My second day in Dublin consisted of the Guinness storehouse, Kilmainham Gaol, the war memorial and a few surprises along the way. We decided to do the hop-on hop-off buses and although its never cool to look too much like a tourist when your time is limited, it really is the best way to see more of the cities in a condensed period of time. And an additional plus is that if you get the live tours the bus drivers are usually HILARIOUS.
The Guinness factory is definitely a MUST SEE. Even though I can't drink beer (I'm allergic, sad...I know) there was plenty to see and learn. It's relatively large with seven floors and took us a good part of the afternoon to get through. The building is designed to look like a tall glass of Guinness and as you go through each floor you learn how the beer is made. As a law student it was interesting to see the contract that the original creator of the beer Arthur Guinness signed for the lease of the building...45 pounds...for NINE THOUSAND YEARS! That is the most impressive enforceable contract I have ever seen in my life. There were plenty of cool things to see like the old advertisements, the process of making the beer, learning how to pour the perfect pint and the 360 degree glass bar at the top where you can see all of Dublin.
The next place we went to was Kilmainham Gaol (or Jail) and it was one of my favorite experiences in Dublin. I had very limited knowledge of Irish history and if you want to experience & feel the history resonate deep within your soul while learning about the struggle of independence in Ireland this is the place to go. Those who were part of the Irish Rebellion were held in these cells and eventually executed. One of the many stories that touched my heart was that of Joseph Plunkett who was captured after the rebellion and the day before being executed, married his fiance Grace Plunkett in the jail church. They were only allowed 10 minutes together as husband and wife. He was executed five hours later. Grace also spent time in jail fighting for the same cause as her late husband and during that time painted a mural of Madonna on her cell wall and it is still there today. She never remarried. Now that is what you call honest to goodness true and everlasting love.
The War Memorial was a nice little walk through a cute park and as you go up these steps are greeted with a beautiful memorial and garden. It helped that the weather was absolutely perfect...
After a full day we headed to get some drinks but on the way we had some interesting encounters such as Irish people jumping off a bridge for Lupis and a pigeon in the Tommy Hilfiger store...
We ended our day at this famous bar...
...and discovered my new favorite drink!
That was my quickie Dublin trip! Hope you enjoyed it and I will be updating you on my experience here in the dream like city of Galway soon...Slán agat! (goodbye in Irish!)
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