Day 2 - Dublin
Today was our first full adventure day. After breakfast we started off with a city tour in a duck boat. It was a good overview. The local guide we had was very funny, and I probably enjoyed him more than the duck boat itself.
Next up was a tour of the Jeannie Johnston. A ship that ultimately made many trips transporting Irishmen and women to Canada during the Great Famine in the mid 19th century. The ship is a recreation, but is nonetheless very impressive. The story as relayed by our guide was very interesting, and I’m glad we visited here. I really enjoyed it.
From here it was on to Guinness. Guinness is an institution here in Dublin. The factory takes up a huge footprint in the city. Several of our guides and taxi drivers relayed stories about how the Guinness family has served the community. So, they seem to be well loved beyond the stout they make. When we entered through the gates it felt a bit like walking into Willy Wonka’s factory. We went up to a private room where lunch was served. There were a few different selections, but the headliner was their Guinness beef stew, and it was excellent. I had mine, as did several others, with a half pint of tasty Guinness. After lunch, we took a private tour of how Guinness is made. Keep in mind it’s a major tourist attraction, so there are many other people around, but we had a guide that led us through the massive exhibit. It was incredibly well done. Note you’re not going through the actual brewery or factory, but an elaborate exhibit that shows the process and history. For me and most people, it was more interesting this way. We stopped by a Tasting Room where they discussed the flavors and how to taste, much like wine. After the tour, they gave us all tickets for a free Guinness and let us wander freely. You can either go up to the bar/lounge on the top floor with a beautiful panoramic view of Dublin to have you Guinness, or you can go to the Guinness Academy and learn how to "pour the perfect pint". Yes, there is a special technique.
My recommendation is if you want to learn to pour, do that first, because it uses your ticket. You learn to pour which was a lot of fun, they print off an official certificate and you’re free to take your pint up to the lounge if you wish. The academy is on the 4th floor and the lounge is on the 6th. Afterwards you can visit their massive gift shop to find anything and everything Guinness. We had a great time. I know it’s very touristy, but the Guinness Storehouse was still one of my favorite things we did in Dublin.
Back to the hotel we went. We got back around 3:30 so it’s been a long, full day thus far. After dropping off purchases and things, there was an optional activity to see the Book of Kells. I was very excited about this. I minored in Art History in college, specifically medieval art, so I’ve been wanting to see this for years. It’s the most famous illuminated manuscripts in medieval art. We walked over to Trinity College where it’s kept. There’s no skipping the line here for
ABD, but thankfully the line was very short today. You go through a small exhibit explaining the Book of Kells first and then into the room where it’s kept. So there’s no disappointment, I’ll mention you will only get to see 2 real pages. One text page, and one heavily illuminated page. Ours happened to be the title page for the Gospel of John. It was beautiful. They “turn" the pages once every 2 weeks. From there you can visit the library grand hall on the next floor up. It too was beautiful, and very much worth seeing. FWIW, the Jedi library/archives room in Episode 2 (?) is based on this library. It also inspired the library at Hogwarts in Harry Potter. The Book of Kells and Library round out my top 3 of Dublin.
Dinner was on our own. We had reservations at One Pico which has fine dining Irish food - sounds like an oxymoron, but it was incredibly well done. I had lamb for my main and a sticky toffee pudding for dessert. It was a very good. Similar to Chapter One. For the money, One Pico is the better deal. It’s just as worthy of a Michelin Star, but doesn’t have one (yet?).
On the adults only ABD, they have a literary pub crawl in the evening. For us it started at 7:30. We had a 6:00pm reservation so I figured we might be late. (Which is VERY early in Ireland. We were the only ones eating there for at least the first 1/2 hour which we were fine with). Kelley told us to just meet up at the first pub around 8. We did that and it worked out great. The Pub Crawl was a lot of fun. You could leave whenever you wanted. We were tired after the 2nd pub and went back to the hotel nearby. They went to at least 3, maybe 4 more pubs so I heard.
So, all together it was a very full day! Another great day in Dublin. Tomorrow off to Killarney.
