Jaunted

After breakfast, we walked north on O'Connell Street (above). Tony the taxi driver had warned us about this street. It's one of the widest streets in Europe, and the government had recently created a big pedestrian island in the center of it. But the problem is, the pedestrian island looks almost identical to the street itself, with the same checkered pattern, and the curbs are so low that it's easy to step off into traffic. In fact, two English tourists had recently done just that, walking right in front of a double decker bus. Now, I love a good pedestrian thoroughfare, but I have to agree with Tony on this one. The way they did it was "stupid" (his word), and I can definitely understand how those poor English tourists made that fateful misstep.

Other than its mortal dangers, though, O'Connell is a nice street, and we paused at the Spire of Dublin (pictured at top). Officially titled the Monument of Light, the stainless steel spike soars 120 meters into the sky, and represents a bridge between art and technology. It's neat.

Our next stop was the Dublin Writers Museum (above), which chronicles the lives of Irish writers like Bram Stoker, Jonathan Swift, and of course, James Joyce. We were interested to learn about Oliver St. John Gogarty, who was a friend and contemporary of Joyce and served as the inspiration for the character Buck Mulligan in Ulysses. Apparently, Gogarty and Joyce had a bit of a falling out over this, and Gogarty became a critic of Joyce's work. Lots of egos in the Irish fiction world, it seems.

From there, we got a quick bite at some coffee shop I don't remember very well and then took the long walk to the Guinness Storehouse at St. James's Gate. The weather was warm and sunny, a perfect summer day. Now, it's true that the Guinness Storehouse is one of the most touristy places in Dublin, but we were really excited about visiting, because we're such fans of the product. Also, it's clearly the pride of Dublin, so in we went, picking up our tickets at the computer kiosk and proceeding to the starting point of the tour. (A tip: buy your tickets online in advance: You'll save 10% and skip the line.)

We entered an atrium resembling a gigantic pint glass (it would hold 14 million pints) and were greeted by an amiable Guinness host who explained how the self-guided tour worked. Then we were off, perusing exhibits about the brewing process and the popularity of Guinness around the world. It's not a factory tour, but rather a cutting-edge museum dedicated to everything Guinness, and it's really well done. We learned how they prepare and roast the malt, and use spring water from the Wicklow Mountains near Dublin to make their iconic black (they call it deep red) stout. Jenn and I are both beer geeks, so we found it fascinating. The tour included a primer on how to sample Guinness, and we sampled with alacrity.

The best part, of course, is the free pint of Guinness you quaff in the Gravity Bar, a stunning bar/observation deck with (nearly) 360-degree views of Dublin and the surrounding countryside. We got our pints from the bar and damn if it wasn't the best Guinness I've ever had. Here is one video of our perfect pints in the Gravity Bar, and here is another. We lucked out and got two seats by the window with a view of the city and the mountains, and we took our time drinking them. I took a photo of Dublin (above) but it hardly does justice to the awesome panorama we enjoyed.

Eventually we left the Guinness Storehouse (stopping by the gift shop, of course) and headed back to the hotel. That evening, we got dinner at a gorgeous restaurant called Cafe en Seine (above). It was an experience that made us appreciate the American custom of tipping your wait staff, because we couldn't get a waiter to come to our table to save our lives. They just didn't care. Finally I just ordered our drinks and dinners from the bar (normally a big no-no in America if you've got a table in a waiter-service area) and we had our late supper. I had a steak sandwich that was slightly overcooked, but still good.

We were exhausted from walking, and slept soundly that night.

Continue to Part 4.

[All Photos: Victor Ozols]

Related Stories:
· Losing Time in Dublin, Part 1: Beginning at the Pub [Jaunted]
· Losing Time in Dublin, Part 2: A Tale of Two Menus [Jaunted]
· Losing Time in Dublin, Part 3: A Long Walk to St. James's Gate [Jaunted]
· Losing Time in Dublin, Part 4: Sandcastles, Real Castles, and Thin Lizzy [Jaunted]
· Five Mellow Days in Dublin at the Maldron Cardiff Lane [HotelChatter]
· Dublin Writers Museum [Official Site]
· Guinness Storehouse [Official Site]
· Dublin Field Trip [Jaunted]