Up very early this morning to ensure we are ready for the Guinness Brewery Tour. But firstly there was a hiccup with our hotel bookings before we left Australia and Wotif.com had to re-arrange tonight’s accommodation in a different location to where we have been staying. So therefore we need to get our luggage packed and then need to store it at the current hotel until this afternoon when I am picking up a car for 4 days so we can see some of the countryside. To confuse you even more after our touring we are coming back to stay 2 nights at the original hotel we have been staying in before flying home.
We will not fit all the luggage into the car we have hired so are splitting two cases to put our needed item to take with us and leaving the others at the original hotel till we return on Monday night. I am sure you are confused I had to explain it twice to the boys who are with me!
We had breakfast at 8.00am and then got a taxi to the Guinness Storehouse. When the taxi driver found out we only just arrived in the city he gave us a running commentary on the locations we were passing on the way. Unfortunately we had heard it all the day on our bus tour but it was good to know he had his facts right.
I got him to drop us off at the main entry to the brewery itself so the boys could get some photos of the entry.
We then had to walk around to the rear of the brewery to enter where the tour starts from; this allowed us many photo opportunities in front of various Guinness signs on the brewery buildings.
I will not go into much detail here of the set up of the Guinness Brewhouse displays but you can read about it here where I wrote about it when I was there in 2008.
Our tour was to start at 9.30am and we were first of the public into the brewery today. Our personal tour guide Nick, walked us through to exhibition to explain the history of Guinness to us.
When he asked about our trip and we told him and that I was a Guinness collector he said I would possibly tell him more than he told us. We made our way through the displays listening to his descriptions of various parts of the workings of the brewery. It was a very good tour.
During the tour there were a few opportunities to sample the beer. A small glass of Guinness while getting explanation of the taste,
followed by a lesson in how to pour the perfect pint. This allowed us all to pour a pint and receive a certificate saying we had mastered the craft of pouring a pint of Guinness.
Of course then the pint had to be consumed. Then at the end of the tour our entry ticket allowed us to get another free pint. Of course with me not drinking it allowed the others to share an extra pint. Then whilst we were standing in the bar we talked to some other people who even gave us some of their free tickets.
Then it was off to lunch in the Brewery restaurant where we were provided with free lunch, drinks included, so another free pint of Guinness was consumed with the meal.
It was then off to the Brewery Shop to pick up some memorabilia. Once this was paid for it was time to finish up at Guinness, we were actually in the brewery for 6 hours.
It was then time for me to go pick up the hire car we had booked so we caught a taxi directly from the Brewery to the car hire place and got the car.
Driving back to our accommodation for tonight should have been an easy task but we made it difficult by deciding to use a map of Dublin we had instead of putting on the GPS unit that came with the car!! A lot of the roads in the area we had to drive were one way which was not obvious on the tourist map we had. So a trip that should have taken about 10 minutes took about 25 minutes, but we did get to see some more of Dublin as we were driving.
Our new accommodation for tonight is Staunton’s on the Green. It is a three storey Georgian Style guest house on the eastern side of a large public garden which is called St Stephen’s Green. That is also the name of the suburb area. We were split up into our rooms and had about an hour of time to get settled in before heading out again.
Tonight we are going to a football (soccer) international. Dublin is hosting a four nation tournament called the Carling’s Four Nations Cup. The four nations playing are Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Tonight’s game is between Wales and Northern Ireland. I had purchased the tickets on line before leaving home.
From my 2008 trip when I watched both a Gaelic football and a Hurling match, I am on a mailing list with Ireland’s main ticketing agency and tried to purchase the tickets directly but there was no option for people to purchase tickets internationally. I had sent them an email stating that I could not purchase the tickets on-line and they actually changed the whole website ticketing page to allow me to do so.
We took off for the game on foot knowing we would need at some stage to get a taxi to complete the trip. We stopped at Riley’s Pub on the way and checked out the fine looking old bar.
Whilst checking the walls for interesting photos, stories etc I saw a newspaper article saying that this was actually a new pub in a building that used to be a chemist shop. It was built in the old style and looked exactly like it was very old not like the knock out style of Irish pubs you see around the world.
Getting a taxi we arrived at the ground about 30 minutes before kickoff. I had to go the ticket office to pick up the tickets. Unfortunately for me the box office was not at the stadium but about a 10 minute walk from there. So off I went to pick up the tickets.
Safely back with them I was informed due to the small amount of tickets sold they had not opened the section of the stadium where we supposed to sit. So instead of sitting on the side of the ground in a great position we were sent to an area directly behind the goal.
The game was held at Aviva Stadium which is a brand new stadium built on the site of Lansdowne Road ground, which is the home ground of Irish Rugby.
I had been there previously in 1991 to watch games at the 1991 Rugby World Cup. The old ground had a lot of atmosphere that this giant concrete stadium will never get but the facilities are so much better. In 1991 we sat inside the fence around the ground on wooden seats they had put in especially for the world cup so they could get more people into the ground.
The soccer game itself was not real exciting with Wales winning 2 – 0. It was a good experience to see the match the only thing was it was a dry ground, there was no alcohol sold at the ground so the boys had a chance dry out a bit!!!!!
After the game we came back to the guest house via a supermarket where we got some supplies, once again it was after 10 o’clock so the beer section of the supermarket was closed, another wasted opportunity. I was however able to get another 4 Pringles tubes for my collection.
Everyone turned in straight away and got some time to re-charge our batteries for the three day road trip we are heading off to tomorrow.
We will not fit all the luggage into the car we have hired so are splitting two cases to put our needed item to take with us and leaving the others at the original hotel till we return on Monday night. I am sure you are confused I had to explain it twice to the boys who are with me!
We had breakfast at 8.00am and then got a taxi to the Guinness Storehouse. When the taxi driver found out we only just arrived in the city he gave us a running commentary on the locations we were passing on the way. Unfortunately we had heard it all the day on our bus tour but it was good to know he had his facts right.
I got him to drop us off at the main entry to the brewery itself so the boys could get some photos of the entry.
We then had to walk around to the rear of the brewery to enter where the tour starts from; this allowed us many photo opportunities in front of various Guinness signs on the brewery buildings.
I will not go into much detail here of the set up of the Guinness Brewhouse displays but you can read about it here where I wrote about it when I was there in 2008.
Our tour was to start at 9.30am and we were first of the public into the brewery today. Our personal tour guide Nick, walked us through to exhibition to explain the history of Guinness to us.
When he asked about our trip and we told him and that I was a Guinness collector he said I would possibly tell him more than he told us. We made our way through the displays listening to his descriptions of various parts of the workings of the brewery. It was a very good tour.
During the tour there were a few opportunities to sample the beer. A small glass of Guinness while getting explanation of the taste,
followed by a lesson in how to pour the perfect pint. This allowed us all to pour a pint and receive a certificate saying we had mastered the craft of pouring a pint of Guinness.
Of course then the pint had to be consumed. Then at the end of the tour our entry ticket allowed us to get another free pint. Of course with me not drinking it allowed the others to share an extra pint. Then whilst we were standing in the bar we talked to some other people who even gave us some of their free tickets.
Then it was off to lunch in the Brewery restaurant where we were provided with free lunch, drinks included, so another free pint of Guinness was consumed with the meal.
It was then off to the Brewery Shop to pick up some memorabilia. Once this was paid for it was time to finish up at Guinness, we were actually in the brewery for 6 hours.
It was then time for me to go pick up the hire car we had booked so we caught a taxi directly from the Brewery to the car hire place and got the car.
Driving back to our accommodation for tonight should have been an easy task but we made it difficult by deciding to use a map of Dublin we had instead of putting on the GPS unit that came with the car!! A lot of the roads in the area we had to drive were one way which was not obvious on the tourist map we had. So a trip that should have taken about 10 minutes took about 25 minutes, but we did get to see some more of Dublin as we were driving.
Our new accommodation for tonight is Staunton’s on the Green. It is a three storey Georgian Style guest house on the eastern side of a large public garden which is called St Stephen’s Green. That is also the name of the suburb area. We were split up into our rooms and had about an hour of time to get settled in before heading out again.
Tonight we are going to a football (soccer) international. Dublin is hosting a four nation tournament called the Carling’s Four Nations Cup. The four nations playing are Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Tonight’s game is between Wales and Northern Ireland. I had purchased the tickets on line before leaving home.
From my 2008 trip when I watched both a Gaelic football and a Hurling match, I am on a mailing list with Ireland’s main ticketing agency and tried to purchase the tickets directly but there was no option for people to purchase tickets internationally. I had sent them an email stating that I could not purchase the tickets on-line and they actually changed the whole website ticketing page to allow me to do so.
We took off for the game on foot knowing we would need at some stage to get a taxi to complete the trip. We stopped at Riley’s Pub on the way and checked out the fine looking old bar.
Whilst checking the walls for interesting photos, stories etc I saw a newspaper article saying that this was actually a new pub in a building that used to be a chemist shop. It was built in the old style and looked exactly like it was very old not like the knock out style of Irish pubs you see around the world.
Getting a taxi we arrived at the ground about 30 minutes before kickoff. I had to go the ticket office to pick up the tickets. Unfortunately for me the box office was not at the stadium but about a 10 minute walk from there. So off I went to pick up the tickets.
Safely back with them I was informed due to the small amount of tickets sold they had not opened the section of the stadium where we supposed to sit. So instead of sitting on the side of the ground in a great position we were sent to an area directly behind the goal.
The game was held at Aviva Stadium which is a brand new stadium built on the site of Lansdowne Road ground, which is the home ground of Irish Rugby.
I had been there previously in 1991 to watch games at the 1991 Rugby World Cup. The old ground had a lot of atmosphere that this giant concrete stadium will never get but the facilities are so much better. In 1991 we sat inside the fence around the ground on wooden seats they had put in especially for the world cup so they could get more people into the ground.
The soccer game itself was not real exciting with Wales winning 2 – 0. It was a good experience to see the match the only thing was it was a dry ground, there was no alcohol sold at the ground so the boys had a chance dry out a bit!!!!!
After the game we came back to the guest house via a supermarket where we got some supplies, once again it was after 10 o’clock so the beer section of the supermarket was closed, another wasted opportunity. I was however able to get another 4 Pringles tubes for my collection.
Everyone turned in straight away and got some time to re-charge our batteries for the three day road trip we are heading off to tomorrow.
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