Dublin

We all made it to Dublin in one piece. We dropped off our luggage at the hostel (too early to check into our room) and, exhausted from the early start to the day, ate some breakfast at a nearby restaurant, wandered around the downtown a bit, and then came back to the hostel to watch some Back to the Future movies while waiting for check in. It was nice to have a day of mostly relaxation after so much non-stop action day after day.

After finally getting into our room after 2 PM, we all took a nice long nap before heading out to dinner. At the hostel manager's recommendation, we hit up Slatery's, a nearby bar that served typical Irish pub food. It was fantastic, I had the Fish and Chips which were wonderfully crispy and greasy, and the others had various Irish classics, like Irish Stew, or Bangers and Mash, which were all equally good.

From there we wandered over to Temple Bar, the pub district, to find a pint to wash it all down. Most of the bars had live Irish music playing, and we found one that also had some performers step dancing. Sure, the area was overpriced and I'm sure almost everyone in the bars were tourists, but the beer was good, the music great, and the company superb. After playing cards for a bit, we headed back to the hostel room for an early night's rest in preparation for a full day in Dublin the following day.

The Temple Bar district.

Sláinte! 

Listening to some lovely Irish music.

Sadly, Lindsay had caught a cold and wasn't feeling well enough in the morning for a full day of sightseeing, so she opted to hang out around the hostel while Niko, Brittany, Nick, and I ventured out. Our first order of business was to see the Guinness Storehouse.

We decided to go here on the recommendation of literally every single person we've talked to about visiting Ireland (apparently this is a SUPER popular tourist attraction, like #1 in the UK popular), but if I'm being totally honest, it was kind of a letdown. What I had been expecting was a guided tour through an actual Guinness storehouse and factory, showing us the process of massive-scale brewing. That would have been well worth the 18 Euros we spent on tickets.

But what it actually was, was a museum-slash-shrine to the Almighty Guinness. There was no tour guide (why even call it a tour, or make people sign up for tour times???), we just wandered around the building at our own pace, with not a single employee to be found to ask questions to.

There were some saving graces: it was cool to learn about the history of Guinness, I especially enjoyed an exhibit on the making of barrels, and learning how to properly pour the perfect Guinness was a fun little activity.

Aww yeah, look at those perfectly poured pints.

But for the most part, it was just over the top showmanship. They had an entire floor just dedicated to the History of Guinness Advertising! There was a room just for sniffing brewing ingredients, complete with dramatic dry-ice filled basins. There was a massive water feature in the first room, just because. I mean, I like a little flair in a museum, but this just seemed like a distraction to cover up not a whole lot of substance. And why even have the "Storehouse" located at the factory if you don't even get to take a peek? 

But now I'm ranting. I did find the museum enjoyable, contrary to how it may seem, just not worth the 18 Euros per head, or touting the title of #1 attraction in the UK. There are plenty of other places more worth your time.

One of these places being the Teeling Distillery tour. After Guinness we all parted ways for a bit. Niko went off to the Distillery, and from what he told me, it seemed like everything the Guinness tour should have been: lots of history of whiskey in general (not just talking up their own product, looking at you, Guinness), an actual tour of their distilling facility, a very knowledgeable tour guide, and a great tasting of several of their whiskeys at the very end. Ah well, don't cry over spilled Guinness and all that.

Brittany went over to the Kilmainham Gaol, and this also turned out to be totally worthwhile. She managed to charm her way onto a tour, even though they were all booked up for the day, and spent an hour learning about the Irish Rebellion and the bloody history of the gaol.

Nick and I ate some lunch and visited the museum of the gaol, but weren't able to get on a tour. From there, we all met up at St. Patrick's Cathedral, including Lindsay, who was feeling well enough to join us. The cathedral was gorgeous, full of weighty old architecture and packed with information on its history.

From there we traipsed over to the shopping district, then went back to the hostel for dinner and another early night. We had a long day of driving ahead of us!