It didn’t start well; typical Irish weather: cloudy, rainy and a bit of dreariness. Add on top of that the worst hotel we’ve stayed in so far, so it wasn’t the most pleasant start to a weekend!
Good news is, we didn’t plan on spending much time at the hotel and our plan for the first day was to spend them indoors. First destination: Guinness Brewery. No surprises there I’m sure, as you remember from our first trip to Ireland a month or so ago, Guinness drives this country. But along the way, we explored downtown Dublin.
First stop, Trinity College, famous alumni: Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde.
View in front of the Cricket Field:
Some old building on the grounds:
Pomodoro’s sphere. Another is located at the Vatican. Supposed to represent the earth in the center and Christianity enveloping or larger than the world. Interesting either way.. has a “Matrix” feel to it:
As we wandered from Trinity College towards Guinness, we walked through the party scene of Dublin, Temple Bar. Temple Bar is both an actual bar, as well as the name of an area of Dublin.
THE Temple Bar (Bono supposedly frequents the place, don't think he was in town while we were there):
No shortage of other bars here though. Not sure if I've mentioned this in a previous post, but I plan on putting together a book of pub pictures from our travels. I captured one or two while we walked around:
Finally, after another downpour (I love Irish weather), we were closing in on the brewery:
Surviving the ghetto, we followed the helpful signs and finally arrived!
Paraphernalia inside the storehouse:
Original 9,000 year lease:
Finishing off the perfect pour:
Certified expert:
No reason to stay here any longer. Still rainy, so we’re off to the Jameson Distillery to stay dry……
A complete joke of a tour, it was like “It’s a Small World” for adults. Actually, it would have been more fun if they played a song while you rode around the distillery in a boat.. Anyway, the distillery is no longer in use, so it’s a bunch of fake props and video. A bit disappointing, but there was a whiskey tasting at the end.
Took the tram back downtown and found a really interesting scultupre along the river front. It was originally proposed to be installed in Boston, but they thought it was too depressing. Amazingly life-like depiction of the Irish famine:
Famine Memorial
Leaning tower of Dublin:
Found a great Italian restaurant to finish our night off and rest up for the next day – Gaelic Football at Croke Park!
I had never heard of Gaelic football until doing some research on Ireland. Along with Hurling (another Gaelic sport), they make up two of the most popular spectator sports in Ireland.
Essentially, here’s how it works, you’ve got a soccer goal on each end, with rugby/football uprights above it (see pic below). They use a ball that is slightly heavier than a soccer ball but stitched like a volleyball. They can kick the ball down the field like soccer, or they can kick the ball into their hands and take it down the field, but they have to pass or kick it back into their hands every 4 steps or it’s “travelling” (similar to basketball).
So they’ve already combined a bit of soccer, handball, basketball, volleyball and rugby… so to top it off, they throw in some Hockey rules..
They can hit each other, like a check in Hockey but can’t tackle. Only problem is, they don’t wear any protective gear, so there were injuries every 5 minutes. But the best part is they ignore the hurt guy on the field and play around him, even with medical staff treating him!
Gotta love the Irish
Goals, 3 points for kicking it into the soccer net, 1 point for kicking or punching it through the uprights:
Confused Canadian:
Security at the end of the game… that orange fence is supposed to stop the fans from rushing the field..
Before heading to the airport, we couldn’t leave Ireland without a traditional Irish meal, although the Italian was delicious:
Stuffed and ready for Italy.. Only a couple days to go.
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