Dublin Part 2

I asked in the last post what was happening in this photo... and here's your answer!

This was the randomest thing of the entire trip - there was a designer outdoor market in downtown Dublin, in the Temple Bar area.  We just wanted to walk through and see what was there, and we stopped at this guys' pottery stand.  The Irish are the nicest, chattiest, and most friendly europeans that I have met while living here.  The guy at the stand, who is the designer of the pottery, strikes up a conversation with us after we tell him we're from the states.  He tells us about how he sells his stuff in NY, and how he had recently been selling some of his things on QVC.  

Offhandedly, he shows me a bowl, about 1/4 of the size of the one in his hands in the photo above, and says "How many of these do you think I sold in five minutes on QVC?"  I thought about how there are a lot of people who watch QVC, and though I don't really understand that phenomenon, and I thrown out the number 5,000.  Incredulously, he looks at me and says "You're RIGHT!  I've asked that question of everyone who has stopped here all day, and no one got it right!  And now, just as I'm closing down, I ask you and you get it right!  I have to give you something, I have to give you something because you got it right!"  I'm pretty surprised that this is happening, and before I have a chance to say anything else, he's wrapped up said bowl, put it in a bag, and we snap a photo together.  And now, said bowl hangs out on my coffee table, holding a great story.

After all that excitement, we headed to see Christchurch, but just hung out in the gardens.  

We stopped at a nearby little takeaway place and got some of the greasiest and most delicious fish and chips for dinner, and ate them in the church gardens.

And what would Ireland be without the pub?  We found one that claimed to be the oldest in Dublin, quenched our thirst with some delicious beer, relaxed from our day of sightseeing, and headed back to the hotel to hang out.

The next day was the Guinness Tour.  Which we were really excited about - we had heard a lot of really great things about it.

The displays were pretty great, and though we have been on several brewery tours, and the essence of making beer is always the same, Guinness displayed everything in a really cool way, and we really liked the tour.  They still make the beer at the same place that they have been making it since it's inception, and being close to that size of a working brewery was great.

I really liked the art gallery with the original prints from their marketing campaigns.  

And you finish out the tour with a pint at their Gravity Bar, which sits high above the Dublin skyline, allowing you to see the entire city in a 360 degree view.

See the storm coming in?

I'd say it was one of my favorite tours that I've ever been on!  I would highly recommend it to anyone else!

Sunday afternoon, we headed up to Belfast in Northern Ireland, but only to stay the night.  We didn't do any sightseeing, and headed out the next morning to the northern coast.  Come back soon for more :)

Read more...

Dublin

In August, most Spaniards go on vacation.  Madrid empties out, stores close for vacation, and the city feels like a ghost town.  Most of Brian's coworkers left for 3-5 weeks, to go off to the beach or exotic locations around the world for their summer holiday.

Brian had always thought it would be great to get to Ireland, so I worked on planning this trip for a couple months.  We went the first week of August, and loved it!

Typically, the trips we take entail lots of sightseeing, lots of doing, lots of activity.  We decided to slow way down on this trip, and though we saw a lot of stuff in Dublin, we really took it easy for the rest of the trip. 

Brian on a bridge in Dublin, practicing his no smile pose.  I take a lot of pictures on these sorts of trips, so he'll be experimenting with lots of interesting faces, as you'll see in subsequent posts...

We really love farmers markets - there is something about supporting these food artisans that we really enjoy, and often the food tastes better and you can really see the craft and love behind the food.  We found a Saturday morning market in the Temple Square area of Dublin, and made that the first stop of the morning, perusing the booths for delicious foods and tasty treats.

After the market, we went to see the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript of the Bible from the 9th century.  It was housed in a building on the Trinity University campus, and was pretty cool... the skill and ability of the scribes was amazing, and the fact that the book had survived so long was incredible.

Then, off to the Jameson Distillery!  Brian's dad really loves Jameson, and I've been gaining an appreciation for whiskey.  The tour was in the old distillery, which had been well restored, and the tour was pretty cool.  I had learned from a guidebook that it was important to volunteer at the beginning of the tour if they asked for volunteers, read on if you would like to hear what I got to do!

The main entry hall with old wood trusses and sweet chandeliers in the corner above the bar.

Rich & Kenny, though I'm sure you'd like us to get you this as a gift, you'll just have to keep dreaming about it :)

So, this is what I volunteered for - becoming a certified whiskey taster!  At the end of the tour, you're given your choice of a drink with whiskey - either straight or a mixer, which you can see in the right of the photo.  There were about 7 out of the 30 of us that acted as tasters - I tried the triple distilled Jameson, double distilled scotch whiskey (I can't remember the brand), and then single distilled american whiskey (Jack Daniels).  In my expertise of whiskey drinking, I'd have to say that Jameson was definitely the best one of the three.  It was fun to try them all together!

I sat next to a Ukrainian whiskey connoisseur who talked to Brian and I a little bit afterwords about other places to visit and whiskeys to try.  

What is happening in this photo??  Tune back in tomorrow to find out...

(hint - I didn't buy anything, but this guy and I seem to be rather excited)

(and, this is really only a ploy to break up the post in 2 sections, because as one big post of Dublin, it was really long and I was worried no one would want to read the whole thing :) - though most of it is all pictures anyway!)

Read more...

In Ireland and loving it

Morning! Brian and I are currently in Ireland, and we have been LOVING it. When we travel, we typically try to see and do as much as possible in every single day. But for this trip we have slowed things way down, and though we have been seeing a lot of very cool things as we travel through the countryside, we have also spent a lot of time sleeping in, reading, and eating long breakfasts at our b&b's. I think Brian has especially enjoyed the time to relax from work and nor have to think about much other than staying on the left side of the road as he drives!

This is just a quick hello post from our b&b near Killarney, and in a few minutes we are headed to the dingle peninsula. We were really excited last night when we talked to our hosts and found out that they have horses! I think B & I will be heading out for a ride tomorrow morning! A BIG thanks to Amanda for the recommendation on the b&b!
we'll be flying home on Sunday, so check back for pics next week!

p.s. I love technology... Being able to write all this up on the itouch is a bit slow but pretty cool that I can even do it from the comfort of my b&b bedroom!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Read more...