Day 17: Guinness here we come!

On our way to Dublin, to finish off an awesome trip, we again experience sunshine and cool weather. Everyone that we talked to about Dublin had one thing to say....you MUST go to the Guinness Factory (called the Storehouse), where Arthur Guinness secured a 9000 year lease, and enjoy the experience:

While for many the experience is Magic, for others, well, you get the picture:

Ok, so before we can actually launch into the details of the Guinness Magic, wouldn't you know, on the streets of Dublin, as if to say, tie the story of yesterday together with the start of today's story, well, we saw this T shirt and had to include it...what a relief! I wonder if he's sitting on an official, legendary Crapper?

And because we are sentimentalists, let's remind ourselves of our castle's breakfast spread, enjoyed by all, prior to our final departure:

Ann thought it might be a disservice to our castle, not to get a picture of it with our luggage???

I think while we had Peggy lug all the luggage, Jon and Ann enjoyed their final moments, while I had to capture it all on film...I hope Peggy doesn't see this since we told her we couldn't help load luggage since we needed to make a last visit to you know what...the C_ _ _ _ _ _!

A few parting castle photos, with such a lovely couple:

The entry door reminder, which made me think of the Munsters for some reason...

Goodbye Castle...

Hello Guinness!!! :)))

The water they use is of course perfect...

And each hour or so, 1 of the visitors is actually asked to start the next batch to be brewed. Not as exciting as being asked to pray at George Washington's grave (like the Nemy's), but in Peggy's book almost as significant, Peggy was asked to officially launch brew number 5203.

She pressed the magic start button, and if we wanted to wait there 10 days, we could have watched the batch make its way through the whole process...and we might have stayed but there were pints awaiting us upstairs...

While the walking tour was a bit informative, the only way to really understand the nuances of excellence was to start here:

I'm not sure they both looked as thrilled as we might have expected..I think Ann felt cheated since they only gave her an ounce to taste...but there's more to come...at the very top of the 7 story building, designed in the shape of a pint beer glass, you arrive at the 360 degree view of Dublin from the Gravity Bar where everyone got a free (included in the $20 tour cost) pint of Guinness...and the view was spectacular. We ran into 3 young ladies from Fresno...and no they didn't know Andrew Nemy (although you can bet we asked...)

Also part of the experience is an opportunity to learn how to pour the perfect pint

Peggy was a pro as she learned to pour the 1st 3/4ths pulling the tap forward to allow the gas to energize the liquid...then wait 1 minute and 59 seconds

when you then push the tap backwards to prevent any additional gas to disturb the final froth

Then the tasting, and then

the perfect pint makes for a perfect mustache!

or perfect lipstick or something...and by that time in the tour, it really doesn't matter...because it's all good and the day was a success. One and all enjoyed themselves, and we had Italian food for dinner before retiring at a lovely Hilton Hotel with jacuzzi and fitness center to work off the labors of the day..right...Bless you all and tomorrow will be our last blog as we tour the city of Dublin...