Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Being as it's St. Patrick's Day; the day we all dig out the green buried in our closet, re-discover our love of Guinness, and speak with an accent that truthfully doesn't even come close to being accurate, I thought a blast from the past from my trip to Ireland would be fitting:

"Who needs sleep when there is beer involved? I asked myself this question after an attempted nap at my hotel. Apparently I checked into the room that is *this* close to the main conversation section of the hallway, where you stop to chat about (loudly) what you did last night, how you felt this morning and what your plans are this evening.

So, after a hot shower where I had a bath at the same time (they have the strangest taps here) I crawled into my walking shoes and triple espresso induced, off to the Guinness Storehouse I went.

What harm could a 20 oz pint of strong beer cause with only 3 hours of sleep and international jet lag??

It took me about 40 minutes to walk to the Guinness Storehouse, it was warm, nice scenery and I even go to walk through the 'bad part of' Dublin. If that's their description of a bad part of town, they've never been to New York City on a Saturday night pre 9-11.

The factory tour was great - more of a museum styled visit as opposed to a brewery visit. Regardless I got to sample Guinness twice and my misgivings about it being bitter and heavy couldn't be further from the truth. It was refreshing, tasty and I could see me having a liquid dinner more often than naught.

Cheesiest part was one of the mini video's they were playing where they describe how they roast the hops and then taste them. 'Mmmmmmm, now that's tasty!' is declared by our online director. I and another tourist both burst out laughing simultaneously, sharing a joke from across the cultures. Love cheesy - makes the best part of the journey sometimes.

Ah, the view from the 7th floor pub at the top is spectacular, and the ice cold pint went rather nicely with it. Got a lovely photo of Mr. Pickles enjoying the beer, but sadly won't be able to upload photos until I get home. Could have been the jet lag, could have been my allergy to toddlers, but the 3 year old screaming at that decibel only toddlers can pull off every 23 seconds and then giggle to which is parents were immune, caused me to drink my beer rather fast.

That's OK, the walk home with a jet lag and a beer glow was very pleasant. Until I realization that I had about 15 minutes to go and beer on an empty stomach does make a lady need the facilities........

Did our meet and greet last night, 33 of us in total. I was so incoherent by this time I fear I wasn't very friendly, quite literally seeing double. So after my glass of wine (as you do) I crawled back upstairs to my room and had a snack (yes I still travel with my 12 pounds of granola bars and trail mix) I crashed.

10.5 hours of sleep later, I feel I'm ready to go off. Today a book too old to touch, an ancient cathedral, a wander around the city then my personal highlight: Giant's Causeway. Kept my approach shoes out so I can see as much as possible there!"

The Irish Experience explores Ireland as well as Northern Ireland circumnavigating the Green Isle and was a wonderful exploration into this beautiful, albeit wet lands: https://www.trafalgar.com/can/tours/irish-experience/summer-2015

Fancy a fresh pint of Guinness yourself? email for details

PurpleNed
Travel. Skydive. Repeat.