We had a 1916 Rebellion Walking Tour at the Trinity College. That sounded totally badass to me and I was ready to riot.
Read all about it
It was at Trinity College. Our tour guide was enthusiastic and funny and I thought he was great. He was super passionate about Ireland and its history. A true Dub and a real character. Cam would have liked the tour. We walked around Dublin visiting sights of the 1916 rebellion. He threw a lot of names at us and I didn't remember any. A lot of places around Dublin still has the bullet holes. We went by the post office and the holes were on the pillars outside.
Then there's this big statue in the middle of town that's too big and symbolic to describe but I'll try. Around this big statue there were four angels (bigger than average humans) each representing something else. I only remember Fidelity and Nike and Fidelity was my favorite because she had a dog with her.
Calla and Rikku circa heaven
To the left of Fidelity was an angel who had bullet holes in her from the rebellion. One is in her clavicle and another is by her feet. Another one, harder to see, is above the white spot at the bottom of her clothing.
Our guide commented on my outfit and said I looked right for a rebellion. That will go down in my memory as one of my most favorite compliments I've ever received. My thoughts of homeless youth have been replaced with riots.
Both Tom and our guide had warned that people walking by might stop and join in with the tour walk. They both didn't straight up say it but kind of hinted at Dublin being a drug using city. I hadn't seen anything hardcore. A couple people did start following us around and only one guy tried talking to us. None of us could understand him so he was like "Gibberish gibberish!" and walked off.
Our guide ended back at Trinity and we had a free day. We kept hearing about a place called Queen of Tarts that was the best place to get a sweet in Dublin. I appreciate a good pun and the four of us went to the Queen of Tarts. It was a 10 minute wait. The shop was really cute and had so many beautiful sweets made fresh every day.
Off with his bread.
It was 11:30 and I was down for lunch, as was Kaitlyn and Mia. The lunch menu looked amazing and the breakfast menu sucked. Turns out, lunch wasn't until noon and we couldn't order from it. I ended up getting a bowl of yogurt and fruit for 4 euro. I asked our server about wifi. She said they didn't have it. No lunch and no wifi means no happy Calla and I was ready to bounce. Maria kept trying to order a dessert but they didn't have any of the ones she wanted ready. It was seriously annoying. But my fruit yogurt salad looked pretty.
It was such a disappointment. Fruit is one of my favorite foods and I like to think that's the one area of food, along with vegetables, that I'm not picky in. But there is one fruit I can't stand: pineapple. Not canned, not fresh, not in a juice, and how dare you put that on precious pizza. My yogurt was 30% pineapple.
Everyone was really annoyed with Queen of Tarts. If I ever move to Dublin, I will open a bakery across the street from Queen of Tarts and I'll name my bakery The Mad Batter and I'll make macerons and cookies and chocolate cherry cake and rhubarb pie and put them out of business.
After our crappy snack we took a bus for 2 euros and went to the Guinness Storehouse. I can't tell if Ireland really truly loves their Guinness or if they're making fun of themselves and playing if up for Americans. Guinness seems to be Ireland's national treasure. We got a student discount and paid 14 euros to get in. It was 7 floors. The first had the lease old man Guinness had signed for 9,000 years. They have a 9,000 year lease. Insane but great!
A sad day in Ireland when the lease is up
Then you went through rooms that explained the ingredients used to make Guinness; water, barley, hops, and yeast. After that you went into a room that had portraits that talked to you. It reminded me of Harry Potter, but these people in the portraits were awkward actors. They basically just were like "Guinness is so good".
After the creepy portrait room you go into another room that explains the brewing. It's all roasting, mashing, boiling, fermentation, maturation. They had pieces of old machinery they once used. Then we saw how barrels were made back in the old days. I was never bored but I was never fascinated.
There was a place where they taught you how to drink Guinness and that was really cool. You start by going into a crazy smelling room with 4 huge smoke machines. Each smoke machine had a different scent and you could really smell the hops and malt and roast barley. I loved it!
The snozberries smell like snozberries
Then we were each given a shot of Guinness and taken to another room where we were taught how to drink it. You take a deep breath, take a mouthful, swish it around, swallow, and breathe out. Then you can taste the different flavors on different parts of your tongue. This was also the freshest Guinness I would ever have for the rest of my life. It was made THAT DAY, just a building over. That being said, I still didn't like it. Maybe Guinness isn't an acquired taste like I thought. The other 3 girls said it was delicious.
Bottoms up
Up next was advertising. I had seen Guinness souvenirs lately that feature animals and never really got it. It was called Gilroy's Circus and that's where the phrase 'My goodness, my Guinness' came from. It was fun. They had animatronic animals and a photo booth. Mia wasn't tall enough for the photo booth and that was funny.
My goodness, my Guinness!
The advertising area was neat. They had a lot to look at, going from the beginning to more modern day commercials. They had a big room where you could watch old Guinness commercials. I loved it and wanted to watch them all because it was so entertaining and Guinness makes nice commercials but the other 3 wanted to get in line to learn how to pour.
They teach you how to pour Guinness here. We waited in line for maybe 10 or 15 minutes then we went into a bar area where our own bartender taught us and several others how to pour. It's a 6 step process. I took Maria's picture and she took mine. I coached her how to take it.
"Stand in front of the bar and click the screen once to focus the lighting. Get several, tell me when your taking a few of them." I told her. The lighting was so effed up.
I'm pretending it's my first time
I poured it like a boss. Then we went back through to pour it again (you have to top it off) and someone took my Guinness and I was pissed. Mine was poured perfectly and when it was my turn all that was left was this shoddy under poured one. Then we posed for a group photo and I got a certification.
Going on my resume
The girls hung around to drink their beers and I bounced. Upstairs there was a restaurant that I checked out. It looked suitable for everyone so I brought them up and we ate there. I ordered a vegetable quiche and it came with 3 sides and a bottle of water. It was a lot of food.
The potatoes and the quiche were really good and I ate all of that. The other two were okay but I liked it less and less with each bite. It cost 13.85 euros.
On floor 1 was a shopping center. I saw a lot of stuff I considered buying but backed out since I don't know anyone who likes Guinness. We spent 3 solid hours at the Guinness Warehouse. The place was like a mixture of Wonka's Chocolate Factory and Disney World. I'm really glad we did it but I'll never go back. It's a one time thing.
We decided to walk back to the hotel. The girls went in and out of tourist shops and I stood outside counting gingers. The walk back was to take 20 minutes and my legs were still really sore from yesterday. I was so so tired. We were all really quiet. Our walk took us by the post office and I dropped off my postcards there. It cost 2 euros. We made it back to the hotel around 4 I think. The roads were the busiest I've ever seen.
The other three fell on their beds and just lied there. I journaled for an hour or so. We decided to order pizza and I got a 7 inch margarita pizza and chicken strips for 2. It was cheap at 8 euros.
When I got my pizza, it was just a plain cheese. I thought there was a mistake but it was mine. That was what the margarita pizzas are, no basil or sliced tomato. My chicken strips were actually two orders of chicken strips, not 2 chicken strips like I had thought. I made everyone take 3 and still had like 10 more for myself. Everything was delicious and everyone was so happy to have pizza. We hung out in the room for hours before the girls fell asleep at 11 and I fell asleep at my keyboard at 12:30.
Ginger count: like a hundred. I only counted while I was walking and not thinking. I can't listen to the tour guides talk and count gingers. You would have to be some kind of science wizard to do both counting gingers and listening to people talk at once.
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