Arrival in Dublin

Angie and I front of the most important Guinness ingredient, water.


After the most amazing wedding we could have asked for, we embarked on our Ireland adventure. I (Matthew) got the bright idea of changing our seating so we could have exit row seats that did not recline. Actually I think just for fun the airlines made those particular seats incline so you can get a good view of your feet the whole time. Needless to say, we didn't get any any quality sleep, and as we landed, the priority was getting some sleep at the hotel. Before that could occur...we had to get there!



Our first adventure started once we got the car rental. For those who don't know, the steering wheel is on the right hand side of the car and you drive on the left hand side of the road. If that weren't enough to get used to, there were only manual cars available. So, not only is the steering wheel on the right hand side, and driving on the left hand side, but the gear stick is also on the left hand side. That took a little getting used to, but off we went. I (Matthew) drove pretty flawlessy to the hotel (The Shelbourne), and even got a chance to cut off a few drivers New Jersey style (unintentionally, of course!).


Angie after she signed for charity.


We arrived at The Shelbourne hotel which is absolutely beautiful. Thanks to years of Angie traveling for her job, we were able to stay here using Marriott points. This is supposed to be the grand dame of Dublin's hotels which was bought by Marriott although there is not indication that this is a Marriott in any signage, etc. After we checked in, we slept for 4 hours. Our body were so off that we we joked that we will never know what time it is on the enitre trip. We will just sleep when we get tired.


The 9,000 year lease Arthur Guinness signed.

Once we woke up we bought tour bus tickets and decided it is completely acceptable to look like tourists while here. The tour bus pickes up and drops off at the various sites every 15 minutes. We got off to a late start, so we went directly to the Guinness Brewery named the Guinness Storefront. We learned all about beer making and got to learn how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness and of course promptly drank it. Then we went to the Gravity Bar and drank a differnt type of Guinness that we don't have in the U.S. called "Foreign Extra Stout". We talked to the nicest bartender for quite some time and swamped thoughts about American and Ireland people and culture.


Dublin Street from Tour Bus

We then walked towards the canal over the River Liffey and over to the oldest pub in Ireland that the bartender recommeded called The Brazen Head. We each had another Guinness and dinner (or was it lunch, what time is it!?). Angie had a Greek salad and I had the bangers and mash. It turned out that the both of us ate the bangers and mash (yum!). We decided enough was enough took a cab back to the hotel and went straight back to sleep for another 4 hours. We work up and were hungry again. At this point it was close to 2am - most pubs were closing and I couldn't get in to one place because I had warm-up pants on - that reminded me of home! We thought the streets would still be buzzing with people, but there wasn't a single person on the street. We ended up at a 24 hour convenience store, bought two baguette sandwiches and a bag of chips and headed back to the hotel room for more sleep. We will try to get a ton done tommorrow.

Guinness Brewery

A few thoughts on the day:
- minus the driving, Dublin doesn't seem that much different then the US
- the people are extremely nice, but are not very specific when giving directions
- the accents are wonderful
- the cab drivers are all native and are extremly helpful and friendly
- it is extremely expensive here (Internet in the hotel is 20 euros which is about 30 dollars!)

Back to sleep now!



Christ Cathedral















Video of pouring the perfect Guinness