Dublin, Ireland 28.09

Our next destination was Dublin, so we bought an e-ticket for the bus. We arrived at the bus station with time to spare, but we realised about 20 minutes before the bus left, that e-tickets in Ireland are a little different to what we are used to.

Apparently, you have to print off the confirmation email, and then exchange it for a ticket at the ticket counter. We had no printout, so Artur had to run to the nearest internet cafe, print the email and exchange it. Not quite as easy as we first thought, or as paperless.

Soon we were on the bus, and then arriving in Dublin City Centre. We had to get back onto another bus when we got there, and head out of the city again, to the airport. Sounds a little crazy, but actually we were meeting someone there. We had been invited to stay with the son of one of Artur's mother's friends. Jakub, or Kuba, lived near the airport, so it was easiest to meet him there.
Kuba picked us up, and took us back to his house, to meet his wife, Kasia, and their 1 year old son Bartek. We gave Bartek a little toy that we had bought for him in Cork. He was a very cute kid, and had big blue eyes. He was very mischevious too, as he had just started walking, and was hiding things in the washing maching, and other places. There were childlocks on everything.
The next morning, we had a bit of a sleep in, and then took the bus into town to do some sightseeing. We were unfortunate in our choice of seating on the crowded bus, as there were two very loud young Polish guys sitting behind us. They were playing music on their mobile phones, really loudly, and talking like they were the only ones on the double decker bus. Artur was really annoyed at first, because they were such a bad representation of his country, but then he was happy that people like that are no longer in Poland.
We arrived at O'Donnell Street, where the huge knitting needle monument can be found. It is 120m high, and was erected in 2003, as a tribute to the export of Aran Sweaters from Ireland. It is a little bizarre, but it adds characther to the place. We admired the monument, and the rest of the pretty street, while we waited yet again for another bus.
The next bus was to take us to the famous Guinness Brewery! We were so excited to go there, as it is such a big part of Irish culture. Outside on the cobblestone street, there were horses and carriages, to make you feel like you were there in the old days, when Guinness was brewed.
Inside, we started our self guided tour of the Guinness Storehouse. The interior of the Storehouse was built to look like a giant pint of Guinness. In theory, this giant piant could hold 14.3 million pints of real beer!
The first section of our tour, told us about the four ingredients used in Guinness: Water, Barley, Yeast and Hops. They had some pretty cool exhibits to help you remember what they were. They had huge fountains for water, piles and piles of barley, hops growing up a trellis, and a safe holding a secret stash of the yeast that has been used since Guinness began.
Then they showed us how the Guinness is made. First they malt/roast the barley. The barley for Guinness is roasted pretty dark, to give it that dark colour. Then the barley is crushed, and hot water is added and mashed with the barley. The liquid is drained off, and boiled with hops. Then yeast is added, and the fermentation process starts turning the liquid into alcohol. Finally, the liquid is clarified, matured and prepared for packaging. Sounds easy huh? I wouldn't count on it working at home.
While we were learning about this process, someone was randomly chosen from the crowd, and asked to start the next real batch of Guinness. The people from the real factory were on video conference with the people in the Storehouse, and when they were ready, the selected person was asked to push the big red button. And so, another batch of Guinness was started!
The next floor that we visited was a tasting room. They explained the differences between the tastes of different bottled and draught Guinness beers. We were given a sample of the draught one, and followed the proper tasting instructions from a video. First, we were supposed to smell the beer, then swirl it, and smell it again. The smell was different before and after, because, the second time, the froth was broken and let out more of the beer's smell. Then we were supposed to drink a little bit and see how it tasted in the mouth and after it was swallowed. It was pretty cool to taste the Guinness that way, because you really start to notice the smells of barley, and the ingredients that you looked at along the way.
Next we looked at an exhibit on barrel making. We had no idea how much work went into making one barrel. Each barrel is made of lots of pieces that are carpentered by hand to fit together without any need for adhesives or nails.

We watched a video of one man making a barrel from start to finish, and it took quite a while. Eventually this craft was taken over by machines, but the magnificence of the art should not be forgotten.

One of our favourite exhibits was the one on Guinness Advirtising over the decades.

Guinness ads have left an obvious mark on the industry, and even now they are continuously developing new and innovative ads. Some of the golden oldies were the Toucans, the Ostriches and the Surfers.

There were computers on display, on which you could play all the ads that were created since TV began. Some of the old ones were pretty funny and corny. We also really enjoyed the most recent ones. You can definitely tell that lots of money has been spent on the latest ones.
Next we went to the very top floor of the Guinness Storehouse, where there was a bar with 360 degree views of Dublin and beyond. We were thrilled to be up there, looking around at the city. Everyone was drinking their free pint of Guinness, and chatting to each other.
We decided to go down to the bar below, where it was a bit more spacious. We were thrilled to finally receive our pints, and to sit down for a while. Loren chose the Guinness Draught, because she wanted the freshest beer brewed on site.

Artur wanted to taste the most traditional beer for Guinness, so he mistakenly chose a bottle of Extra Stout, which was begun in 1961. He realised his mistake once he got it, so we just had to order another round so he could have the right one. What a pity :)

After our delicious samples of Guinness, we headed down to the exit, bypassing the gift shop on the way. We bought a couple of souvenirs and gifts, and then headed back to town.

We got off near Trinity College, which we had been planning to visit. Unfortunately it was closed, so we just had to admire it from the outside.

Next we wandered over to the iconic Temple Bar District. This is where the partying goes on in Dublin. Lots of Uni students, backpackers and anyone else that likes to party, tend to congregate around this area and get drunk. There are lots of great pubs and live music there, so it's the place to be at night.
There were lots of street performers all around the place. We saw one guy doing the limbo underneath a burning stick. He was wearing leopard print lycra, but his performance was pretty impressive. There were also some weird looking musicians, who are always accompanied by an old man who dances in front of them, working up the crowd.
We found somewhere nice to eat, and then went looking for the best pub. We came across the Temple Bar, and we could hear live music playing, so we decided to give this famous place a go.

We bought some Guinness for ourselves, and parked ourselves on some seats at the front of the bar.

We watched the band play for a while, and enjoyed our drinks. The best part of the Guinness is the froth! We both had froth moustaches!
We also entertained ourselves by watching the people passing on the street outside. We could see the street performers and the people taking photos. We held up our glasses in a 'cheers' pose, in the background of their photos. We tested to make sure we were showing up in the photos by taking some of our own. They worked! So I wonder how long it will take them to notice us in the background.
After a couple of drinks, we headed out of the Temple Bar. We saw another pretty cool street show. This one was a challenge for the onlookers. If you could ride the bicycle a few metres down the road, you would win 20 pounds. You paid 5 pounds for 3 tries. The bike was adjusted so that the handles turned in opposite directions to the way the wheels would turn, and you had to pedal backwards. Cocky guys with a few drinks under their belts gave it a try, but failed miserably! Pretty funny to watch.

The next day, we had another late start, but eventually headed back into town. We had planned to see the National Museum, but we didn't count on it being shut on Monday. Instead we decided to visit the old Kilmainham Gaol.
Kilmainham Gaol played a key role in Ireland's struggle for independence. It was also the site of mass executions following the 1916 Easter Uprising. The Gaol was fairly unimposing from the front, and looked very solid and inpenetrable from the inside.
Our tour of started with a presentation about the history of Ireland and the gaol. In the 1800s the gaol started to overflow with people. The main reason was the great famine. A Vagrancy act was passed which made it illegal to be homeless, so lots of people were thrown in jail for that or for stealing food.
There was a lot of division in the country after the treaty with England as well. This treaty allowed England to continue its rule over the Northern part of Ireland, but not over the Southern part. So much blood was lost in the struggle to become independant before this treaty, so it seemed like settling for half the land was a waste of people's lives. Another cause for conflict during this time was the continual struggle between the rich protestant landowners and the majority of the population who were poor catholics.
The gaol was rebuilt througout the centuries. The cells were built as part of a huge hall, so that the inmates could be observed all the time. The conditions were pretty rough, and initally there was very little light coming into the cells. Prisoners spent 22 hours a day inside their cells.Gradually conditions began to improve. There was a lot of talk about rehabilitation of prisoners rather than punishment, and about how important natural light was for health. As a result, they built huge windows to let in as much light as possible.
We also visited a cell that was much more luxurious than the rest. This cell was given to a high profile politician, Paranell, who refused to sign a treaty with the British. They threatened to throw him in jail, but he still refused, so he was given a fancy place in the prison. He had lots of nice furniture, and a big spacious room with a private courtyard. He had his meals ordered in from a restaurant, and he was even allowed to go on a visit to Paris to visit his mistress!
After seeing the Kilmainham Gaol, we headed back to Kuba's House on the bus, listening to some great Ricky Gervais podcasts on Artur's mobile phone. We were laughing the whole way home, which must have looked strange to other people who only saw two people sitting side by side not talking to each other, but laughing a lot. Soon after we got back, Kuba dropped us off at the airport, where we caught a bus to Belfast.

To see the photos from the post in slideshow mode, click on on the link below:
Dublin