Big Post - Part One

Ok this is going to be a doozy. Kelly & I have been neglecting our blog since we went on vacation and during Kelly's recent illnesses. Kelly is feeling almost 100% again and everything is almost back to normal.
Fear not faithful readers, we promise to get back on track with a blog post every other day minimum!


Brett & Monica Wass Invade Ireland !

After a little miscommunication on Brett's part about what day they were arriving (resulting in me standing around a chilly Dublin street corner for 3 hours the day before they got here) the Wasses finally arrived. As poor sick Kelly lay in bed recovering, day one saw us doing a walking tour of Dublin City.

We walked downtown and saw all the sights..the Castle, Temple Bar, Trinity College, different statues, ChristChurch Cathedral yadda yadda yadda. The weather was great, but we had an indoor destination:

If you're going to have your first Guinness in Ireland, why not have it at the oldest pub in Dublin?
The Brazen Head has been serving up jars of stout since 1198 !

We got there right at opening time (12:30pm) and the music started right away!

Here we parked on the patio outside for 3 pints of the black stuff.

Monica & Brett having their first sip of delicious Guinness brewed right down the street at the worlds largest brewery, St James Gate. Needless to say, Brett & Monica found the Guinness quite tasty...so we had a few more.




After the Brazen Head, we walked through the church grounds at the top of the hill, with its old city wall fortifications to the Bull & Castle Pub.

The Bull & Castle is where, some of you might remember, my friend Michael and I are participating in their "Beer Challenge - Beereducation". After you drink 30 different beers, they give you a mug with your name engraved on it, which is displayed in a glass case behind the bar.

I started the Challenge in July, but I'm only on beer #16 :(

While I enjoyed beer #16, Brett enjoyed Guinness # ?. By this time, Brett had taken to giving himself a Guinness mustache with every new pint.
Got Guinness ?

Although its very touristy, The Temple Bar area of town is full of pubs that have live music all day. Its a great place to bring guests, so off we went to :

The Oliver St. John Gogarty. Always packed at night, it was somewhat less crowded in the daytime. Live music starts at 3pm, so we got there around 2:30 and secured a seat about 8 feet away from where the musicians would be.

For those of you worried about poor Monica pounding giant pints of Guinness all day, don't be. In Ireland you can also order a glass of Guinness.

isn't that cute? little baby 1/2 pint o'Guinness

After watching the guys jam at Gogarty's, I spied an excellent musician I have seen previously walking into the pub across the street.

Ah The Auld Dubliner...a traditional looking pub full of dark nooks, with great live music. More on this pub later in the next post.


Brett was on Guinness # 4? 8? 27 ?, who knows. Monica was mumbling something about drunk blindness but we pushed on anyway. On to St Stephens Green and to the Georgian area of Dublin to meet up with my friend Michael for dinner. Right after we make a quick stop at:


James Toners Pub ! Another traditional pub with little nooks you can sit in and hide if your wife is looking for you.

Apparently Brett didnt get the memo, he brought his wife with him.

Now, these pictures might start getting out of order because I was really "tired" and dont remember everything exactly the way it happened.


Now don't think we were just stumbling around town drinking Guinness all day. Sometimes we had cider ! The cider is delicious served over ice, and gives you a little sugar boost as well !


The pub above is The Purty kitchen in Dun Leary...and was definately on day two. We took the train to the shore south of Dublin and had lunch with friends of mine. We wandered around exploring and eventually found :


Charles Fitzgeralds Pub in Glasthule-Sandycove. We rested for a while and had a pint, then caught a cab into the mountains. The cab driver turned out to be from San Francisco, so Brett & Monica talked local Cali stuff with him...until we reached our destination, Johnnie Fox's Pub - The highest Pub in Ireland !


I hope you like this picture because its the only picture we have from our visit ! (Apparently the Wasses were so awestruck at being in the mountains that they forgot to take pictures!) Ok, more later on the Wass Pub Crawl. Maybe I'll even include pictures of other stuff.

-C