Wakey, wakey! Time to start the day off with a nice pint of Guinness!
I wish I was kidding with that statement.
I don't know what possessed me to think touring the Guinness Storehouse first thing in the morning was a good idea, but yet, there I was.
I was so excited to get started because I had heard so many great things about this tour and, just like at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, it was early enough that I had the whole place to myself!
The last picture always cracks me up.
Just some casual racism by the Marketing geniuses at Guinness many years ago...
Although, the marketing geniuses at Guinness at present day really have their stuff together. I'm tellin' ya, this tour was 5 floors of fluidity and history of some really fantastic beer.
I couldn't help but think of my Uncle Kelly throughout the whole tour, because I know he's a fan of Guinness, and I have a feeling he would have loved this tour!
Really folks, if you're ever in Dublin, this place is definitely worth the visit.
Plus you get a free pint!
What's better than a free pint?
Don't answer that.
And God bless Kathmandu for being my saving grace and making me feel better about enjoying my pint of Guinness (ahem...alone) before noon.
I always have to chuckle at the fact that it really is always 5 o'clock somewhere...
And the Galaxy Bar they have at the top of the storehouse is worth the visit just in itself. It was an incredible panoramic view of Dublin:
So with a beer in my belly, I thought it'd be a good idea to go check out what else Dublin had to offer.
Trinity College was just down the road, so I thought I'd head down there and look around the campus a bit and check out the Book of Kells while I was there.
Oh...
Of course.
Well, when plans go awry, what's the next best thing to do?
EAT.
It was time for lunch anyway, so this actually worked out perfectly.
I had this original destination of where I wanted to go to eat in mind, but when I got there, the vibe just wasn't right and it was super crowded and nothing on that day's menu seemed to tickle my fancy. So I decided to scope out another place.
Plus, I happened to be in the center of the city, so literally everywhere I looked there was a place where I could grab a bite.
So after poking my head into a couple places I finally decided on this great little place not too far down the road that had a bar looking out the window. The perfect place for a person eating solo.
And along with a great cup of coffee I got this yummy lamb and veggie sandwich with seafood chowder.
Anyone else see "The Grimm" at the bottom of this tea cup?
(That's a Harry Potter reference for all you Muggles out there...)
Needless to say this totally hit the spot.
So from here I wanted to peruse around Grafton Street and maybe do a little shopping if something caught my eye.
Which, nothing did...but it was fun to just to walk up and down the street and look into shops and see what they had to offer.
I next walked through St. Stephan's Green for a little while.
It's a lovely green.
But like any green, you can only walk through them so much before they get a little boring.
So what does one do to cure a little boredom?
Nothing a little whiskey won't fix.
It wasn't on my original itinerary, but I had a good 2 hours to kill until my dinner reservation, so I figured: "why not?"
It was a good tour. Not as spectacular as the Scotch Whisky Experience one I did in Edinburgh, but very informative none-the-less.
And as I walked from the Old Jameson Distillery to my dinner destination, the sky cleared up and I stopped to enjoy the lovely view for the final remaining minutes of daylight.
You gotta do that every once and a while, ya know?
A couple meters down the road, and voila! I found my destination for dinner:
The Brazen Head.
The oldest pub in Dublin, and also the venue for Food, Fairies and Folklore.
This definitely was my favorite event I did during my time in Dublin.
I signed up for it ahead of time before I left because it got such amazing reviews, and it sounded right up my alley.
I paid 40 Euro for a three course meal and a drink and a night of storytelling.
Unfortunately, the first course was the only course I snapped a picture of, but my whole meal was traditional Irish fare.
And, man, was it GOOD.
This is a terrible picture of the delicious fishcakes and kale I had, so you'll just have to take my word for it.
I also failed to snap pictures of the venue and the woman who told all the Irish stories and Legends to the crowd of 40 that night
It was a little awkward at first, especially for me, because I was traveling alone, as I was stuck smack dab in the middle of this table between a family of Swedes in Dublin on holiday, a young couple from Norway in Dublin for the weekend, and a middle-aged couple from the UK.
Needless to say I was the third wheel many times over.
But luckily everyone opened up after a little while and we all started to converse with one another while we ate in between stories.
The woman who told us these stories was incredible.
She was probably in her late twenties, and had a perfect Irish accent that even my mom would be able to understand (sorry mom, but I think you would agree too that understanding accents isn't the easiest thing for you).
She told us all through the evening, Irish folklore and legends and she even sang for us at the end! And her voice was so clear and melodious, it was so lovely to hear.
This was so cool because it really felt like I was able to connect with my Irish roots here, and she did such a great job at describing the myths and folklore that it totally transported me from that moment in time to wherever her stories took me.
And if THAT wasn't enough, while we were eating dessert and before her final story of the night, these two curmudgeonly old men came out and played us some real, live, authentic Irish music with their fiddles and guitars!
Mom, you would have died and gone to heaven -- it was SO great!
When I bring you to Ireland we'll have to do it again because that's how good this pair was.
And they were FUNNY too, which was a great added bonus.
So I left the Brazen Head with a full belly, full heart, and satiated mind for my night had been filled with history and music. Needless to say I was quite content.
And I'm so happy I ended my short stay in Dublin on such a high-note, because it is a lovely city, and has so much spunk and personality, it'd be a shame to leave it without fond memories.
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