Weekend in Dublin: Natural History Museum

We had a bit of time but were too late for the Castle tour so decided to pop into the Natural History Museum. By the time we got there we had only 15 minutes, but it was free entry on Sunday so we dashed in to get a quick look.

The most impressive. Giant Irish deer, now extinct

A red badger! Had to get a photo of Bucky's cousin.

The mailboxes in Ireland are green (UK they are red)

A final toast to our Dublin weekend - Irish coffee!

Weekend in Dublin: Guinness Storehouse Tour

You can't go to Dublin without hearing about Guinness. The family has contributed a lot to the history and success of the city and nowhere is that more celebrated than the Guinness Storehouse tour. The building itself is shaped like a large Guinness glass and you move from bottom to top exploring the story of Guinness and getting to taste some of the 'black gold'. It was a fun experience and Guinness really does taste better in Ireland.

The ground floor was a huge gift shop - everything you could possibly imagine with a Guinness logo on it. The first floor (photos below) walked through the ingredients of Guinness: water, hops, malted barley, yeast.

The second floor walked us through the brewing process. The tour was completely self guided - a brilliant approach as they could fit twice the people in for each tour. And at $20 a pop, that's a pretty good return on investment for them.

about an hour

The next floor was all about distribution. We saw how the barrels used to be made by hand through an interesting video and also how Guinness developed a revolutionary way to transport to the far reaches of the globe (yep, it's that rattle you hear in the cans that does it - well, and some other scientific explanation). On this floor we also had our first tasting, which was served in tiny cute little Guinness glasses. As pretentious as any wine tasting we've been to!

The next floor was all about their marketing and how it has evolved over time.  Brian and I remember seeing these kinds of 'Guinness is good for you' advertisements in Guinea, West Africa when we were in the Peace Corps.

And the top floor is a panoramic bar where you can get your free pint, which is included with your ticket. Crowded and a bit warm because of the sun, but the Guinness was oh so good.

Don't worry, you get a full pint. They fill to here and then let the glasses rest before they fill them the rest of the way to make sure you get a full pint.

Weekend in Dublin: Castle and Churches

With only a weekend, we didn't have time to tour the castle or any cathedrals, but we did get a few good photos. Enjoy!

Christ Church Cathedral at night

Dublin Castle

Dublin Castle

Dublin Castle

Dublin Castle

Christ Church Cathedral walkway over the road

Christ Church Cathedral

I think this is St. Patrick's Cathedral from the bus window.

We would like to go back and visit some of these spots we didn't have time for. It would also be great to see Dublin in the summer and wander through some of the beautiful parks.

Weekend in Dublin: Kilmainham Goal

One tour we definitely wanted to fit in was the Kilmainham Goal (that's Gaelic for jail and actually pronounced jail). The challenge was there were no tickets left on their website. They did mention that they have a small number of walk up tickets each day, but that you should arrive early as they sell out quickly. So bright and early (for a vacation anyway) we hopped the bus to the jail and were the second ones there. It was a bit chilly to wait, but we were rewarded with tickets on the first walk-in tour. And they did sell out so it was worth the planning ahead.

It's a guided tour which focuses on the history of the goal as well as some of the more famous prisoners - most from the 1916 Easter rebellion when Ireland was working to get rid of British rule. The event left 485 dead and destroyed large areas of Dublin city centre.

This is the outside courtyard where public hangings took place until 1865 (prison was built in 1796). Executions continued in the goal, but not in view of the public.

The goal has now been restored and is a historic landmark and museum of sorts. They run tours almost every hour and it was a busy place even on a random winter Saturday in January.

This prison went through a few upgrades throughout its lifetime, one of which was to give each prisoner his/her own cell. This was one of the first prisons in Europe to adjust its mission from housing prisoners to trying to rehabilitate them. The individual cells, bibles and windows to let light in were all thought to help with this effort.

This hallway is before that renovation and you can get a sense of how small, cramped and dark it was. There was also a belief that air circulating through would reduce sickness and disease so there were open windows along the top which let in a drafty and cold breeze (notice we all still have our coats on!). At this time, there were probably around 4-5 to a cell and during the worst of the potato famine, there could be up to 12! The famine created a huge increase in prisoners as people were purposely trying to get in as it was a way to guarantee regular meals.

This is the newest area of the prison and it might look familiar as it's been used as a movie set quite a few times. The Italian Job (the original one), In the Name of the Father, and U2's song A Celebration to name a few.

Here is one of the cells in this area. Really high ceilings and lots of light.

It was an interesting tour and we were glad we went.

Weekend in Dublin: Irish Whiskey Museum

We had hoped to visit the Jameson Distillery while in town, but it's closed for renovation at the moment so our next best bet was the Irish Whiskey Museum.

We started with an Irish coffee at the little bar as we waited for our tour time to start. Cute little place complete with a feckin ladder!

Nice view from the little cafe of the College Green of Trinity college.

Best Irish coffee we've ever had!

The tour itself was really informative as we walked through the history of whiskey in Dublin. Starting with pot stills made in people's homes (illegal) to the Victorian pubs you see pictured here.

We were told you can tell an authentic Victorian pub by their ceilings. So pretty.

Our tour ended with a nice guided whiskey tasting, and while I can't say I'm a huge fan, I could definitely taste the difference and identify my preference.

Weekend in Dublin: Arrival

Say what you want about Ryanair, but when the hubby comes home and says he heard we could get to Dublin and back for about $25, I get on the internet. And it was true! Of course, it ended up being closer to $80 for the two of us because we wanted to check a bag, but hey, that's still a pretty awesome deal. Top it off with using some credit card points for the hotel and there is just no good reason not to pack up and head to Dublin for the weekend.

We left Friday after work and getting there was so simple. Ryanair is bare bones, but they've got their processes down to a science so it was easy loading, on time departure and smooth sailing. A good airport express bus took us to within a block of our hotel and we were soon ready for some dinner.

We found a cute little bistro just down the street from our hotel and ended up with a true Irish experience.

• Guinness & Smithwicks to drink
• Guinness beef stew - yummy comfort food at it's best
• Guinness chocolate mousse for dessert - so good!

Not a bad way to start off our adventure.

Hmmm, thought I had a photo of that mousse as well . . . must have gobbled it down too fast! 

6-month Check In

We arrived in Bristol on 15 July - 6 months already! Time has flown so I thought it would be a good time to take stock on the experience.

Things I love:

• The easy-going and casual atmosphere of the city - reminds me of Madison where you can dress up or wear jeans to the fanciest of restaurants. A real treat after the hyper-sparkle of Dubai where I always felt I had to be in full make-up even to run to the grocery store.
• Pork and alcohol everywhere. This is actually part of a much bigger love of complete democracy and freedom. Live and let live suits me so much better.
• Budget airlines!! I was very sad to leave my airline discount, but it turns out that with the budget carriers, we can still travel cheaply. And so much faster. What a treat to live in Europe and be able to jet off to Dublin for a weekend.
• The weather! I know, it sounds crazy, but I love the rain and the green and the frost on my car windows in the morning and the fact that I need a jacket and gloves. I'm sure it will wear off in time, but so far, I'm still loving it.
• The language. I really get a kick out of learning new words and phrases for things. Cracks me up every time.
• The history and the culture. Everywhere you look there's an old church or bridge or cobbled street. It's so cute and quaint here I have to pinch myself at times. And even with all the old, you can still find a sparkly new mall or hotel with a nice restaurant when you need a newness fix. 
• Friendly folk. I was a bit worried as I've always heard the Brits are a bit more aloof than us Americans. Well, that is true, but not so aloof that you don't feel welcome. Maybe it's Bristol vs. London, but we've found the general public to be very friendly and warm. And thank goodness for that!

Things I'm still getting used to:

• The traffic is really appalling. Congested, smelly, slow and frustrating. And don't even get me started on public transport - what a nightmare! There are a number of construction projects underway to help alleviate the problem - let's see. I have a feeling I may never get used to this one.
• And related to that - driving on the left. I've gotten pretty good at this, but still struggle with correctly estimating the size of my car when parking. I'm so used to judging distance using the left side of the car, and when you drive on the left, you really need to use the right side instead. Still working on this one, but luckily, no dents or scrapes yet.
• Taxes! Yeah, we haven't really even started these yet, and they're sure to be an adventure this year with UAE, US and UK all in the mix. Luckily, we'll have some help sorting it all out through Brian's company.

So, at 6 months am I still happy with the move? Oh yes! and looking forward to the next 6 to see what additional adventures we'll have.