Sunday, May 23, 2010

Getaway to Guinness!

Here's a run down of my trip to Dublin with the ladies!

Day 1: Arrive at 10 am, drop off bags and do a walking tour the entire city with Garvan our fantastic tour guide. We lounged a little in the park afterward. For dinner we went to Porterhouse and had an amazing meal with microbrews from Dublin. I know, city of Guinness and our first beers are microbrews. We tried the porter, the oyster stout (amazing!), the temple brau ale and the red ale. All were fantastic and very refreshing after the long walk.
Day 2: Immediately get out and head to the kilmainham gaol, the Dublin jail for the historical tour. Then a walk through some gardens and then.... GUINNESS!!! We definitely got our money's worth. We did the tour, drank the fresh beer in the tasting room and learned to do the perfect pour (with attempted shamrock). After this was lunch outside of Christchurch cathedral. Then we did the Dublinia viking museum and Christchurch cathedral, which had the cat and rat mummies. Then St. Patrick's cathedral. The day was ended with the Jameson Distillery where we tried three type of whiskey, comparing flavors, had a tour, and a complimentary mixed drink with Jameson. The night ended with dinner at a small italian place (we shared pizzas) and then drinks at Grogan's in a busy area.
Oh, I mapped out this day on mapmyrun.com and not counting the fact that every building we went into we walked in and did countless stairs (Guinness is 7 stories), we walked over 8 miles. Ouch! No wonder my feet hurt.

I guess the night didn't end there. Our fire alarm in the hotel room started leaking and went off. Yes- you are reading that right, leaking. So we had to move to another room for the night. But nevermind the drama.

Day 3: Woke up early to fix the room problems and headed off to the Archaeology museum for the bog bodies!! Amazing!! So well preserved and so much fun to look at. This was followed by the Natural history and national gallery museums. Both were fantastic. Then it was off to lunch at the same place as yesterday (because we loved it so much). Also got the chance to get real soda bread! Then we were back on our feet and headed to the wax museum, dublin castle, the chester beatty library, and the dublin city hall. To end our day off right... back to GUINNESS, for round two of tasters and free guinness pints. Dinner was at a fun pub where they had taps at the table. We did an irish tapas, trying out all the classic dishes, complete with another Guinness round. Then off on the town to the No Name bar (literally has no name).

Day 4: Woke up at 3:30 am to catch our flight at 6:30 am. Back in Edinburgh in my apartment at 8:15 am. Now I'm going to spend the day doing a little reading, watching a little tv, and not moving.

More pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2114568&id=16504620&l=7c3bd7cfbf

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