I can't remember the name of this church but how cool does it look?!!
I woke up before Danny and Mike and decided to go down to the kitchen to check out the free breakfast that they offer. It was just toast and jam and then tea or coffee. So nothing too exciting but it’s included in the price so why not. I didn’t see the coffee at first and made a tea which I then drank really really fast so I could make a copy. This American guy sat down beside me who was really nice and REALLY American. He made me laugh a lot. But it was nice to chat with him and then Mike came down and sat with me for a bit. They had the TNT magazine there as well so it was nice to read that.
When we were all showered and ready to go we headed out on our way to the Guinness store house.
:)
It was rather far away and quite the walk and at one point we thought maybe we weren’t even going in the right direction any more but luckily we were. On the way there we got caught in a rain storm which was pretty crazy. All of a sudden it just started pouring down with rain and we had to run for cover. But it only last a couple minutes and then it stopped raining. We passed by a whole bunch of really cool buildings along the way which was pretty cool as we got to see more of Dublin.
We finally made it to the Guinness store house and we bought our tickets to go in. Students were 10 euros for a ticket but that includes entrance and a free Guinness at the bar at the very top.
Barley!
The first level was the shop which was really cool. There was lots of cool stuff to buy but everything was really expensive as you would expect it to be in the Guinness place. The next level you go up explains all the different ingredients into making the beer etc. I believe the 4 things are barley, hops, yeast, and water. Apparently there is a secret stash of the yeast locked up in a safe in case anything happens to their supply they will have a little bit of it so they can start growing it again. There was this wicked water fountain in there as well which was really pretty. The next level up explains how the beer is made and all the different steps. The first thing you learn about is the barley and how they roast it. You get to watch a little video about it and then you can try some roasted barley if you like. DO NOT, and I repeat DO NOT try the roasted barley. It is the grossest thing in the World you will ever taste and I totally regret trying it.
Cool pic!
It tastes like what I would imagine dirt would taste like and the taste lingers in your mouth for ages. Honestly soo gross!
After that you get to learn a little bit about Alexander Guinness (the genius behind the beer). The guy was pretty sweet. He signed a 9000 year lease on the St. James gate brewery for only 45 pounds a year. Well this was back in the day. I am assuming they now own it or are paying a lot more then 45 pounds a year lol. After that you come to the taster place where you get to try a bit of the beer. So we all tried it and we all decided that we don’t like Guinness at all haha. After that you come to a little cafe where you can buy a coffee and a muffin or something. I bought a coffee because I needed a caffeine fix and also to get that horrible taste of the barley out of my mouth.
Guinness Storehouse
I honestly thought that was the end of the tour but it turns out we had about 4 more floors to go! The building is shaped really cool as well. It’s in the shape of a pint of Guinness which is really cool.
The next level was all about advertising etc which was pretty sweet and you get to learn about the Guinness book of World records which actually was made by the guy who owned Guinness at the time. The people who came up with the Guinness, Genius slogan were pretty smart as it’s a really good marketing slogan. The next level was the archives of Guinness and you could read up about all this old stuff about the company. Turns out during WW1 Guinness used to ship packages to their employees who were serving in the war every 3 months. And when the war was over everyone who served (or the family members of those who passed away) were given a plaque and a book oh photos of all the people who were in the war.
Trippy picture!!!
It sounds like Guinness is pretty good towards their employees which is really nice I guess. There is also this massive messaging board where people can write messages and put them up etc. It was really cool to read all the messages from people around the World and me, Danny, and Mike made a travbuddy message and put it up hehe. So after you are done looking around at everything you go up to the Gravity Bar which is the highest point in the Store House and has a look out all over Dublin. This is also where you get your free pint of Guinness. The three of us all got cokes though because we did not want the beer lol. The gravity bar is pretty sweet as you can see all of Dublin from up there. As we were walking around these people got up from their seats so we actually got a really good place to sit down which was pretty sweet.
I currently call London my home :) hehe
When we left the storehouse we stopped off at this discount liquor store. We decided to pre-drink before we went out tonight so we wouldn’t spend as much money and we decided to defy the hostel rules and to drink in our room lol. Since Mike doesn’t drink it was just Danny and I and we bought 5 WKD’s to split between us. We also stopped at a 2 euro store which was pretty sweet. On the walk back we decided to walk along the river instead of through the city so that we could see more of Dublin. On the way back we came across a post office so we got to mail our post cards yay. We were pretty hungry by this point and decided to stop for lunch. I can’t remember the name of the place where we stopped but it was just a burger place and we got food there.
The view of Dublin from the Gravity bar
It was alright but really unhealthy.
After that we went back to the hostel and were just chilling out and I actually fell asleep for a bit. A bit then turned into 2 hours haha. In that time I think Danny and Mike went exploring around while I was sleeping and then when I woke up they were back and they were sleeping. I went to the common room and just watched some TV. I was watching the show Everyone Hates Chris on MTV. After a while Mike woke up and came and watched some TV with me. After the show Wannabe a pop star with Chanelle came on and that is the stupidest show ever! The girl is soo lame and annoying and we had to turn it off. We decided to go and do some more exploring. Danny was still sleeping and didn’t want to wake up so Mike and I decided to wander over to the other side of the river as we hadn’t been over there yet.
Walking along the river
The other side of the river wasn’t as nice as our side. It seemed a bit sketchy to tell the truth. We weren’t really looking for anything in particular and just wandering around and we came across a shopping mall. We went in there and found a Tescos and decided to have a shop around for dinner. Mike bought some soup and I bought an instant pasta for Danny and I. Since he was sleeping he didn’t have any choice in what we were eating lol. Mike also wanted to get a sandwich but all the sandwiches they had seemed pretty sketchy so we decided to stop off at Marks and Spencer to get one. Marks and Spencers didn’t actually have any left though so he bought a salad instead. When we got back to the hostel we woke up Danny and headed to the kitchen to make our dinner. The pasta actually turned out to be really yummy so that was a bonus.
Opening the drinks on the bunk bed lol
After dinner we started to get ready for our big night out in Dublin! We were in the room and we cracked open the WKD’s and started our pre-drinking. We didn’t have a bottle opener or anything so Danny opened them on the side of the bunk bed luckily. It was fun getting ready and we all looked so nice! After we finished all the drinks we decided to go out to Fitzsimons to start the night there until 9pm when Helen would be meeting us. Fitzsimons was actually really busy as they had the Euro football on. It was the Netherlands versus France. We started up at the roof top terrace but there were so many people smoking up there that we decided to head down one level to the bar.
Defying hostel rules and drinking inside!! haha
We couldn’t sit at the tables as it was only for people who were ordering food so we just stood at the bar. The bartender was really funny. He was a really cute Irish guy but he was really into the football and he kept swearing and mumbling under his breath. He clearly did not like the French and was rooting for the Netherlands to win. It was just funny to watch him get angry when the French scored. But in the end the Netherlands won 4-1 yay! After 9pm Helen came and met us! We had one more drink at Fitzsimons and then we decided to head out to another bar.
Helen had told Danny about all the good gay bars that are in Dublin and since this trip is actually for Danny’s birthday we decided to head to a gay bar.
Danny, me, and Mike at Fitzsimons
The first place we stopped at was the Front Lounge. It was pretty trendy and really nice. I have never been to a gay bar before but it was pretty nice. There were a lot of gorgeous men here but none of them were interested in me haha. We stayed there for one drink and then decided to go to the George. The George is apparently the best gay bar in Dublin and we were really looking forward to going here. We weren’t sure if we were going to get in though because sometimes you have to know a regular there to get in and we had all never been there before except for Helen. But we all got in with no problem and had to pay 10 euros. We went upstairs right away and there was a performance on the main stage which was really fun to watch. It was two women singing but I’m pretty sure they aren’t actually women haha. I really liked this bar though.
Danny, me, Mike, and Helen at the Front Lounge
They played awesome music that was really fun to dance to.
So that’s what we did all night. Just danced. We didn’t go onto the main dance floor as it was too crowded and hot. We just stayed by our little table and danced but oh well. There were lots of people who were just dancing anywhere so that’s what we did too. Plus my high heels were really hurting my feet so I took them off and I didn’t want to move away from the table where there was spilt drinks and glass etc. I had so much fun though and Mike and I were totally dancing our asses off! It was so great. But then all of a sudden they stopped playing fast fun music and turned on some boring slow songs. What the hell is that?!?! After that we decided to leave as we were all pretty drunk and tired. Oh I forgot to mention about the gross couple! Earlier in the night there was these two guys who were SOOO drunk and falling all over the place.
Partying in Dublin. What a fun night!!
They were trying to dance with each other but they were so smashed that they were actually just falling over. Talk about sloppy drunks eh? And they were really gross to watch so I took a picture of them obviously haha.
We left the bar and decided to go and get some food and went to Charlie’s Chinese. Mike and I shared a chicken chow mein and it was really good! We said good bye to Helen and she got into a cab and then we went back to the hostel and went to bed. It was such a fun night out and Dublin has some really good clubs and places to go!
