Dublin

I'm back from Dublin and it was quite a weekend. We started out on Friday by visiting the Old Jameson Distillery, where Jameson Irish Whiskey was distilled for about 200 years. The tour was really interesting as far as learning how Jameson is different than American or Scotch whiskeys. The best part of course was the tasting portion at the end of the tour, where I tried Jameson and ginger ale. It doesn't sound like a winning combination, but it was quite good.


We then walked around a bit and saw the two big churches in Dublin, Christ's Church and St. Patrick's. We couldn't go in either as they were preparing for Friday night services, but we were able to take a look at each of them. St. Patrick's had scaffolding around the outside, but we still could see a lot from walking around it.

Christ's Church

The site where St. Patrick performed baptisms

The rest of the day and night, we went record shopping (no purchases, far too expensive) and hung out in the Temple Bar section of Dublin, a trendy area filled with pubs and expensive restaurants. The next morning we walked up the Dublin Writer's Museum, where we learned about Irish born writers including James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw, W.B. Yeats, and many more. This was coupled with a visit to the James Joyce Center which focused specifically on Joyce and his life. After a stop at Dublin Castle (the inside was not opened so we wandered around outside), we went to the Guiness Storehouse, the birthplace of Guiness from 1795 until 1988. The Storehouse is an awesome seven story building that's shaped like a pint glass. The self guided tour starts out well, as we got to learn about the history and process of making Guiness. As the tour goes on however, the exhibits sort of taper off as you approach a bar on top of the building, where you get a complimentary pint and a terrific view of the city. The rest of the night was spent again wandering around Temple Bar, but we weren't out too late, since we had to leave for the airport this morning at 7:15.

Dublin Castle


A view of Dublin from the Guiness Storehouse

Other Observations:
-U2 is everywhere. "Vertigo" was playing on the radio when we got on the bus from the airport and heard them in every pub we went to. There's a huge poster of them that dominates The Dublin Music Wall of Fame in Temple Bar.
-Our hostel was pretty nice. We shared a room with ten other travelers who at various times could be annoying, but for the most part, it was clean and well situated in between the City Centre and Temple Bar.
-I didn't think I'd find a city more expensive than Bath, but Dublin made it look cheap

So now I'm heading into the last week of the trip. There's a couple activities this week, but my big priority now is going to be to finish the papers I have left for my classes. For now however, I'm going to relax for a bit and watch Wimbledon. Hopefully Federer can pull it out!