Wishing he was driving the train!

For many years Guinness used their own special trains to move material around the brewery. The gauge of this very unique train was 22 inches. The tour of the Guinness Storehouse provides excellent information on the entire history of Guinness including these unique trains. If you want specific train info online, this is a good place.

In this picture you can see poppy envisioning himself spending a day driving a train and contributing to the production of a lot of very good beer. At the end of the day he is looking at his work place behind the "wheel" satisfied with a job well done. Of course, he will never be able to do this and will have to be content with simply drinking Guinness. Within in 30 minutes of this picture he was in the Gravity Bar drinking a pint.

Bangers and Mash

There are still a number of posts left to do and we will slowly get to all of them. One of the important ones to get out of the way is the winner of the Bangers and Mash competition. Keep in mind that none of the pubs we visited knew there was a competition. There were only 2 judges and the judges required several pints during the judging process.

We had bangers and mash at several pubs. In all but one place, it was always very good. Once place stood about the rest among the pubs we visited. The Bull and Castle had the best bangers and mash. The sausages were better. The mashed potatoes had perfect consistency and the gravy put them over the top to beat out 4 other pubs.

One place served us re-heated sausages and gravy that had been in the pot all day. It was the exact same mashed potato recipe and gravy that we had at a previous pub .... only the gravy was old and the mash had been sitting around awhile.

I totally recommend the Bull and Castle. The food is great! They have an excellent selection of beer and drinks. Get there early on the weekend. This place gets busy and the service is quite good.

Just A Quick Update

We left Dublin yesterday. Unfortunately it didn't cross our minds to get a picture on the final day. The day appeared to start very well with dad and I successfully managing to get on the plane with Aidan. His plane was leaving Dublin 2 hours earlier than us. Unfortunately that plane ended up being delayed. We ended up arriving in Newark 3 hours late. This was all related to the ash cloud from Iceland. First the airline had to change the route that the plane would fly so the cloud could be avoided. This didn't impact departure time (originally) but it did impact flight time. Then it did impact departure time because there were too many planes competing for the same flight routes.

When I arrived in Newark I motored for my gate to try to get my plane and missed it by mere minutes. They re-booked me on a 6:20 flight that was delayed to about 7:20. All in all, I got out of bed about 5am in Dublin and went to bed at midnight in Dallas. Long day.

I never did find Aidan and Dad at the Airport in Newark. I assume they were sitting in some bar. I literally checked them all but did not pause to drink in all.

Still many pictures to update here on our visit to Dublin, including our opinion on the winner of the Bangers and Mash competition and the Irish Stew competition. Keep in mind that none of the places serving us knew they were in a any specific competition.

Poppy doing what he does best.

Here's the reason we came to Ireland....to visit the Guiness Storehouse with Dad and enjoy a pint. The camera angle doesn't show the glint in the eye, the warmth spreading through the body, and the overall satisfaction of pouring a fresh pint of stout down his throat.

He enjoyed it so much that we had to chase it down with another, and another, and......then the BABS struck.

Temple Bar at 2am

Here's a shot of the Gogarty's in the Temple Bar area at 2 in the morning. The pic doesn't do justice to the number of people that were actually here at this time. The place was hopping with activity....Gypsies bumming money (we were actually cursed by one after refusing to give her any), people at the eaterys, all types and sizes of people going by....we stood by a take-away (actually we were leaning on it for balance) and watched the goings-on.

I would have to liken this place to George Street in St. John's on a nice night. It was a great 2nd last night.

2nd Last Night in Dublin

Here we are hanging out at The Palace Pub with Gary the bartender and his girlfriend, Julieanna, the very attractive young lady from Brazil. We just stepped in from the street after witnessing a wonderful brawl between a cabbie and someone who threw up in his cab....blood was involved and the Garda (local police force) were called....a wonderful sight. Gary, the firery Irish redhead that he is, wanted to join in the fray but it was over before he could get down the stairs.

Many nice people at this pub and we chatted with a few before carrying down the street to another pub. Also chatting with a fine Irish girl who just arrived back from Florida....Peter poured on the charm and she left. HAH!!!

It's your turn to pay.

This is what it took in order to get Peter to pick up the tab. He arrived over here with no credit and was waiting until Wednesday to get a replacement couriered over.....until then, he was hitting up the old man on a pension and a poor student to cover the cost of everything. Well, things changed after this and we're giving him a chance to catch up.

Fish & Chips in Kilkenny

Here's a shot of Peter digging to the bottom of the bag for his last chips. We found this F&C spot and had to try it out. Apparently they serve it in a special bag now rather than just wrapping it in old newspapers. No shortage of salt and vinegar dropped in the bag when requested either.

Enjoying Kilkenny

One thing is for sure, we managed to slow our pace dramatically while in Kilkenny. I think we stopped at least once every 5 minutes to do whatever the heck we wanted. In this picture Aidan is standing against the railing for Kilkenny River with the bridge across the river in the background. 2 minutes earlier we were sitting outside Kilkenny Castle and very soon we would find yet another pub to relax in. We sat around here for awhile and enjoyed the sunshine of an absolutely gorgeous day. There is a hotel on the other side of the river with outdoor eating area on the river banks. Looks like an excellent place to spend a couple of vacation days!

Kilkenny Castle

This is a shot of Dad and Aidan after the tour of the Castle. The Castle had a lot of walking and a a lot of stairs. It was interesting has been restored significantly over the years. I think we got through the whole thing in less than an hour. It is a self guided tour and there are staff throughout the place who are available to answer questions.

Aidan needed a rest after the tour so Dad sat with him to help ease his mind with calming stories from his childhood. They didn't sit for long and soon wanted to get up and get going again. We were not on a schedule except that if we missed the last train to Dublin we would have to find accommodations for the night. I don't recall being concerned or rushing through anything.

Kilkenny Day

Our train ride to Kilkenny was great it was a short ride (1:45) and the perfect amount of time to relax chat and enjoy the country side. You can see a bit of the country side in the background of this picture. When we arrived in Kilkenny we had 2 immediate goals. Get some money and get to a pub .... in that order. Both were satisfied very quickly and we found ourselves in Langton's. Lunch and a pint is a very civilized way to start an afternoon. After relaxing for awhile we headed to Kilkenny Castle to look around.

Catching Up

We have been busy vacationing and have neglected posting. Since then we have visited O'Neills, Doyle's and Darkey Kelly's. (I could not find a good web site for Darkey Kelly's.) It is an great little pub that is attached to the hotel we are staying in. We have only visited once and that is only because it was so close and we wanted to visit as wide a variety of pubs that we could. We found an older crowd with an interest in conversation. This place shares the kitchen with the Harding Hotel and Copper Alley Bistro. Food is generally good.

O'Neills was great. Thanks, Tommy for the recommendation! We walked in at lunch time and had no trouble getting a pint and getting a place to sit. Even though it was busy, it was a very easy place to have a relaxing conversation. We found O'Neills on our return from visiting Trinity College. Definitely a great place to sit and enjoy a beer and/or have a meal.

We found Doyle's on our way back to the hotel after leaving O'Neills. Doyle's is another great place to grab a beer. The service was excellent and like many of the pubs we visited, has a diverse crowd. It is an older pub (I think they all are!) in a very interesting location in the middle of everything.

We did all this after visiting Dublin Castle and giving Dad a break while we checked things out. We picked Dad up on the way to Darkey Kelley's. Once we arrived we found out that he spent a couple of hours there while we were visting pubs in the Trinity College area. Glad he managed to get some rest!!!

Dublin Pub Crawl - The Foggy Dew

This is an excellent picture of Aidan and Dad. This picture captures very nicely how much fun the guys were having. This was our ( I won't say) pub of the day. This was the day that we parked Dad after his workout at Dublin Castle and then went back and picked him up in the afternoon for some pub crawling. We had lunch at the Vat House and then went on to the Foggy Dew. This place is great! It has a lot of character and the old all wooden decor made it look like the perfect ale house. Unfortunately, we were very ambitious about visiting lots of pubs and moved on so we could keep our pub count up. This one definitely warrants a redo before we head home. This picture is definitely a keeper. Take notice of the rum and coke in Aidan's hand.

Over the bar are two guitars in cases....one was Keith Richards and the other belonged to David Bowie....very cool. A lot of music items in this pub and you could spend a couple of hours just looking at it all.

Almost Half Way Point - How are we doing?

OK! Time for a run down of the pubs since we have hit the half way point.

1. The Temple Bar
2. The Quays
3. Fitzsimmons
4. Gogarty's
5. The Vat House
6. Messrrs Maguire
7. Ha'Penny Comedy Club
8. The Brazen Head
9. O'Shea's
10. Turks Head
11. Thomas Read
12. Auld Dubliner
13. Thunder Road Cafe (Not Irish but very cool.)
14. The Foggy Dew
15. The Gravity Bar (On top of the Guiness Storehouse)

We have done other things also. Guinness Storehouse is an excellent visit as was the tour of Dublin Castle. Today we have several options and our choices will be driven by the weather and perhaps the bus driver.

Stay tuned. This is a lot of fun!

The Show at the Ha' Penney Comedy Club

Here is a pic of the headliner at the Ha' Penney Comedy Club. We went in for a few laughs and it was a bunch of amateur amateurs trying to be funny on stage. The real laughter came from the Texan in the audience and his comments on their performances.... if you want a laugh, don't go to this place.

The Temple Bar

Here's us at the Temple Bar just a few minutes before Dad drunk called Lindsay. This was our second visit to this pub and, although we were not supposed to do any repeats, this pub was worth the go through again.

At this point, I had given up on Guiness and switched to the old faithful Rum and Coke....it was givin' me the gas you know.

Peter couldn't drink a full pint and had to pass some over to Dad and get him to finish it off. Dad was more than willing to do so, but was very disappointed in his son's performance (or lack of). Of course. Peter's story will be that Dad was begging him for more beer (we had him on a small quota, he's old you know) and he finally gave in to the whining. If you notice, Dad is only allowed to order half-pints but he drinks twice as many as we do.

Dublin Pub Crawl - Tuesday May 2

We had to make some choices today. We dragged our elderly father on a tour of Dublin Castle. You will notice me use the words "elderly father" quite a few times here. This is mainly for my benefit to remind me of his age and that dragging him through a series of pubs all day and night is not the best idea. Although the mind was willing:)

Dublin Castle offers a good 1 hour guided tour. I would not put it on a "must do" list if you visit, but it is worth a visit. The brief review of the history of the Castle along with some Irish history put many things in context for us. The walk to the hotel, the walk around the grounds at Dublin Castle and the return walk to the hotel turned into enough exercise for Dad for one morning. While he rested we decided to go exploring.

Further exploration took us to the other side of the River Liffey. There is a bustling and lively shopping area over there with generally lower prices for tourist type gifts. It also gave us a chance to view our side of the Liffey from the other side which allowed to spot a couple of pubs on our mandatory visit list. Not wanting to waste any time and recognizing we needed to pick up the pace we headed straight to Messrr's Maguires. This place was great. If it was not for the fact that we had such a large number of pubs to visit we would have stayed there for the day. Excellent decor with excellent pub surroundings. We tried a couple of house beer which also went down very nice. By then it was time to retrieve Dad and put the afternoon into full swing.

May 3rd Guiness Storehouse

Here's Peter pouring up his pint at the Guiness Storehouse. He got a certificate for pouring the perfect pint...but there's controversy here too (everyone gets a certificate). Notice the angle on the glass...definitely not a 45 degree angle and the tip is in the foam...a failing grade if ever there was one....undrinkable in my opinion!! He did drink it, but obviously didn't enjoy it.

Dad and I waited for the master pourers in the Gravity Bar at the top of the storehouse....a wise decision.

May 3rd The Brazen Head Pub

Visited the oldest pub in Ireland (but there's controversy) for a pint and traditional Irish Stew (Dad had the chicken). Made up of a lot of small rooms but very busy...stew was very tasty and highly recommended if you get over here.

Dublin Pub Crawl - The Temple Bar

Our first pint on the Dublin Pub Crawl was at the Temple Bar in the Temple Bar district. With the overnight trip from the US, Dad had to grab some sleep so we decided to go exploring and found the Temple Bar which was recommended to us by Lindsay.

This place is a great place to sit, relax and enjoy a pint. They had live entertainment and you could sit close and get the full effect of the music or you could sit in one of the many rooms and be out of earshot of the the music. This pub/bar? is clearly very popular and had and a wide variety of people of all ages there. Lot's of seating and well ventilated. We went in for a pint and stayed for 3. All in all an excellent start to our pub crawl.

Dublin Pub Crawl - Day 1

Okay!!! This is working out much better than expected for the first day.

The plane arrived early. Customs were very efficient and the airport shuttle to the downtown was perfect.

Unfortunately, the streets are a little confusing and it took us longer than expected to deal with finding the hotel and finding breakfast. Poor old dad, he almost couldn't keep up. Eventually , we found a happy medium. Dad grabbed a nap while Aidan and I got the lay of he land.

We finally found the Harding Hotel It is quite nice. We have a 3 bed room and it suits us perfect.

On the first day we walked around a lot and visited a few pubs.

The first bar we ventured into was the Temple Bar. It is an excellent pub with lots of special things happening. The live entertainment was excellent. I totally recommend this place if you come to Dublin. Service was very good.

The place we visited was called called The Quays. (We think. We have to go back and check.) This place was hopping on Sunday afternoon. It was standing room only with a wide variety of ages in the pub. This was a very easy place to meet people and strike up a conversation. We spent the remainder of the afternoon here.

Then it was on to the Porterhouse. It was time to get some food in us so we decided to eat here. The food and the service were excellent. It was little pricier that the other places and it was well worth it. Of course, there were more pints with supper.

From there we went on to the Turks Head bar. This was generally a younger crowd. The live band was great and they had their followers trying to get a lively dance going. This is another place where the bar service was great despite the crowd.

The final bar for the evening was Thomas Read. This was very much a university crown/ 20 somethings. We stayed for a pint and then left. It was great being there and decided to call it a night after that.

Tomorrow we are visiting the Guinness Storehouse.