Air, Landier, and Sea

While the title of this post may sound like your daily to-do list, it’s actually the places we visited on our final day in Dublin.

The General Post Office (also known as the GPO) is where the 1916 Easter Rising took place.

This is where the Irish first asserted themselves as an independent nation.

For one week, they were able to hold off British forces, securing multiple sites throughout Dublin, including the GPO as their headquarters.

If you don’t know much about Irish history, I highly recommend you research it, because it’s incredibly fascinating how long and hard the Irish fought for their independence. This is a very, very brief summary.

The Irish will tell you they fought the British for 750 years until they finally won their independence in 1922.

Sadly, not all of Ireland was won. There are six counties in the North (Northern Ireland) who are still part of The United Kingdom.

The other 26 counties, which make up Ireland, gained independence after a treaty was signed with Britain, which the Irish leaders (particularly Michael Collins) saw as a compromise- hoping one day to get all 32 counties as part of an independent nation.

Even more tragic was the civil war that ensued following the signing of the treaty. Republicans wanted Ireland to be a true republic and unionists were okay with remaining in the United Kingdom.

So after 750 years of fighting the English, the Irish fought each other- in some families putting brother versus brother.

While there’s peace now in Ireland, they still hope to one day be a united, independent nation.

Following the GPO, we sent Jake and Kaden to see the library (Kaden is a major Harry Potter fan) while we enjoyed some rest before heading out to Guinness.

The tour of the Guinness brewery was something Bryce and I also hadn’t done on our last visit to Dublin.

We instead opted to go to the Jameson distillery, as our good friend, Seth Jameson, was with us. We absolutely loved the Jameson distillery, especially when we learned that Jameson is actually an Irish whiskey made my a Scotsman (Seth was trying to tell me that he was “more Irish” than me- ha!)

Where Jameson is more small-town vibe, Guinness is big city. Guinness is the most popular tourist attraction in Dublin and it felt like it the day we went.

As my uncle Dennis put it, walking into Guinness is like going into IKEA. The only way out is through. The escalators only go up and each floor is a different experience from how the hops are roasted to tasting to the history of Guinness marketing.

We did learn some interesting things:

• Mrs. Arthur Guinness birthed 21 children.
• That means she was pregnant for 16 years of her life!
• Sadly, only 10 survived to adulthood and they carried on the family business.
• Guinness beer was originally created by accident. Arthur Guinness burned the hops.
• To get the best taste of Guinness you want to smell it, then take a big gulp so you get under the foam and hold it in your mouth for a moment before drinking it down.
• Guinness used to be marketed as “good for you”. In fact, they even offered it to women right after they gave birth because “Guinness makes you strong.”

The tasting room was another interesting experience- it actually reminded us of being in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.

You first go in a dark tunnel (“there is no way of us knowing…”) and then you end up in a bright, white room (like where Mike TV meets his demise) which has tubes emitting different smelling vapors into the room. The idea behind this process is that it heightens your sense so you’re more prepared to taste the Guinness.

In my humble opinion, if Guinness requires that much pomp and circumstance to taste good then stick with tequila, but I’m not a beer drinker so what do I know?

After our small sip, we got to cash in our tickets for a full Guinness (or cider or soft drink) at the Gravity bar on the top floor, which overlooked Dublin.

Overall, Guinness was a cool experience, but it was definitely an experience.