Day 12 A Day in Dublin

Our full day in Dublin started later than any of our other mornings at 10am.  Most people had stayed out late the evening before so most of them were worse for ware.  Our hotel was very close to the main downtown street of O Connell where tons of people were always around.  Our first stop was at the National post office next to the millennium spire.  

The spire is 120ish meters tall, even taller than the statue of liberty.  Supposedly it used to be polished surface but it is no longer that way because of the blinding tendencies.  

From the post office we crossed the river to the more collegiate part of he city. We walked into Trinity University.  We walked around the square in through the bell tower.  Trinity has a similar super stitiom to KU's bell tower where if you walk though it during finals time you will fail. 

An interesting fact about the school is that until 1970 if you were a Catholic you had to ask permission to attend the school.  It was built outside the original center of the city by a Protestant queen so no Catholics allowed.  Maybe they needed permission from the Pope.

There were quite a few more stops along our walking tour to go so we didn't stay long.  Our next stop was at the House of Lords.  Like many of the other government buildings around the city there are 3 different figures on the tops.  They varied depending on the buildings but mostly had a figure for commerce and justice plus one additional figure. 

True to any city with a large university here has to be night life area near by.  In Dublin it is the Temple bar area.  For a city that is known for it's puns there really aren't that many.  We were told that Dublin has the fewest pubs per capita compared to the other cities in Ireland.  Temple Bar area has the most in one area and is lengendary for it's nightlife.  Everyone from our group went there the previous night.  They even saw an authentic bar flight where a guy got knocked out.  

We continued on to the west side of the city stopping across he street from Christ Church Cathedral.   The building was massive.  We did not get a chance to enter and I didn't have the opportunity to head back but it was really nice to see.  

Our last stop before our extra for the day was at the Dublin Castle.  As far as castles go it didn't really look like much of one.  We walked into the courtyard to looked around a bit.  

Most of the buildings were built 300 years ago and didn't quite have the details that some of the other buildings we had seen.  In retrospect Dublin Castle and Trinity college have very similar looks.

After walking for about 2 hours we made it to our last stop at the Guinness storehouse.  The building is very impressive.  The visitors center was built about 25 years ago in the shape of a pint glass.  At the bottom of the glass is the lease that Arthur Guinness signed for 9000 years. Not kidding, 9000 years.

The displays were impressive but there is not too much more you can learn about how they make beer after visiting 3 breweries before.  My favorite part of the displays was all the advertising material from the past 100 years or so.  Also they had the different bottles dating back to 1890 that were made from stoneware rated than glass.

At the top of the giant pint glass there is the gravity bar.  This was the highlight of the entire building.  You could get your free pint, aka included in your ticket price, and look at a 360 degree view of the city.  Looking at a city and seeing practically everything it has to offer is really amazing.  As for the pint I liked the taste of the beer alright but the after taste is killer.  I only drank about 1/4 of it before my upset stomach started to rare up like if likes to when I drink any type of beer.

I enjoyed the view of the city a bit longer before heading back to Temple Bar to find lunch.  After drinking Guinness and hearing about the steak and Guinness pie there I had to find some pelf my own.  I was successful and it was delicious. Even the mushrooms taste good and most of you know how I feel about mushrooms. And again some potatoes on the side.  Some people's entrees in Ireland had 3 or 4 potatoes side dishes.  No kidding.  

Some of the girls were keen on shopping but I was not in the mood so one other girl and I headed back to the hotel to do some laundry.  I also tried to take a nap but the hotel was loud and our room was hot.  And the sheets are strange.  So far I've only had one place with a top sheet, blanket and comforter.  Everywhere else you only got a comforter with a washable sheet covering it.  Its been warm in some places which led to being too hot while sleeping.  But so far I've survived.

At 6:30 a group of 11 from our 21 went back into town to grab some dinner.  Again the portion sizes where huge so I decided on a soup that was small but I couldn't even finish.  I also had an Irish Bailey's coffee could have taken up some room in the stomach.