It Was a Three Hour (Guinness) Tour

The Young’s “slept in” and Bill and I spent a bit of time catching up on the blog. They are predicting lots of rain due to a hurricane system, so we have our rain gear ready.

Along the way to the Gallery we picked up a coffee and tea. A few minutes later when we arrived, we could not enter with our drinks.

So, we headed to our second destination, we seemed to be going in circles a bit. The guys stopped at the Natural History Museum aka the Dead Zoo and asked for directions from the attendant. We had to go “right, right, right” to get to the Archeological Museum. I though Bill was trying to trick me into seeing rocks. I was delighted to discover that was not the case!

We really enjoyed seeing the displays of the swords, axes, relics, gold and silver jewelry. The room on the first floor called The Treasury was the most impressive exhibit it was well curated with some beautiful items from approximately 800 AD to the 13th century. Bill really enjoyed the religious display on the second floor Irish items up to the 1500’s. Doug liked the mummies or “bog people” that were on the first floor.

We walked to Guinness for our scheduled tour. We started with the fifth floor at the Store House cafe for lunch. The beef and Guinness stew, brisket with a sweet bbq sauce, and Guinness brownie with cream were all good. Doug did not like the “cider” which was a citrus IPA. I enjoyed my gluten-free carrot cake that I had purchased at the coffee shop earlier.

We started the tour on the ground floor and slowly made the ascent through the building. Along the way we learned about the brewing process and the quality ingredients used. The displays were really good and clearly a lot of money has been spent creating the centre.

We had signed up to have our photos taken and cast onto the top of our pint of Guinness- very cool! in the Marketing area we saw lots of ads and promos throughout their history and learned from a lady with a lovely Irish accent that Guinness started a new colourful campaign in the 1940’s with different animals. The Toucan was the most popular and is still used for marketing purposes today.

We were able to see the famous 1702 Downhill Harp on display. It was originally used by a blind harpist and was purchased by Guinness to preserve it. The medieval instrument from the 14th century known as the O’Neill or Brian Boru harp that inspired the logo for Guinness in 1862 is now on display at the Trinity College Long Library.

The scale model of the Guinness Festival Clock was really neat and they had a black and white video from 1951 playing of the original so you could see the size and showed how a real one operated with music, animals, birds, and people moving every quarter hour like complex cuckoo clock. Reminded me of something you would expect at an Octoberfest.

I enjoyed the fish on a bike display for the “a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bike” campaign.

We finished the tour on the 7th floor, The Gravity Bar, and were able to enjoy an amazing view of the entire city. We are luck that it is a beautiful day so far! In addition to the incredible view we were entertained by a mini marching band that made the way through the crowds.

We capped off our visit in the gift shop. I was able to buy myself a Guinness t-shirt for next St Patty’s Day!

The next stop on our walking tour was St Patrick’s Anglican Cathedral. It was not a very pretty cathedral and was very commercial but was filled with loads of history. The free audio guide was pretty good and did a good job of explaining parts of the cathedral and the history. It was originally built in 1191 and was used by the Catholic Church until William Orange’s victory at the Battle of Boyne in the 17th century.

The famous Chapter House door was on display. In 1492 the Fitzgeralds fled to the cathedral during a battle with the Butlers. At one point Gerald Fitzgerald stuck his arm out the door as an offer of peace, which was accepted by the Butlers and popularized the well know phrase “to chance your arm”?!

There are many items that belonged to Jonathan Swift who was a dean of the cathedral from 1713 - 1745. He is best known for writing Gulliver’s Travels.

We headed back toward the hotel. Sheila and Doug chilled out until 7:00. Bill and I spent 30 - 45 min wandering through the gallery before it closed at 5:30. The Italian renaissance display on the 3rd floor was pretty good. It was great to have the opportunity to see some great art again, it has been a few years!

We crossed the picturesque Ha’Penny walking bridge to have dinner at a pub that Anna had recommended, Madigan’s Pub on O’Connell Street. We had an adorable guy serve us and he suggested the beef cheeks, a traditional meal that is served on your birthday in his part of Ireland. It was great! Sheila and Doug enjoyed the country music that they were playing, it was a definite detractor for my meal.

We checked out a cool spot, The Church. It is a cafe and bar now but was previously St Mary’s parish that had been founded in 1697. It closed in 1986 and was used for various purposes until was refurbished as a bar from 1997 - 2005. It has been preserved and you can see many of the features still exist like the stained class windows, the baptismal font, the gallery, the organ, and carving on the walls. Fun fact - the founder of Guinness Brewery was married in this church in 1761. Our waitress was young and seemed new. She was adorable and had a foreign accent. She was puzzled at first when Bill ordered at G&T. He explained that it was gin and tonic and she shyly admitted she had never heard it called that before.

We enjoyed the beautiful reflection of the city lights in the river as we walked back to our hotel. It was calm, the sky was clear, and it was bit crisp.

We stopped at a local dive bar called Wind Jammers for one drink. This crowd seems very serious about their drinking!

Then we enjoyed our last call at The Ginger Man located beside our hotel.