellow traveler, Peter, and I were chosen for a whisky tasting. (No, I did not beg and plead: I was only one of two women who raised her hand.) We were given 5 whiskies to taste: 3 Irish, 1 Scottish and 1 American. After our tasting, we got a full shot (and then some!) of Jameson. Please note the lovely glass. We all agreed it was the Best. Whiskey. Glass. Ever. and vowed to purchase it in the gift shop at the end of our tour. To our everlasting sorrow, we discovered that they weren't available. The guy at the ticket counter told us that they had wanted to sell all the old glasses first. In the meantime, the glasses in the tasting room had started at 12,000 and now were down to 1,800. Damn! We should have nicked them ourselves. Stupid morals.
I get to taste all this??
I DO!
Mmmmmmm, whiskey.
And a big glass to finish off
We also got a Guinness at the Brewery. Mmmmm, Guinness.
Later we had dinner. I suspect there was Guinness involved.
Aside: We arrived on a red-eye flight from Toronto. While waiting at the airport, I heard one person asking another "So, where you off to?". She replied "Barcelona." Not the words a musical theatre and Stephen Sondheim maniac needs to hear! Luckily, my iPod eventually drowned out the constant replays of my brain.
But we also got beautiful sunshine and high cloudy spring-like days. In one hour we were roasting in the sun and the next, shivering under my pashmina. Ireland has, without a doubt, the most changeable weather of any place I have ever been. We quickly learned to always carry an umbrella and light jacket.
Dublin is a really nice city. Our hotel was directly across from one of the walls encircling Trinity College and very central to shopping and many, many pubs. We went for our first of many pub meals; I had Guinness Stew, this particular version was beef, carrots and lovely pearl onions floating in a dark stout broth, and two pints of Guinness to accompany. Mmmmmmm, Guinness.
The next day, we started walking. We went to Dublin Castle (it was closed for a government affair. Stoopid politicians), the Chester Beatty Library (Leonardo da Vinci Codex and gorgeous religious texts), Christ Church, the Jameson Distillery, Kilmainham Gaol (lots of Irish Rebellion history here), and the Guinness Brewery (mmmm, Guinness). If you are familiar with Dublin, you will realize that we pretty much walked the entire city. We took a cab back from Guinness, and were shocked to realize we were a good 15 minutes from our hotel by cab.
At Jameson, my fellow traveler, Peter, and I were chosen for a whisky tasting. (No, I did not beg and plead: I was only one of two women who raised her hand.) We were given 5 whiskies to taste: 3 Irish, 1 Scottish and 1 American. After our tasting, we got a full shot (and then some!) of Jameson. Please note the lovely glass. We all agreed it was the Best. Whiskey. Glass. Ever. and vowed to purchase it in the gift shop at the end of our tour. To our everlasting sorrow, we discovered that they weren't available. The guy at the ticket counter told us that they had wanted to sell all the old glasses first. In the meantime, the glasses in the tasting room had started at 12,000 and now were down to 1,800. Damn! We should have nicked them ourselves. Stupid morals.
We also got a Guinness at the Brewery. Mmmmm, Guinness.
Later we had dinner. I suspect there was Guinness involved.
Aside: We arrived on a red-eye flight from Toronto. While waiting at the airport, I heard one person asking another "So, where you off to?". She replied "Barcelona." Not the words a musical theatre and Stephen Sondheim maniac needs to hear! Luckily, my iPod eventually drowned out the constant replays of my brain.
posted by allison | 8:51 AM
4 Comments:
I love that last shot, of the Guinness glass. Cool!
*shakes fist at morals*
Which I misread as mortals.
The tasting looks like a blast... but I don't think I'd be much good at differentiating after glass # 2 or 3!
I also misread "morals" as "mortals" lol.
I think you had a better time in Dublin than me - you actually had some good weather for breif spells, anyway! I think I had about a cumulative 2 hours of patchy blue sky, in 4 days!
Helen at work.
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