We now have a new website for our pictures since most of you were having trouble viewing the Snapfish photos, and we wouldn't want you to miss out on seeing them!
http://picasaweb.google.com/eegrady
We promise this will work better :)
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Guinness is Good for You
A couple weekends ago we went to the Guinness Storehouse, the brewery in Dublin at St. James Gate. It was a really interesting place, and because Erin and Erica work at a hostel they got in for free (and Sarah got a discount)! The building is modeled on a giant pint glass, stretching up from the ground floor to the Gravity Bar at the very top. They have the original lease displayed in the entrance, signed by Arthur Guinness in 1979 and good for 9,000 years at an annual rent of £100- not a bad deal huh? The first part of the brewery explains the brewing process and details about barley, hops, yeast and water, the 4 ingredients used to make the beer. Guinness gets its dark color from the roasted barley and this one brewery alone uses 100,000 tons of Irish grown barley per year in the process.
Next we got a small taste of the new brew they are experimenting with in the tasting lab, which wasn’t too tasty; it was like a watered down version of regular Guinness. We then made our way through the history of Guinness advertising filled with old memorabilia which was really cool to see. There were lots of old bottles, coasters, stickers, posters, glasses, and a huge variety of other Guinness paraphernalia. “Guinness is good for you” was an old slogan used after some serious scientific researchers in the 1920s asked Guinness drinkers why they drink the beer, and they continuously heard the same reason: “because it makes me feel good.” For a long time people thought there were medical benefits associated with the beverage, so doctors used to prescribe it, and people also thought that it made them stronger. Next we learned about the history of the Guinness Book of World Records. None of us had ever made the connection before that the book was associated with the beer, though now the link seems pretty obvious. The story goes that in 1951 the managing director of the brewery went on a hunting party and got into an argument about what game bird was the fastest in Europe. After realizing that it was impossible to confirm this fact in reference books, and supposing that every night in pubs across the world people must debate about various topics, he had the idea for the book. It was first published in 1954, and the rest is history- it now holds its own record as the best-selling copyrighted book of all time.
One room in the storehouse was quite unique, it had a circular wall of small, rectangular pieces of paper posted from top to bottom where anyone can write whatever they want. People from all over the world come to the storehouse as it is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Dublin, so it was cool to peruse the wall and see what the people before us had written. Erica and Erin both left a message (Sarah wasn’t feeling creative at the moment). Erin wrote, “American girls love Guinness, it’s good for us!” and drew an American flag outlined by the words “Go grab a pint of Guinness.” Erica wrote, “On a rainy day drink Guinness! (In Ireland, that’s everyday!)” accompanied by a picture of an umbrella safely covering a pint of Guinness from raindrops.
The last stop on the tour was the Gravity Bar, which is at the top of the storehouse. It’s the tallest building in the city with glass walls, allowing for a 360 degree view of the city. It was pretty cloudy and foggy, but still great views. You get a free pint of Guinness included with the ticket, so we hung out and drank the delicious “black gold.” It’s served at 6 degrees Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit), and the proper way to pour it is to fill the glass at an angle about 75% of the way, and then wait for it to settle for about 90 seconds. Then you top off the head of the beer, and you’ve got a delicious pint! Guinness is sold in 150 countries around the world, with 10 million glasses sold every day (3 million of which are sold within the Republic of Ireland, despite a population of just over 4 million!). We all 3 have learned to appreciate the beer so central to Irish culture.
Next we got a small taste of the new brew they are experimenting with in the tasting lab, which wasn’t too tasty; it was like a watered down version of regular Guinness. We then made our way through the history of Guinness advertising filled with old memorabilia which was really cool to see. There were lots of old bottles, coasters, stickers, posters, glasses, and a huge variety of other Guinness paraphernalia. “Guinness is good for you” was an old slogan used after some serious scientific researchers in the 1920s asked Guinness drinkers why they drink the beer, and they continuously heard the same reason: “because it makes me feel good.” For a long time people thought there were medical benefits associated with the beverage, so doctors used to prescribe it, and people also thought that it made them stronger. Next we learned about the history of the Guinness Book of World Records. None of us had ever made the connection before that the book was associated with the beer, though now the link seems pretty obvious. The story goes that in 1951 the managing director of the brewery went on a hunting party and got into an argument about what game bird was the fastest in Europe. After realizing that it was impossible to confirm this fact in reference books, and supposing that every night in pubs across the world people must debate about various topics, he had the idea for the book. It was first published in 1954, and the rest is history- it now holds its own record as the best-selling copyrighted book of all time.
One room in the storehouse was quite unique, it had a circular wall of small, rectangular pieces of paper posted from top to bottom where anyone can write whatever they want. People from all over the world come to the storehouse as it is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Dublin, so it was cool to peruse the wall and see what the people before us had written. Erica and Erin both left a message (Sarah wasn’t feeling creative at the moment). Erin wrote, “American girls love Guinness, it’s good for us!” and drew an American flag outlined by the words “Go grab a pint of Guinness.” Erica wrote, “On a rainy day drink Guinness! (In Ireland, that’s everyday!)” accompanied by a picture of an umbrella safely covering a pint of Guinness from raindrops.
The last stop on the tour was the Gravity Bar, which is at the top of the storehouse. It’s the tallest building in the city with glass walls, allowing for a 360 degree view of the city. It was pretty cloudy and foggy, but still great views. You get a free pint of Guinness included with the ticket, so we hung out and drank the delicious “black gold.” It’s served at 6 degrees Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit), and the proper way to pour it is to fill the glass at an angle about 75% of the way, and then wait for it to settle for about 90 seconds. Then you top off the head of the beer, and you’ve got a delicious pint! Guinness is sold in 150 countries around the world, with 10 million glasses sold every day (3 million of which are sold within the Republic of Ireland, despite a population of just over 4 million!). We all 3 have learned to appreciate the beer so central to Irish culture.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Galway Luck, Galway Girls
We made it out of the city yet again for one of our many adventures. This time, we took a bus across the country (the thought of being able to take a bus across a country is still staggering) to Galway on the west coast, which only took about four hours. We checked in to our hostel, where we got one of our two nights for free because of Erin and Erica's job benefits from Abby Court! Sarah just pretended that she worked at Abby Court too and avoided questions from the receptionists so that she could the discount too. The job perks went even further: we booked bus tours for the following two days, which normally costs 20 Euro a day, and got it all for free (saving a total of 120 Euro between the three of us)! Anyway, we were all famished when we arrived and went on a quest to find an inexpensive lunch, finally settling on a delicious crepe café which happened to be right next to an outdoor market. The market was filled with aromas from various types of food- from freshly baked bread, to espresso, to fresh fish- as well local craftsmen showcasing their trade. After resisting the urge to buy everything in sight, we continued to wander around the medieval city. We walked along the beach and came across an intense soccer match with dozens and dozens of male spectators. As we walked by they stared at us like we were aliens from another planet, it was bizarre. Later that afternoon we stopped in a café for coffee and dessert, and then went back to the hostel to take both HOT and LONG showers- neither of which is possible in our bathroom at home! We went out that night for a few pints and both the pubs were really fun and lively.
The next morning we got up for our (free) tour of the Connemara region to the northwest of Galway. Our driver, Michael, was funny and informative, telling us all about the history of the region from legends of leprechauns and fairies to the potato famine. The countryside was scattered with remains of old castles, tiny houses that were abandoned and left to crumble because of the famine, and of course cows, sheep and horses. We first stopped at an old friary from the 14th century called Ross Errily Abbey, which was really interesting. We drove by many different lakes and through gorgeous mountains covered in ferns and speckled with colors of changing leaves. A highlight of the day was Kylemore Abbey, a castle from the late 19th century which currently is a Monastic home for nuns and a private school for girls. There are still a few rooms open to the public, and you can also explore the grounds to see the Neo-Gothic Church and the Victorian walled garden. The house itself, Erin noted, looks exactly like one of those 3-D puzzles, and is situated right on a lake surrounded by mountains- quite the picturesque setting. The Neo-Gothic church was pretty inside with its marble columns, and the garden was lovely with geometric shaped flowerbeds and patterned designs. That night we went hit up the town again in search of live music. First we stopped in a small pub and listened to a group of four old men play traditional Irish sounding melodies with a fiddle, recorder, and bodhran (an Irish frame drum covered with goat skin). We happily listened to the music for awhile, but unfortunately they finished playing shortly thereafter so we went to another pub across the street where two men were also playing music. They played guitars and sang traditional Irish songs that all the Irish people knew; it looked like great fun as the Irish crowd sang along and danced to the music. The three of us were highly entertained and had a great time watching the merriment, and now the song “Galway Girl” is definitely one of our new favorites.
We rose in the morning for another bus tour, this time heading to the Burren region south of Galway. Our driver was an old man named Des, who literally repeated himself all day, “We’re heading to the cliffs- be there in about 15 minutes, we’re heading to the cliffs- be there in about 15 minutes, in about 15 minutes we’ll be at the cliffs, the cliffs are where we’ll be in 15 minutes.” Really funny at first, but highly annoying after 7 hours. Anyhow, this area was vastly different from the day before; the changes in landscape happen so quickly it’s pretty amazing. The Burren mountains are not grassy but rather very rocky, filled with limestone bedrocks. The region is great for archaeology, one of the most famous sites being the Poulnabrone Dolmen, a megalithic tomb dating back to the Neolithic period about 5800 years ago (older than the Egyptian pyramids)!! We stopped in the village of Kilfenora- called the “city of crosses” because of its abundance of 12th century celtic crosses- before stopping at the Cliffs of Moher, the main attraction of the day. The cliffs are one of the biggest tourist attractions in Ireland and were really cool. They touch the Atlantic Ocean, making it the closest we will be to home until we actually come back next year. We were extremely lucky with the weather the entire weekend as it didn’t rain once in our three days there, but apparently had rained almost every day since June before our arrival! Because it wasn’t muddy we got to wander on parts on the cliffs that often would be too dangerous. Despite the sign that warned, “Please do not go beyond this point,” there were many people who ventured past it and we decided to follow suit. Erin was pretty nervous being so close to the cliff edge, but we made our way slowly and it was well worth it. The views were stunning and we had fun taking pictures (see our Picasa web album). It was an incredible weekend!!
The next morning we got up for our (free) tour of the Connemara region to the northwest of Galway. Our driver, Michael, was funny and informative, telling us all about the history of the region from legends of leprechauns and fairies to the potato famine. The countryside was scattered with remains of old castles, tiny houses that were abandoned and left to crumble because of the famine, and of course cows, sheep and horses. We first stopped at an old friary from the 14th century called Ross Errily Abbey, which was really interesting. We drove by many different lakes and through gorgeous mountains covered in ferns and speckled with colors of changing leaves. A highlight of the day was Kylemore Abbey, a castle from the late 19th century which currently is a Monastic home for nuns and a private school for girls. There are still a few rooms open to the public, and you can also explore the grounds to see the Neo-Gothic Church and the Victorian walled garden. The house itself, Erin noted, looks exactly like one of those 3-D puzzles, and is situated right on a lake surrounded by mountains- quite the picturesque setting. The Neo-Gothic church was pretty inside with its marble columns, and the garden was lovely with geometric shaped flowerbeds and patterned designs. That night we went hit up the town again in search of live music. First we stopped in a small pub and listened to a group of four old men play traditional Irish sounding melodies with a fiddle, recorder, and bodhran (an Irish frame drum covered with goat skin). We happily listened to the music for awhile, but unfortunately they finished playing shortly thereafter so we went to another pub across the street where two men were also playing music. They played guitars and sang traditional Irish songs that all the Irish people knew; it looked like great fun as the Irish crowd sang along and danced to the music. The three of us were highly entertained and had a great time watching the merriment, and now the song “Galway Girl” is definitely one of our new favorites.
We rose in the morning for another bus tour, this time heading to the Burren region south of Galway. Our driver was an old man named Des, who literally repeated himself all day, “We’re heading to the cliffs- be there in about 15 minutes, we’re heading to the cliffs- be there in about 15 minutes, in about 15 minutes we’ll be at the cliffs, the cliffs are where we’ll be in 15 minutes.” Really funny at first, but highly annoying after 7 hours. Anyhow, this area was vastly different from the day before; the changes in landscape happen so quickly it’s pretty amazing. The Burren mountains are not grassy but rather very rocky, filled with limestone bedrocks. The region is great for archaeology, one of the most famous sites being the Poulnabrone Dolmen, a megalithic tomb dating back to the Neolithic period about 5800 years ago (older than the Egyptian pyramids)!! We stopped in the village of Kilfenora- called the “city of crosses” because of its abundance of 12th century celtic crosses- before stopping at the Cliffs of Moher, the main attraction of the day. The cliffs are one of the biggest tourist attractions in Ireland and were really cool. They touch the Atlantic Ocean, making it the closest we will be to home until we actually come back next year. We were extremely lucky with the weather the entire weekend as it didn’t rain once in our three days there, but apparently had rained almost every day since June before our arrival! Because it wasn’t muddy we got to wander on parts on the cliffs that often would be too dangerous. Despite the sign that warned, “Please do not go beyond this point,” there were many people who ventured past it and we decided to follow suit. Erin was pretty nervous being so close to the cliff edge, but we made our way slowly and it was well worth it. The views were stunning and we had fun taking pictures (see our Picasa web album). It was an incredible weekend!!
Friday, October 10, 2008
"Hey, it's a potato!"
Erica’s sister Natalie and her husband Jesse came to visit last week to celebrate their 1 year anniversary, and to see 3 of their favorite people, of course. They spent a couple days with us here in Dublin, where all 5 of us were cramped in our tiny bedroom and, to their chagrin, realized that we weren’t kidding about our lack of hot water. Luckily the 3 of us had the weekend off and tagged along to their trip to Northern Ireland. We left early Saturday morning to pick up the rental car, and Jesse actually works for Enterprise so he got an amazing deal on the car. It was pretty funny seeing Jesse drive on the left side of road for the first time; at first he seemed a bit nervous but then quickly adjusted to it. The GPS really helped at first as the voice told us specifically where to turn, and it became such an integral part to our drive that we endearingly named her “Siobhan” (a typical Irish name pronounced Sha-von).
Siobhan led us to the outskirts of Dublin where we stopped briefly for a cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich. Where did we stop, you ask? A modern, clean and cheap café called McDonalds. Yes, dear friends, we stopped at a McDonalds that was really lovely and actually looked like a decent restaurant. After this we drove out of Dublin and through lovely country roads, and just past the town of Virginia (no lie!) we found a little place where we decided to take a scenic detour. Our detour took us to Lough Rammer, a lovely lake in the heart of the Irish countryside. Well, to be clear, the lake itself was lovely, but the shore where we stopped to look was anything but—it was littered with the remnants of many a day spent fishing: beer cans, empty bags of crisps and the like. However, the tranquility of the fishermen and the nice surrounding wooded area (not so littered with trash as the shore) made the lake a worthwhile detour.
Our detour to Lough Rammer didn’t really put us off schedule, and we made it to our first destination, Enniskillan, right around when we wanted to, approximately 2pm. Our destination in tiny Enniskillan was the castle. And what an underwhelming castle it is at first! There is only on old “castle looking” building. However, there is a really cool and interesting museum on the premises about the local regiment of soldiers through time, from medieval times through the world wars and even as recently as Korea and the Falkland Islands. The museum had an overwhelming number of artifacts, especially medals, which Erin found out when she tried to pull a drawer of medals out and it kept coming and coming and coming... so much so that she had to take many steps back to pull the drawer all the way out.
We grabbed lunch at a cute little café called the Jolly Sandwich in Enniskillan before hitting the road onto our destination for the night, Ballycastle, the town near the Giant's Causeway. We managed to make it there by about dinner time, and we had to find accommodation. It seemed like it was going to be a problem, but we talked to a woman in a bed and breakfast who called one of her friends who had a room free, and she gave us a good rate since the five of us crammed into a room meant for three people. It was actually quite humorous because we had 4 twin beds that we literally had to have right next to each other in order to fit, without an inch to spare; we felt like we were sleeping in one giant bed.
Anyway, we went out for a quick bite to eat and met a fellow Dubliner in the restaurant named Gino (who met up with us again in Dublin for Jesse’s birthday later in the week). He was travelling on his own, so we invited him out to the pub with us. That was just the beginning of our meeting of Irish people for the night! The locals at the pub were so nice, they just came up and began talking to us right away, and we had some interesting conversations about the changes in Northern Ireland in the last 10 years, the economy, the election in the states and what life is like in a little town like Ballycastle. We also inquired as to why all of the girls thought it was appropriate to wear little sundresses when it was easily in the lower 40's, plus wind chill, to which we got the hilarious reply, "oh, I just noticed that you all are all bundled up! This is warm for us," and a shrug and a laugh. We made our way back to the B&B for a few hours of sleep and had an early breakfast- a traditional Irish fully fry! It was quite good: sausages, ham, eggs, fresh soda bread, baked beans, a potato pancake, and lovely coffee and tea. It was enough calories in one meal for a full day, but the hiking/walking that we did later on certainly helped to burn it off!
After breakfast, we piled into the car and drove the 20 or so kilometres to the Giant's Causeway, stopping along the way to take photos of the cliffs jutting out into the sea, and, for a lucky minute, a rainbow right over the ocean. The weather was so perfect—blustery but clear and completely sunny. The kind of day where a bracing walk outside makes the wind feel wonderful on your face, but you still need a scarf and gloves... and sunglasses!
The Giant's Causeway was an amazing attraction. It is a formation of thousands upon thousands of hexagonal basalt rock columns formed by some ancient volcanic activity. There is only one other place like it in the world, and that is the counterpart across the sea in Scotland! So anyway, when we got there we set off for a few kilometre long cliff walk above the actual rock formation. The walk was so beautiful, and took forever, considering the numbers of photographs we were taking (posted on Snapfish). So we walked along the cliffs for a bit, then down a narrow staircase to the end of the formation to see something called the Smoke Stacks and the Amphitheatre, and then we made our way back along the cliff bases towards the main rock formations. It was so cool! You could clamor all over the columns, and it was absolutely breathtaking. Anyone who is thinking about coming to Ireland should definitely add this to the list….right at the top!
After we finished, it began to rain (of course) but we made our way back up to the car and by the time we were halfway there, the rain had ceased. So that worked out fine, because the sun came right out again. We drove down the scenic seaside road to the ruins of a castle right on the cliffs where we walked around for a short bit, and then we drove into a seaside tourist town for a late, delicious lunch in a pub. Then it was back in the car for the more direct route home straight down the East Coast of the country to Dublin. It was an extremely fun weekend!
Siobhan led us to the outskirts of Dublin where we stopped briefly for a cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich. Where did we stop, you ask? A modern, clean and cheap café called McDonalds. Yes, dear friends, we stopped at a McDonalds that was really lovely and actually looked like a decent restaurant. After this we drove out of Dublin and through lovely country roads, and just past the town of Virginia (no lie!) we found a little place where we decided to take a scenic detour. Our detour took us to Lough Rammer, a lovely lake in the heart of the Irish countryside. Well, to be clear, the lake itself was lovely, but the shore where we stopped to look was anything but—it was littered with the remnants of many a day spent fishing: beer cans, empty bags of crisps and the like. However, the tranquility of the fishermen and the nice surrounding wooded area (not so littered with trash as the shore) made the lake a worthwhile detour.
Our detour to Lough Rammer didn’t really put us off schedule, and we made it to our first destination, Enniskillan, right around when we wanted to, approximately 2pm. Our destination in tiny Enniskillan was the castle. And what an underwhelming castle it is at first! There is only on old “castle looking” building. However, there is a really cool and interesting museum on the premises about the local regiment of soldiers through time, from medieval times through the world wars and even as recently as Korea and the Falkland Islands. The museum had an overwhelming number of artifacts, especially medals, which Erin found out when she tried to pull a drawer of medals out and it kept coming and coming and coming... so much so that she had to take many steps back to pull the drawer all the way out.
We grabbed lunch at a cute little café called the Jolly Sandwich in Enniskillan before hitting the road onto our destination for the night, Ballycastle, the town near the Giant's Causeway. We managed to make it there by about dinner time, and we had to find accommodation. It seemed like it was going to be a problem, but we talked to a woman in a bed and breakfast who called one of her friends who had a room free, and she gave us a good rate since the five of us crammed into a room meant for three people. It was actually quite humorous because we had 4 twin beds that we literally had to have right next to each other in order to fit, without an inch to spare; we felt like we were sleeping in one giant bed.
Anyway, we went out for a quick bite to eat and met a fellow Dubliner in the restaurant named Gino (who met up with us again in Dublin for Jesse’s birthday later in the week). He was travelling on his own, so we invited him out to the pub with us. That was just the beginning of our meeting of Irish people for the night! The locals at the pub were so nice, they just came up and began talking to us right away, and we had some interesting conversations about the changes in Northern Ireland in the last 10 years, the economy, the election in the states and what life is like in a little town like Ballycastle. We also inquired as to why all of the girls thought it was appropriate to wear little sundresses when it was easily in the lower 40's, plus wind chill, to which we got the hilarious reply, "oh, I just noticed that you all are all bundled up! This is warm for us," and a shrug and a laugh. We made our way back to the B&B for a few hours of sleep and had an early breakfast- a traditional Irish fully fry! It was quite good: sausages, ham, eggs, fresh soda bread, baked beans, a potato pancake, and lovely coffee and tea. It was enough calories in one meal for a full day, but the hiking/walking that we did later on certainly helped to burn it off!
After breakfast, we piled into the car and drove the 20 or so kilometres to the Giant's Causeway, stopping along the way to take photos of the cliffs jutting out into the sea, and, for a lucky minute, a rainbow right over the ocean. The weather was so perfect—blustery but clear and completely sunny. The kind of day where a bracing walk outside makes the wind feel wonderful on your face, but you still need a scarf and gloves... and sunglasses!
The Giant's Causeway was an amazing attraction. It is a formation of thousands upon thousands of hexagonal basalt rock columns formed by some ancient volcanic activity. There is only one other place like it in the world, and that is the counterpart across the sea in Scotland! So anyway, when we got there we set off for a few kilometre long cliff walk above the actual rock formation. The walk was so beautiful, and took forever, considering the numbers of photographs we were taking (posted on Snapfish). So we walked along the cliffs for a bit, then down a narrow staircase to the end of the formation to see something called the Smoke Stacks and the Amphitheatre, and then we made our way back along the cliff bases towards the main rock formations. It was so cool! You could clamor all over the columns, and it was absolutely breathtaking. Anyone who is thinking about coming to Ireland should definitely add this to the list….right at the top!
After we finished, it began to rain (of course) but we made our way back up to the car and by the time we were halfway there, the rain had ceased. So that worked out fine, because the sun came right out again. We drove down the scenic seaside road to the ruins of a castle right on the cliffs where we walked around for a short bit, and then we drove into a seaside tourist town for a late, delicious lunch in a pub. Then it was back in the car for the more direct route home straight down the East Coast of the country to Dublin. It was an extremely fun weekend!
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