October 16th
Whoops! We get into town and find the Dublin Tourist Information Centre and
discover a few snags in our plan. We'd planned to visit Dublin Castle first, but it doesn't
open until later in the day today. Kilmainham Gaol isn't even open today.
Also, at the desk we're at ![[Footnote8]](images/foot.gif){kind=small}
, they say tours
to New Grange only run on Thursdays and Saturdays. Okay, this is going to take some
thought, so Brian and I step outside to ponder the situation.
Well, after a bit of pondering, and consulting my list of things I wanted to see in Dublin,
Brian and I decide that we'll go to the Guinness Hopstore for the tour
(and the complimentary pint) and then to The Old Jameson Distillery, back downtown
and we'll find a pay phone (and figure out how to use it), call the B&B and see if Jim
has arrived, and then try and get to New Grange, and that would make a pretty good day.
Right, then. We walk to the Guinness Hopstore, and in spite of being a little confused about
the exact geography, we get there. Again, we could've taken a bus, if we'd had a map
showing the bus lines.
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The Guinness Brewery |
(23K) |
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The Guinness Brewery |
(87K) |
The Guinness Hopstore is kinda cool. As we enter, we're struck by the aroma of hops. On the tour, the guide mentions that there haven't been any hops actually stored in the building for over 40 years, but the aroma remains from all the hop oil that has seeped into the wooden floors of the building. We get a tour that covers most of the steps of the brewing of Guinness, but interestingly enough, the guide never mentions the part of the recipe that includes adding a bit of soured Guinness (from a previous batch) to a new batch to impart that special sour flavor. I suspect they still do this, but it's not covered because to folks who don't brew, it sounds icky. A bit of trivia they do cover is the fact that Guinness has 1000 year lease on the property (for some small amount), including all the water they need for brewing at a rate of £10/year (double-check the number), which effectively sets the water prices in Dublin at FREE.
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The Old Jameson Distillery |
(43K) |
From the Guinness Hopstore, it's a fairly short walk (or would be, if we didn't get confused
by the streets again)
and having had a pint of Guinness before noon has
braced us for the distillery tour and the shot of Jameson that will follow.
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The Four Courts (notice the construction) |
(48K) |
Once we find the Old Jameson Distillery, we discover we've gotten there five minutes too late, and have to wait almost a half-hour for the next English-language tour. That's okay, they have a gift shop and a café, so we've got something to do, but I'm glad we didn't plan a real tight schedule. The tour starts with a ten-minute propaganda film, and then we get to walk through the steps of making Jameson. The interesting thing is the explanation of the difference between Bourbon, Scotch, and Irish whisky. Bourbon is distilled once, Scotch twice, and Irish thrice. Bourbon and Irish have the malt roasted in closed kilns, and Scotch uses malt that's roasted in a kiln that lets the peat-smoke in (thus the smoky flavor of Scotch). It's a bit of trivia about the making of whisky that I hadn't known before, and an interesting tidbit. The one disappointment is that we started the tour (before the movie) with a very pretty tour guide, but after the movie we had a less attractive guide who was also new on the job, and didn't know all her lines.
We're done with Jameson (and the complimentary shot was indeed smooth), and it's time to walk back to the City Centre so we can try and contact Jim. Along the way, we pass the Four Courts (of Justice), which are partially hidden by scaffolding (more renovation) and walk along Temple Bar for the second time of the day. It being about lunchtime, things are quite a bit busier there than they were at 9:30 on a Saturday morning when we walked through the first time. We also take a few more pictures of Christ Church Cathedral, but this time with a better sky behind it.
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Christchurch Cathedral again |
(43K) |
We find a payphone, and on the third try, I dial the number for the B&B correctly. Jim
has arrived, and we give him directions to meet us at Trinity College, which is right on the
10 line, and only a block or two from the Tourist Centre, whence a bus to New Grange leaves
at (we think) 14:30. We spend a little over a half-hour waiting for Jim, and make it to the
Tourist Centre at 14:20, only to discover that the bus left at 14:15. Man! We keep missing
things by five minutes.
Since New Grange is out for today, we decide to get some lunch. It's probably just as well -- we were getting pretty hungry. We grab a ham sandwich and a pint in a convenient pub, and we're feeling qutie refreshed. Even Jim looks like he's got some life back in him (he's been up for N hours, and arrived in Dublin as early as he did because he took a Ryanair flight from London to Dublin). We start walking to Dublin Castle and while I'm pretty sure I know where I want to get, it's tough getting there, since there seems to be a solid wall of shops in the way. Turns out the shops are up against the castle, and we eventually walk far enough around the castle that we find the main gate. I think we took the wrong way around, but again, the cheap tourist maps just don't show enough detail to know that until it's too late.
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We get the tour, and there are impressive state rooms, the throne used by the English Governor, and suchlike. We're also told that the castle served as a Red Cross hospital during World War I, and James Connolly was brought here (with broken legs) briefly before being hauled off to Kilmainham Gaol to be executed in 1916. Once again, I'm struck by the sheer number of people killed by the English for trying to gain independance.
We also learn on the tour that the River Pottle used to fill the moat of the Castle. Most of the moat was filled years ago, and the river is underground within the city now. A few years back, there was enough rain that the river flooded the castle from underneath, which brought on some excavation to fix the problem. They ended up unearthing portions of the old wall and moat, which are interesting to see. Also there are now pumps installed so there won't be more flooding.
The tour of Dublin Castle has the most attractive tour-gal of the lot. I'm almost immediately smitten, and wish I'd taken a picture of her. She definitely had my complete attention during the tour.
Jim's about had it for the day, and after a couple days of stomping around Dublin, Brian and I are having tired feet, too. We decide that's enough touristing for now, and it's time to head back to the B&B to drop the stuff and then off to a pub for some food and drink.
Dinner is at Hanlon's again. Jim likes the place, and the food is good (again). We actually survive through more beers than I'd expected, and end up going to sleep about 2130 or so.
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