DAY 7: Guinness for strength

I think it goes without saying that we will wake up before our alarm, regardless of the time it is set for. Thus, our morning started with a brisk jog to a cash point on my behalf followed by a taxi ride to the train station. Three hours and numerous card games later, we arrived in Dublin for our final day in Ireland.

Impressed with the scenery last time we visited, we picnicked in St. Stephen's Green before wrapping up the Tour de Ireland. As an appropriate salute to the Irish, our afternoon was spent touring the brewing museum at the Guinness Storehouse and riding the escalators within the world's largest pint glass. Every day in Ireland has increased my conviction that Guinness has more control of the people than any government ever has—it would be a challenge to find a street in this country without a Guinness sign or Guinness paraphernalia. Our walk to the Storehouse was guided once again by Google Maps—which led us down a lovely street through the beginning of Dublin suburbs. And by lovely, I mean sketch. Google Maps: someone should get fired.

The nicest stretch of our walk to Guinness Storehouse

After entering the museum, our tour began at the base of the pint glass shaped tower that has been built around the original steel beams of the Guinness Storehouse. At the base of this tower, a faded piece of paper lay encased in the floor, encircled with writing in several languages. This document, one of the most famous documents in Ireland, was the 9000 year lease that was signed by Arthur Guinness in the 1700's. Take a minute and re-read that sentence. Moving on, we entered a multi-story display covering the brewing ingredients, brewing process, shipping, and advertising, ultimately ending at the Gravity Bar in the top level of the pint glass. We were a bit disappointed that the tour of the plant wasn't actually of the plant, rather of displays of antique brewing equipment, but it was nevertheless interesting. We found it difficult to seriously follow the diagram of how to properly taste beer, however, and nearly spit out our tasting glass of Guinness from laughing when we reached the ultimate step: tasting the beer on different parts of the tongue. (Dad, if you are reading this, I know that this is a very, very serious part of testing beer quality...)

Our tickets fortunately included a pint each at the Gravity Bar. Whilst JJ and I are becoming accustomed to this thick, dark stout, the looks on the faces of first time Guinness tasters were priceless—especially the group of French girls, who took one sip then sat around looking miserable, waiting for the rest of their group to finish. From our seats (which were tough to get, by the way), we could see a 360° view of Dublin, which was quite impressive. The city spanned in each direction farther than one could see due to the smog, except for when the buildings met the coastline. The variety of architecture was unique; modern shopping malls and sports arenas juxtaposed with the oxidised domes and delicate spires of Ireland's history elucidated the rapid modernisation of Dublin.

After meandering aimlessly through the gift store (where we saw our chocolate/alcohol obsessed American friends—one of which was wearing a Harvard Medical t-shirt...? Surely he didn't go to Harvard), we headed back towards the city centre and stopped by Dublin Castle to have a look. We didn't find the original castle, which apparently lay behind the government plaza we did find, but nevertheless, we concluded that Durham Castle must be better—any castle worth visiting would have been visible from the Gravity Bar. In all fairness, we figured we'd probably missed the business hours anyways, as it was nearly six in the evening. The rest of the night was pretty much uneventful, concluding with pizza and grocery shopping. On a side note, it was amusing to see Doxbridge students wandering the streets like lost puppies.

Christchurch Cathedral

Waiting at Step 4 in the Gravity Bar

The part of Dublin Castle that we DID find

PS-we love comments. they confirm that our writing is not an excersize in futility... thanks to those who have (Mom and Sophia)