I'm Back and Dublin: Day 1

Sorry for the long break but I had a very hectic week last week and then did not have access to my computer during my weekend away.  Last week the Spalluto's were here in Cork and they adopted me for a few days.  It was wonderful to visit with them and spend some time with people that remind me of home.

First, here is a recount of this past weekend in Dublin. It all began at 5am friday morning when I caught the bus to Dublin airport. There I met up with Nick, Marty and Emily, all friends of mine from Holy Cross, who came to Ireland to visit the country (and me!) for the week. It was so exciting to see them emerge from the terminal and see them for the first time since this summer.

After traveling to the Dublin city we dropped our bags off at the hostel, grabbed some coffee and breakfast and were off for the day. First stop…Guinness Factory!

The gang: Me, Nick, Emily and Marty 

Emily and I in front of the waterfall (one of the crucial ingredients to Guinness) 

 Beer making process and then barreling it 

 Guinness advertising through the ages, Nick and I under the infamous Guinness man 

After exploring the factory and learning about how the perfect pint of Guinness is made, it was time to learn how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness.  As a part of your admission ticket you got a free pint of Guinness, but we had to earn our keep, we poured it ourselves! 

All of our perfectly poured pints at varying levels of settling. When you first pour it it comes out a light color until it settles for two minutes and then you get the rich Guinness taste. 

After pouring the beer, we brought them up to the Sky Bar where we could sit and enjoy our beers with a 360 degree view of the city at the top of the museum, very fun! 

After the museum we walked around the city a bit, we lucked out with great weather

River Liffey

Later on that night we met up with friends at a bar called Sinnotts. My friend Alli is studying in Dublin and our other friend Linnea was visiting her this weekend, I loved getting to catch up with the two of them!