This is Windsor with our friends Lynn and Jacques
Heath chatting up Lynn
Heath and Vince
Pictures from when we had the heavy snow
Friday, April 3, 2009
Dublin with Kevin
Kevin came to visit this month and we headed off to Ireland so he could connect with his 25% Irish heritage. In Dublin the main attractions are the Guinness Brewery and the Jameson Distillery. We did manage to squeeze in a few historical sights while we made our way between these two important monuments.
First of these was the Book of Kells at Trinity College. The Book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript containing the gospels circa 800AD. It's amazing. The exhibit includes demos on how they created the detailed drawings and the super thin vellum used. Unfortunately you can't take pictures in there. At the end you come to the Long Room which houses the library's oldest books. It's one long room , two floors, stacked floor to ceiling in old books. Smells amazing! It is a fantasy archive come alive.
Next we visited hiked across the city and took in Dublin Castle (sounds more impressive than it is), St. Patrick's Cathedral and tea at the Queen of Tarts before heading to the Jameson Distillery.
The Jameson Distillery is full of swanky decor mixed with rustic warehouse chic. Quite an odd combination but it works. The tour takes your through the distilling process to the tasting room which is definitely the highlight. Kevin got to do the taste test while Heath and I enjoyed a Jameson with ginger ale. It's actually really good!
We spent the first evening in a pub by our house listening to a really cool group of classic Irish musicians that ranged in age from 20 to 80. Including an accordion. We were quite lucky to find this place as we searched the following two nights and never came across anything near as good. Pretty much we spent most meals sampling what the many pubs had to offer. Heath was excited because we were there for the final 6 Nations Rugby game where Ireland beat Wales in the last 30 seconds! The entire pub went deathly silent and then erupted into a frenzy of cheering and sighs of relief.
The highlight of the trip though was the Guinness Brewery. The experience is a seven stories climb up through different exhibits celebrating Guinness and culminating with a pint in the Gravity Bar overlooking all 360ยบ of Dublin. Written on the windows are quotes from Dublin's famous authors celebrating their city's sights.
Spring Bloom
Jameson
Guinness
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