My first Guinness — and other Irish firsts

April 27, 2011 Travel 3 comments

Today, I ventured down to the Dublin city centre where I walked the streets, sat in my first (real) Irish pub and learned how to pour a proper Guinness before trying it for myself.

Driving from Tallaght (a suburb of Dublin) to downtown, I got to see a lot of the city. We must have passed dozens of pubs in the 40-minute drive downtown. But what stuck with me, and continues to strike me, is the size of the homes. Keith’s mother pointed out these tiny homes that at one time would have housed a family of 18 or 19. They’re slightly bigger than my condo back in Toronto.

As I reflect on it, I haven’t really seen any homes close to what we have  back home. And I’m not even talking about mansions here, I’m talking about your typical family home. It’s just mind-blowing to me that homes back home — who have much smaller families (and have had much smaller families for a lot longer) — have these giant houses, whereas over here the homes are just so tiny and (at one time) fit so many people. It boggles my mind.

Here’s a look at some of the day’s events:

I went to Lush (yes, I had to) and got a royal wedding bath bomb, which we don’t have back home (ironically, since Canada is still part of the British commonwealth, while Ireland is totally independent). Now all I need is a TV in the bathroom, and I can soak in the tub with my citrus and lavender bath bomb while watching Will and Kate tie the knot.

I went to my first Irish pub, and had my first Irish beer (a Kilkenny)
My first beer in Ireland
Trying a shandy
After trying my Kilkenny, which I was not a fan of (though I did finish it), I tried a shandy — which is a beer with lemonade.

A blacklight in the bathroom stall
This blacklight was in the women’s bathrooms at the Irish pub — they were on top of the stalls. Apparently, they stop people from shooting up in the bathroom of the pub because it’s hard to find a vein under a blacklight. Who knew?

Off to the Guinness Factory we go
Guinness Factory

At the Guinness gates
Forget the Pearly Gates, these are the gates everyone really wants to cross, right? And no St. Peter guarding them either.

And we pour
After a brief instruction, Gemma and I pour our pints.

DSCF0633
Drinking the pint I poured — and yes, it was perfect. (Or “erfect” as this photo claims.)

My certificate
The certificate I got after learning how to “properly” pour a pint of Guinness at the Guinness factory.

You can view more of my holiday photos on Flickr, or follow along on Twitter as I tweet my trip adventures (with the hashtag #SarahInIreland). Tomorrow, we’re off to Killarney for a couple of days.

  • http://snarksquad.blogspot.com Lorraine

    I had no idea about the blacklight, but now I’ll probably always look up in public restrooms.

    I’m jealous of your Ireland traveling. I want beer and Ireland! To soothe myself, I might have to troll around the Lush website. I love Lush so hard. Bath bombs are the stuff of life.

    Lor

  • Danielle

    Looks like you’re having fun! I did know about the black light thing because when I was working on Tim Hortons back in high school, there was discussion about putting one in our bathroom because of the junkies!

  • W3

    If you see it around, you should try a McKenty! They’re a Scottish beer, but I think they export to Ireland, too. My family used to own that brewery WWAAAAAAAY back in the day before everyone jumped ship to come to the new world. So far as I know there’s no actual connection to my family these days, but it’s a fun piece of trivia and good beer!