I Spy with My Little Eye… Something that Starts with a G- and Ends with a -uinness

Today Emily and I decided to walk around Dublin. Sidney was busy that day and has been to Dublin before so we went off on our own. Dublin was not very hard to get around (praise the Lord) and we made it to Trinity College in no time. I wanted to see the Book of Kells after reading an insanely long article about it for my art history class so Emily and I got in line and prepared ourselves for the wait. We paid the admission price after waiting in line for 25 minutes—not as long as we thought it would be—and then walked around the exhibit, saw the folio (a folio is a term for a vellum page) of St. John at the beginning of his Gospel book, and then went up to Library, also called the Long Room, where all kinds of Old Irish written work is displayed and old books from who knows when line the shelves. There are busts of philosophers, writers, and important Irish men from history that line the bookshelves and face visitors as they walk through the hall. I may or may not have taken a selfie with Shakespeare’s bust because I am an English major and I got a little excited. It is also possible that I may have a photo of an old Irish drawing in a book that I should not have taken because of the “No Photography Please” slips of paper that were next to some of the older displays… 
Next up on the list was the Guinness Storehouse because visiting the storehouse is just something you do when you visit Dublin for the first time. We must have spent at least 3 hours there because the museum covers multiple floors and then you get to drink beer. Thankfully we got to Guinness no problem because we were able to follow our map with more success than that one lady in Edinburgh was able to. Emily and I took a quiz to test our alcohol IQ and got an 80% which is surprising because I know just about nothing about alcohol and drinking because I’ve never paid much attention to them. Next we went into the Guinness Academy and learned how to pour the perfect pint and both times I used the spigot to put beer in the glass I had to be told to put more in. I was playing it safe with my beer subconsciously. In any case, it turned out perfect (would I allow it to turn out any other way?) and I even have a certificate to prove it. We got our free pint of beer and went up to the Sky Lounge to drink it. It was crazy packed. There were also under-aged kids up in the lounge—not totally unusual—and they were getting their friends to let them have sips of their beer. I know there were a lot of people up there, but Guinness really needs to get a handle on that unless they want to have the wrong people notice the under-age drinking going on when it shouldn’t be. I did my waiting, 13 years of it, in Azkaban. Oh, right. That was Sirius Black, not me. I did 20 years of waiting so these tweeners can wait a couple more years until they reach the age limit in Europe to drink some Guinness. I’m probably asking too much, so I’m going to end this rant now.
Speaking of drinking, we decided to go check out some of the local bars tonight and got a hearty look at the locals and Dublin nightlife as well. I can assure you that Bachelorette parties in Ireland are just as loud and hilarious to watch as are those in the United States, in case you were wondering. The bartenders were quite nice to look at, and if tipping was a thing in Ireland they probably would have gotten a nice tip from Sidney and me. All I’ll say about the drinking part is that I had drinks with some very fun names that came in very fun colors and were quite good. But never fear, Emily was our DSG (designated sober girl because we aren’t allowed to drive) and Sidney and I had our wits about us so we got back to the ship no problem and hit the pillows.
Trinity College Long Room


The photo that probably shouldn't exist

It's me and Shakespeare! 

Guinness time! 
Sidney & I at the beginning of the night

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