My First Full Day in Ireland and Three Guinnesses Down

This morning my eyes snapped open. I was completely awake, excited to start my first complete day in Dublin and explore more of the city. I sat straight up in bed and looked around with a doofy smile plastered across my face. Upon further inspection, something felt a little off, though I couldn't put my finger on what it was. I gently lifted the corner of my window curtain to peer outside at my wonderful view

and looked out at pitch darkness. Grabbing my laptop, I quickly checked the time. Oh. 6:30am. After surfing the internet for a while, I went back to sleep until a more decent hour, had the weirdest dream ever, and woke back up at 10.

After a quick breakfast and some necessary shopping for the apartment - which included food shopping where I found this excellent product -

(red and green grapes in the same container)

Ian, Liz, Patrick, Andy and I went to the Guinness factory for lunch. We toured around the building, learning about the superior hops, barley, yeast, and water Guiness uses to make its beer. Some of the stuff was very interesting -

The yeast from the previous brew is mixed in with the next to ensure continuity of flavor. The yeast strain can be traced back to the 1900s, and some say to Arthur Guinness himself. It is so rare and important that there is an emergency store of it locked in a safe in case anything happens to the current supply.

The water used in the beer comes straight from the Wicklow Mountains.

Arthur Guinness, who started it all, in 1759 signed a 9,000 year lease that locked his rent in at the whopping price of 45 pounds per year for the duration of the lease. 

      We ate lunch at a nice little bar near the top of the building, and I learned that throughout most of Dublin it is against health code regulations to allow restaurant patrons to take food home with them, which is greatly going to affect my food ordering choices for the duration of the trip. Looks like I will be eating a lot soups and salads this semester, which is not altogether a bad thing. After the lunch, we went up to the gravity bar for our free pint of Guinness. The gravity bar is a wide open, circular room with 360 windows that look out over all of Dublin. It was really helpful to look at the maps they provide with important buildings pointed out and orient ourselves a little bit more with the city.

Gates to the brewery.

We are going the right way!

I took this one mostly to show Emma the funky rooftops. :)

The original 9,000 year lease.

Andy enjoying the view.

Liz and Ian displaying their free pints that only cost the 11 euro ticket price.

Me with my stout, and the very nice bartender behind me.

And Patrick.

The city that will be my home for the next four months.

We did some more exploring and stuff later, but it's 2am, I have to be up at 9, and the pictures are taking ten minutes each to upload. More at a later time! :)