Dublin: The Guinness Storehouse Experience

After geeking out over all the books in The Long Room at Trinity College, we decided it was time to experience what many people come to Dublin for…the GUINNESS! Truth be told, D and I have never been fans of Guinness. Every time I'd tried it outside of Ireland, I felt like I was drinking a loaf of bread. It tasted malty and much too heavy to be one of those easy drinking beers you could have 3 of and barely bat an eye. But tasting a Guinness pint at the actual Storehouse? Totally different experience! The beer tasted sweet, yet subtle, heavier…but not overpoweringly so. It's true what they say…Guinness tastes better IN Dublin! In fact, the whole tour was quite wonderful. The Storehouse was huge and offered many options for experiencing Guinness history and the beer itself. We especially loved getting to "pour the perfect pint" at the Guinness Academy. I never knew beer pouring could be such a multi-faceted process! D and I had fun competing to see who poured the better pint. We agreed on a tie at the Storehouse (but I still not-so-secretly think I did a smidge better…hehe!).

After mastering our pouring skills, we took our pints up to the tippy top of the Guinness building to enjoy the views from their 360° Gravity Bar. The sun was still shining at this point, so we got some excellent views of the Dublin skyline…along with a nice cold pint to solidify our first Guinness experience. Guys, this one's a no-brainer. Even if you're not a beer fan, The Guinness Storehouse is just something you have to visit. 

It's more than just a brewery…it's an Irish way of life!

Admission price: €16.50 (or get 10% off if you pre-book online)

Comes with a free small taste and one complimentary pint.

Opening times: 7 days a week, 9:30am-5pm 

Dublin: Trinity College, The Book of Kells, & The Long Room

Confession: D and I hate museums. Ok, maybe hate is a strong word. Let's just say we tend to avoid them unless there's something in one of them that we'd love to see. For example, the Louvre in Paris…it's a "must-see" and we enjoyed hunting down the handful of pieces we really wanted to see in person. A museum I could have done without? The Uffizi Gallery in Florence. SHOOT. ME. NOW. Gorgeous interior, but I felt like we wasted a third of our day getting lost in the massive crowds inside it. When we plan our trips, museums aren't usually attractions on our itinerary, but for Dublin, we knew we had to visit Trinity College and the Book of Kells. Trinity College is touted as Ireland's premier university and is situated right smack dab in the center of Dublin. Our hotel was just a few blocks from its ancient wooden doors (pictured above), making it an easy visit our first day in the city. While Trinity College has quite a lot of charm, history, and a beautiful campus, it's the housing of the Book of Kells inside the Old Library that drew us in.

The Book of Kells is a beautifully illuminated medieval manuscript that contains the four Gospels of the New Testament in Latin written on 680 pages of prepared calfskin. It was created in a Columban monastery in Ireland around 800 AD and is celebrated for its lavish decoration and colorful intricate artwork, not to mention the wonderful story it holds. The admission to see the Book of Kells is €9 and includes the "Turning Darkness into Light" exhibit (very interesting, even for a non-museum lover like me), entrance into the Long Room, and entrance into the current Long Room exhibit. Unfortunately, no photos are allowed inside the Book of Kells exhibits. Another reason why I typically don't like museums.

After D and I spent time viewing the wonders of the Book of Kells, we made our way into my favorite part of the tour…the Long Room! The Long Room is the main chamber of the Trinity College Old Library and my gosh is it STUNNING. Easily the most beautiful library I've ever stepped foot into. And you could take photographs! WHOO HOO! :) The Long Room is home to 200,000 of the library's oldest books and is a massive 213 feet long. The room smells of old books (heavenly), has regal busts of famous writers and philosophers lining its aisles, and has dozens of those adorable sliding wooden ladders used to reach those high-up books. I now want a sliding wooden ladder in my home, of course. D and I spent quite a bit of time in here, squinting our eyes to see what kinds of fun books were stored and battling a barrage of high schoolers on a field trip, no doubt (come early to avoid the crowds!). I was absolutely enamored with this room and only wish I could have grabbed a book and read there for a while. If you find yourself in Dublin and don't mind gorgeous books and a little bit of museum-like atmosphere, make a stop at Trinity College for the Book of Kells and the Long Room. If I can fall in love, you can too!

Dublin: First Impressions

Ahhh, what to say about Dublin? If Ireland wasn't keen on driving on the opposite side of the road, I'd move here. Friendly people, lively streets, occasional rain showers, rich history, and overflowing Guinness…this city's got a little bit of everything for everyone and we instantly fell in love! When we first arrived in Ireland's largest city, we hopped a taxi and headed straight to our hotel on Exchequer Street. It was almost midnight, and while we were excited to hit the hay after a late night flight, Dublin was just gearing up for an evening full of pints and fellowship. We were almost tempted to ditch our comfy bed and join the masses, but we had a jam-packed next 4 days, so sleep won out. 

Bright and early the next morning, we rolled out of bed refreshed and ready to tackle our first full day in Dublin…starting with a hearty traditional Irish breakfast and pipping hot cup of coffee. Turns out, neither D or I are fans of black pudding (tastes like grass, if you've never had the pleasure), but everything else was tasty and kept us full for quite a while. Shortly after scarfing down our breakfast, we hit the streets and I started snapping photos. We had incredible sunshine for half our first day, but keeping with typical Ireland weather, the clouds found us in the late afternoon. Most of the photos below were taken after we'd hit up the biggest chunk of our sight-seeing itinerary…hence the clouds. But I'm totally getting ahead of myself. The first attraction on our agenda was Trinity College and the Long Room…so stay tuned for more fun from Dublin!