My goodness, my Guinness

This past weekend, I took the five hour bus ride to Dublin. I didn't want to stay in a shared-room hostel, so I opened up the wallet and got a nice hotel room.

One of the main things I went to see was the Book of Kells, hosted at the renowned Trinity College. The book is an ornately made 9th century edition of the gospels. The exhibition was interesting, but perhaps overpriced. Also, no photos were allowed. Now, I understand that light can damage certain items, and I wouldn't trust people with cameras near the actual book. But why can't people take pictures of printed, new museum-type display posters? Or of the library?

After the College, I carried on to my main destination, the Guinness Storehouse.
Although the storehouse, which used to be part of the working brewery until 1988, is now very modernized, I still enjoyed myself. I wandered slowly through the seven stories of the building and had lunch at the brewery restaurant. I also took my complimentary pint at one of the in-house bars where they teach you how to pour a proper pint. (That's a Kevin-poured pint in the photo above.) Because I was at the Guinness brewery, I felt there was nothing wrong with having three pints of brew starting at noon. Somewhat surprisingly, the brewery had the cheapest beer I encountered in town.

I then staggered back into the sunlight to visit Kilmainham Gaol, an old jail that played an important role in the events surrounding the rising of 1916.The jail tour was quite informative, but not the most exciting of tourist attractions. Still, I felt like I needed to mix up some history with the more commercial tourist visits.

I considered going to the old Jameson distillery, but I had read mixed reviews online and it is no longer an active distillery.

Overall, I had a good, if expensive, time in Dublin. However, I don't know if I will get back to Ireland, so I felt it had to be done.

Photos from the trip can be found here.