O'Kelley and O'Dean on Emerald Isle

Christ Church Cathedral

As luck would have it Reggie was asked to attend a conference in Dublin. So, as soon as I could get myself and all my green gear onto a plane and over to the old Emerald Isle for a weekend getaway with 1 million Irish I did. Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day, but I can proudly say that to my paternal great grandparents Ireland was the Motherland. Although I know little more than that being in the place that my relatives came from felt good, and with thanks to Sir Arthur Guinness and Tripadvisor restaurant reviews, it tasted darn good, too.  

Dublin lies right at the mouth of The River Liffey. This means a number of darling bridges which makes for a plethora of photo opps.

This uber mod bridge was designed and built in Holland and then transported to Guiness-ville.

If I could fit the majority of Dublin homes and their cuteness into a pic, this would be it. Adorable, right?



Here lies St. Patrick's Cathedral. This beauty lies smack in the heart of Old Dublin and dates from 1191. Whoa, I know.



The Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript created by Celtic monks ca 800 that contains the four Gospels of The New Testament, is housed in Dublin's Trinity College.

Sure, there's a lot to see in Dublin. The churches are magnificent, the food yum-o, and though we didn't make time for it, the shopping was more than tempting. But there's more to traveling than meandering around from site to site. Soaking up culture is the other half of what makes seeing new places such a joy. Fair warning to potential visitors of Leprechaun land: if you're going to soak up the culture in Dublin, you may find yourself intoxicated.

Enter: Guinness. This black coffee-aroma brew has done a LOT for Irish nightlife...and far beyond this green isle. Sir Arthur Guinness is Dublin's Superman. Because of him Dubliners can gleefully drink the 1 million pints of this prized dry stout daily (yes, daily) that they do. Also because of Sir Arthur Reggie and I enjoyed a super neat few hours in the fabulously modern Disneyland for beer-lovers, more commonly known as The Guinness Storehouse.

Guinness has been brewed since 1759. Needless to say, the bottles have changed a bit over the years. I'm glad they did because they make for a stellar showpiece.

The Irish would argue that passion is what transformed the first barrel of Guinness into the empire it is now. Sir Arthur Guinness' passion for his brew is documented here in the 9,000 year lease he signed in 1759 for his brewery at St. James' Gate. This lease should be in Webster's next to 'confidence.'

Like every other tourist inside this awesome spot, we left with a bag filled with Guinness goodies.

Along with simply looking really cool, The Storehouse teaches folks about what makes Guinness Guinness. This includes explaning in detail the use of the four ingredients: water, barley, hops, and brewer's yeast.

The top-secret yeast recipe, along with emergency strands, is locked in a director's safe like this one.

The fifth ingredient is the man of the hour: Sir Arthur Guinness. He looks a bit conservative. Who knew?

TVs inside this larger than life barrell show Guinness advertisements past and present.

Here we have the first-ever Guinness ad. Leave it to beer masterminds to attempt to convince potential drinkers that Guinness has countless health benefits.

All that learning was great but a break was long overdue. Lucky for us, The Storehouse was prepared for folks like us. The Guinness Gravity Bar on the seventh floor of the building offers 360-degree views, elbow-room only, and will gladly exchange your admission ticket stub for a pint of their black brew.

 

Just look at our luck. The first rainbow I've seen in Europe!

The Guinness Storehouse had offered us a taste of culture (wink, wink) but we were ready for more. Exactly as I had predicted, we found Dublin to be a city with an endless supply of pubs to choose from, all looking precisely as I had expected: dark, woody, and sticky.

Here she is: the mother of Irish pubs. Temple Bar, a pub located within the popular nightlife quarter with the same name, is world famous and bursting at the seams with Irish beer, Irish people, and American music. Reg and I visited this lucky place two out of our two nights in Dublin. On both nights the pub was as charming as it was packed.

We saw MANY of these. I stopped counting at a bajillion.

Exactly as I predicted: low, red tin ceilings hanging above wall-to-wall booze and wall-to-wall boozers.

 

And as if that wasn't enough culture-sampling:

Although enticing, this site never made it onto our must-see list.

If you're looking for a cobble-stoned city chock-full of pubs chock-full of happy, singing, drinking Irish folks, Dublin is the spot for you. The fact that the entire city speaks and is written in English as opposed to German made us feel extra lucky.