Oh My Guinness

This past week, API took our group on what was supposed to be an "excursion" to Dublin. I say that sarcastically because this "excursion" was more like an overnight trip to a random Irish town with a six hour pit stop in Dublin - not exactly enough time to see the nation's capital. Not enough at all. I personally felt that API had misled us by stating the excursion was to Dublin and having us stay in Kilkenny, a smaller tourist destination to the south of Dublin. But so I digress; the trip was not a total disappointment. 


We attempted to leave at 8 o'clock Saturday morning, which was the time our itinerary had told us to be packed and ready to get on the bus. However, we didn't actually hit the road until about 8:45 after two trips back to Menlo to pick up forgotten luggage and passports of people who were heading to international destinations out of Dublin after our weekend trip. We ended up arriving in Dublin around noon and upon being handed our hop-on, hop-off bus passes, were told to meet back up at the gates of Trinity College to get back on the bus to head to Kilkenny. So that gave us less than six hours to see all of Dublin, a feat that we immediately realized was far too ambitious so we went in search of seeing our only must-see: the Guinness Factory. The Dublin factory is the number one tourist destination in all of Ireland, so of course I couldn't pass up the opportunity to go check it out. And believe you me, it did not disappoint. 


Most of my friends had already been to the factory or planned on going with their families in the upcoming weeks, so it ended up just being myself and my friend Katie finding our way to the factory. We took the bus, which conveniently brought us to the front door of St. James' Gate where many other tourists were making their way in and out of. There was a line for tickets inside but it moved quickly and we made it through the queue in less than twenty minutes. The "Guinness Experience" is a self-guided tour, but the staff do a quick orientation before you head off into the factory. We entered into the orientation spot, conveniently located by the factory store, and stood in this glass encasement type of situation that turns out to be the largest pint glass in the world. It begins where we stood at the first floor of the factory and extends up seven stories, creating the rounded Gravity Bar at the top. We were informed that it would take over 4.2 million pints of Guinness to fill that one glass. At it's bottom encased in the floor was the original lease signed by Arthur Guinness, which leased the St. James Gate factory to the Guinness corporation for a period of 9,000 years - I guess Mr. Guinness was pretty confident in the future successes of his product.

Katie and I in front of Guiness - St. James Gate

The 9,000 Year Lease

After the short orientation, Katie and I walked through the six floors of the factory, learning about the brewing, packaging, transporting, and advertising processes of the brewery as well as the history of Guinness and the family who started it all. The factory is very modernized and communicates information via bold writing on walls, floors, etc. It is unlike any other factory or museum I've ever been too. We were able to touch the barley, hops, and other ingredients, as well as pour our own pints or travel to the top of the brewery to the Gravity Bar, which offers visitors a panoramic view of the city while enjoying a complimentary pint of black. Katie and I opted for the panoramic view and although it was crowded, it did not disappoint. We got our pints and found our way to a spot by the window where we encountered a small problem: we don't like Guinness! I know, I know...Guinness is part of the Irish experience. I've had a pint or two on that principal, but something about the bitter taste and the heaviness of the stout just is not my cup of tea, or I guess in this case, my pint of beer. So after taking some pictures holding our Guinness with Dublin in the background, we ditched the beer and headed out of the brewery to salvage the little time we had left to explore. 

We managed to fit in a visit to the National Museum of Ireland, as well as a quick lunch and some tourist shopping before we met back up with our group in front of Trinity College. Leaving Dublin, I was well aware that there was many other things I would have liked to have done there, but that just means I'll have to come back someday! 


From Dublin, we went to Kilkenny, a smaller tourist destination about an hour and a half south. There, we were to have dinner and stay overnight before visiting Kilkenny Castle and making random pit stops the next day. We checked into the hotel around 7PM and rushed to make our 7:30 dinner reservations at a nearby restaurant. The dinner was great, we had a choice of appetizers, entrees, and desserts as well as assorted beverages. After dinner, a couple of the American rugby girls and I met up with one of our teammates who happens to be from Kilkenny. She goes home to work on the weekends and was looking forward to showing us a night out in her town. But first, we had to meet the family. Fiona drove us out to her country home where we met her mother, father, and ten year old sister. They were absolutely fantastic and a complete riot. Her mom made us brown bread to take home and cupcakes to have at the house and her dad offered us Irish moonshine and some good stories. They love Obama and Michael Jackson, as well as thinking Boston is the best city in the United States - smart folks. It was cool to see just a normal family hanging out on a Saturday night for the first time in months. After our little visit with the Cantwell's, the girls and I headed back to town to hit the up the town. Unfortunately, we weren't able to hit them too hard as many of the pubs and clubs had a 21+ restriction despite the 18 legal age and a few of my friends haven't turned 21 yet. Wanting to stay together, we went to a pub that was 18+ where most of our program group had found themselves. We had a few pints and danced to the live music for a while until Daylight Savings Time caused us to lose an hour and 1AM became 2AM. Knowing that we had an early wake-up call, we all decided to head back and call it a night. 


In the morning, we had breakfast and checked out of the hotel before heading to the castle for a guided tour. Kilkenny Castle was like many of the other castles I've visited while in Ireland, but a little cooler because it had been a contender in the competition to be "Hogwarts" in the Harry Potter film series. Unfortunately, the castle didn't make the cut, but the cast had visited and gave the place a little more notoriety. 

Once the tour ended, we walked around the grounds a bit enjoying the sunshine until it was time to head back to Galway. On the drive back, we made many stops for bathroom breaks, car sick breaks, lunch breaks, and a visit with T.J Larkin, a national hero in Ireland for his achievements in the sport of hurling. We finally arrived in Galway around 7:30, exhausted after such a long day. It was definitely a cramped weekend, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. 


Love and time crunches,
Haley