Dinner last night in the Temple Bar area - Temple Bar too busy and rowdy for us old F**ts. Our restaurant had the saying "God created alcohol to stop the Irish from ruling the world." Good Seafood stew (Laura) and good Irish Stew (lots of lamb) for me.
Yesterday was a whisky distillery, today is the Holy Grail: The Guinness Brewery!
You don't actually get a tour of the brewery, but of one of the older buildings (called the Storehouse) converted into historical & brewing displays as well as a serious souvenir shop. They sell lots of Guinness goodies.I didn't get many photos inside, but here's a few:
One of the little work engines dragging ingredients around.
The Cooperage display with a neat video of barrel making in the old days.One of the characters in past Guinness advertising.
I don't quite understand it, but I guess it sold beer.
You could get views of the entire city from the top of the Storehouse. It was so grey out that you couldn't see much detail.
This is a view of part of the original factory from the late1700's.
Unfortunately, as I said, a very grey day.
My 'spelcheker' actually knows when I spell Guinness incorrectly. That's scary!We signed up for a city bus tour. Lots of good information that I can't remember and a bus driver with a sense of humour doing the commentary. Here's the Wellington Monument in Phoenix Park.
And, here's another view of Christ Church Cathedral showing the flying buttresses. I'm a fan of this architecture, so you'll see a few more in the coming days.
I had some time in the afternoon, so I took a short bike ride to adjust my brakes (working brakes are a good thing). I managed to get out of the downtown to a dedicated bike trail heading to Howth, where we hope to get to Wednesday. There isn't a great set of bike trials in town and no good documentation on those that do exist. Therefore, the motto for cautious cycling by foreigners is:
RIDE LIKE EVERYBODY IS TRYING TO KILL YOU!
There are lots of locals screaming about on bikes, with maybe 50% helmet usage. Once they get familiar with their routes, they seem to get crazy.
It had gotten even more grey for my ride, so only a photo of a rather 'snazy' pedestrian bridge not far from the centre of town.
Enough for today. We had fish & chips for dinner. What they dredge out of the Atlantic around here does not come close to a nice piece of fresh halibut.
Yesterday a distillery, today a brewery, what tomorrow? Trinity College & the book of Kells.
