Monday, 20 August 2012

Leaving Dublin

Today was such a calm and relaxing day, I got up at 8 o'clock (Dad got up at 4, sucker :P) to go down for a complimentary breakfast in the lobby of our our hotel. Afterwards we collected our things and headed out to explore the city more and to slowly go towards the Guinness Storehouse. Of course on our way over I found something that I couldn't resist checking out, a comicshop.

I must admit, I was impressed. They had a large selection of both comics and memorabilia which were displayed in a fashion I could not have designed the place better myself. Don't worry, that's all I will bore you with of that, just thought I should tell you that I'm still me over here.

After stopping for a few pictures along the way we eventually made our way to the Guinness Storehouse. With me having the Student's rate, and my dad grabbing the Senior's we saved 6 dollars right off the bat. The storehouse takes you on a trip through Guinness's whole brewing cycle, which is actually very well designed if you are interested in the process. As interesting as the self-guided tour was, dad and I wanted to quickly make our way to the top where we got... You guessed it, free beer. From the top we could easily see all of Dublin, the tower's walls are made of glass on the top floor and Dublin is a pretty flat city. I actually had my first “we aren't in Kansas anymore” moment up there when it became clear to me that we couldn't see any mountains.

Not yet satisfied with a our Irish tourist experience we went to go see the Book of Kells which was on display at Trinity Collage. If you are really interested in the book I would recommend you research it online. The tour was fun in a museum-y kind of way, but for the vast mysterious and exciting kind of history this book has it was a bit of a let down. It was interesting enough but you were given very little information on the book itself and only saw the one page of the book. However on your way out of the room the book is in you are taken through a room called the Long Room. I wish I was allowed to take pictures of this place, it was breathtaking. Cases upon cases of books and historical artifacts lined the walls in a way that just reminded me of the library in Hogwarts. There were also a solid 15 busts lining the aptly named “long” halls of famous writers from all over Historic Europe. If I understood the french woman speaking into the News camera it was the Library they based the Jedi Library off of.

Finishing this we decided we needed another drink, so we slowly made our way back to the Rock n' Roll bar Bruxelle's for another drink. Unfortunately on the way over I walked past a music store that was having a closing out sale. So naturally I had to take a step inside to see what was up. Apparently they just weren't selling the same amount they used to (they blamed pirating). So, not has much is different over here on that front as well. Luckily Bruxelle's was the perfect place to fix the blues. With more Rock n' Roll playing followed by a soccer game. The rest of our night was just a nice way to finish our short time in Dublin.

Tomorrow we're leaving Dublin to go to some small hostel somewhere, not sure where and I'm too lazy to wake dad to ask him (check the itinerary if you're super curious). I'm excited to start the road trip portion of our trip regardless.

My mind seems to always be drifting back home, thinking of you guys a lot. I'll keep you posted when I can.

-Matt

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