Kirk visited us for 5 days in Dublin, ask him to do his Irish accent for you when you see him (sounds more like Swedish, but is funny none the less)
I'll apologize in advance for the lack of pictures of Kelly. Although she was around, it seems we weren't taking photos that much. Its hard to take pictures when you're holding a Guinness in one hand and using the other hand to hold onto something for balance.
Needless to say, we hit a lot of pubs, 25 to be exact. We had to have at least one pint of Guinness at each pub for it to be crossed off our list. Kirk kept a very detailed journal of all the pubs, including a comprehensive 5 star rating system of the atmosphere and the quality each pint of Guinness.
Before Kirk arrived, we agreed to tackle
Guinness's "12 pubs of Christmas" Pub Crawl
The Brazen Head (the oldest pub in Dublin)
The Oak
The Temple Bar
The Auld Dubliner
The Oliver St. John Gogarty
The Palace Bar
Mulligan's
O'Donoghue's
Kehoe's
Grogan's
The Stag's Head
Doheny & Nesbitt's
Kirks Picks :Best Pub - The Brazen Head
They've been open for about 900 years and have perfected the classic pub atmosphere. Yes it can be a bit touristy, but excellent food and perfect pints of Guinness mean the Brazen Head (or as Kirk calls it, the Brass Monkey) is still a great pub.
Best Pint - The Stag's Head
It was a bit crowded at 5pm when we visited the Stag's Head, but we were able to grab a small table and enjoy our pints. Its hard to believe that Guinness can taste different from pub to pub, but they were extra delicious at the Stag. In typical Kirk Smithery, our waitress Agnes, was nicknamed Stagnes.
Other Dublin Pubs & Bars we visited
Bruxelle's (Kirks first pint in Ireland and first Irish Breakfast)
James Toner's
Copperface Jack's
The Village
The Barge Bar
The Baggott Inn
The Dawson Lounge (smallest pub in Dublin)
The Ginger Man
O'Neils
The Long Stone
Kiely's of Donnybrook (sponsors of our softball team)
Johnnie Fox's (highest pub in Ireland, Wicklow mountains)
Portobello (airs NFL games on Sunday nights)
Kirk's Picks :
Best Pub - The Barge
The Barge is the closest watering hole to my house. On Friday & Saturday nights it is a very popular club upstairs with dancing. Makes for a convenient place to meet friends.
Best Pint - Bruxelle's
Hard to beat your first pint of Guinness in Ireland. Kirk's face after his first sip was one of disbelief and bliss. When we walked in for late breakfast after Kirk's arrival the bartender immediately poured us two pints and told me I was making a bad habit of bringing all my guests there for breakfast & a pint. Dave Box, Brett Wass and now Kirk Smith have all experienced the mid-morning kickoff brunch at Bruxelle's.
Here is a picture of Kirk with his first Guinness in Ireland. Hello happy boy.
Kirk's visit wasn't only pints of Guinness and pub research, we also packed in some other stops including :
Kilmainham Gaol (Dublin's former jail)
Kilmainham Gaol housed prisoners from the 1780's until the 1920's, including many political prisoners and thousands of people during the great famine. A cold and damp place to serve a sentence. Heating was non-existent and until electricty was introduced, you were given one candle every two weeks ! There are many windows to take advantage of natural light, but it's not like Dublin is the sunniest of places !
If it looks familiar, it has been used as a concert venue by U2 and Sinead O'Connor amongst others and was also used in many films, most famously in 'In the name of the Father" starring Daniel Day Lewis.
The leaders of the Easter Uprising of 1916 were all imprisoned and executed here. The picture above is the execution yard where they were shot. Hundreds of people were executed at this prison, most by hanging. They have a really amazing museum at the jail that gives the visitor all the information they need about modern irish history. We will be bringing all visitors here, its on the top of the to-do list from now on...a really great stop on the tour of Dublin.
After a somber stop like Kilmainham, there is only one thing you can do:
Hit another pub and get some oysters and Guinness ! Kirk wasn't overly impressed by these particular oysters, but they were still yummy.
One night we went to The Village for what we were told was going to be traditional music night. Turns out it was a night of All-around Irishness sponsored by the local Irish language radio station. There were 4 sets including an average guitar guy, a horrible rap act in gaelic, open mike karaoke in irish and an Irish band at the end (pictured above)
After trying to block out the sounds of Irish rap with pint after pint of Guinness you have to make a stop at the local late night greasy spoon.
The Harcourt Diner by our apartment is mobbed by late night partygoers desperate for burgers, kebabs and cheese fries.
We covered a large part of the city on foot, showing Kirk many of the major attractions. Kirk was very interested in the older ruins and Viking history, so we had to stop at Dublinia - The Viking Museum.
Kirk likes renaming places so he called it Nordica. He was disappointed to find out that Vikings didnt really wear horned helmets, but we were able to try on other headwear.
The city walls and castle are especially impressive when its dreary outside. Pictured above is Audeons gate circa 1240 AD.
On Saturday night, Kirk and I donned our rented tuxedos to attend the yearly party of the softball team I joined this past summer.
We got all dressed up...and drank more Guinness. The event was held at a Thai restaraunt above our sponsors pub. New team captains were voted in for next season, and Kelly was even given a box of chocolates for being the number one Fan and to entice her to join for next season...which she gladly did.
On our last full day, Sunday, Kirk and I headed south to the mountains for a hike. We got extremely lucky with the weather and hiked up and down both sides of Glencullen .
It was a bit cold, but once we were hiking it was perfect. Although foggy higher up, we did get some spectacular views every now and again.
After a couple hours of exploring, we walked down some country roads to Johnnie Fox's and had a delicious lunch of salmon, mussels and Guinness before heading back into the city.
Sunday night we decompressed at the Portobello with lacrosse friends to watch some American football and wonder how long it would take our bodies to purge 5 days worth Guinness.
Thanks to Kirk for a great visit !
Congratulations and big hugs to my cousin Michael on the newest addition to our family.
They've been open for about 900 years and have perfected the classic pub atmosphere. Yes it can be a bit touristy, but excellent food and perfect pints of Guinness mean the Brazen Head (or as Kirk calls it, the Brass Monkey) is still a great pub.
The Barge is the closest watering hole to my house. On Friday & Saturday nights it is a very popular club upstairs with dancing. Makes for a convenient place to meet friends.
Here is a picture of Kirk with his first Guinness in Ireland. Hello happy boy.
Kilmainham Gaol housed prisoners from the 1780's until the 1920's, including many political prisoners and thousands of people during the great famine. A cold and damp place to serve a sentence. Heating was non-existent and until electricty was introduced, you were given one candle every two weeks ! There are many windows to take advantage of natural light, but it's not like Dublin is the sunniest of places !
The leaders of the Easter Uprising of 1916 were all imprisoned and executed here. The picture above is the execution yard where they were shot. Hundreds of people were executed at this prison, most by hanging. They have a really amazing museum at the jail that gives the visitor all the information they need about modern irish history. We will be bringing all visitors here, its on the top of the to-do list from now on...a really great stop on the tour of Dublin.
Hit another pub and get some oysters and Guinness ! Kirk wasn't overly impressed by these particular oysters, but they were still yummy.
The Harcourt Diner by our apartment is mobbed by late night partygoers desperate for burgers, kebabs and cheese fries.
We covered a large part of the city on foot, showing Kirk many of the major attractions. Kirk was very interested in the older ruins and Viking history, so we had to stop at Dublinia - The Viking Museum.
Kirk likes renaming places so he called it Nordica. He was disappointed to find out that Vikings didnt really wear horned helmets, but we were able to try on other headwear.
The city walls and castle are especially impressive when its dreary outside. Pictured above is Audeons gate circa 1240 AD.
We got all dressed up...and drank more Guinness. The event was held at a Thai restaraunt above our sponsors pub. New team captains were voted in for next season, and Kelly was even given a box of chocolates for being the number one Fan and to entice her to join for next season...which she gladly did.
Night #1: Grafton street at night, in all it's Christmas finery. We went out for a pint and a bit of traditional music at O'Neil's and then the Oliver St. John Gogarty. Both bands did a fine job.
Slainte!!
Dave, Diana and Lindsay in St. Stephen's Green.
Here we are on the grounds of Trinity College, gawking at it's impressive architecture and absorbing the scholarly feel.
The boys went for a traditional Irish fry for breakfast while we gals did a little shopping. Here's Lindsay and Diana in Stephen's Green Shopping Center.
We visited Dublin Castle and got inspired by the gardens.
Diana is going to make one of these for her garden back in Tampa...the mosaic, not the castle.
One of my favorite things about showing people around our new home is you get a fresh perspective on things you have seen before. I never even noticed this magnificently laden fig tree in front of the old Norman tower.
New people also bring new ideas, new ways to have fun. For example, Dave insisted we play "ring and run" at the Garda station door. Thrilling AND naughty!!
And visitors have the patience and mind-set to take great pictures. Here's a wonderful shot of Christchurch Cathedral, our next stop.
My favorite part was the tile work.
The baptismal font.
It's no Notre Dame, but it's pretty nonetheless.
Part of the Arnold Tour is the obligatory shot of our visitors posing as Vikings. Note Dave's Nordic snarl.
Evening found us north of the river where we discovered pears have replaced early fall's seedless grapes in the bizarre baby prams of the fruit vendors. And "Ten pears for two Euro" is the new sing-song sales pitch they call out.
Diana and James Joyce (whom playful Dubliners have tagged "The Prick with the Stick").
We also did the Jameson Distillery tour on the north side. It was a good one, better than the Guinness factory. Three cheers for triple distillation!!
At the beginning of the tour they ask for four volunteers to do a special whiskey tasting. Dave enthusiastically raised his hand under our encouragement, not that he needed much prodding. They give you three Irish whiskeys, plus the best selling scotch and American whiskeys to compare. As you can see, Dave took his new job as Whiskey Taster very seriously. He did a damn fine job and was officially certified as a result.
Awww, look how proud!!
There was plenty more to the trip - including an amazing Lebanese dinner, and more than a few pubs. But I'll bring this to a close with a great shot the Boxes got of the Ha'penny bridge at night.
And last but not least, here's a goat our visitors must have seen before they arrived in Dublin. I snagged this pic along with the others above cause I got a thing for goats.
What's better than a custom-made Lite Brite Mr. Potato Head piece of art made especially for you and sent long distance from your darling great-nephew?
When he pokes his own potato head in the picture!!!
The collapse of the Soviet Union. After 45 years of the Cold War, the final chapter closes on the once mighty Soviet superpower. One by one, smaller regions break off into independent republics.
"Long Island Lolita" Amy Fisher (From Kelly's hometown of Bellmore) drives to her boyfriend Joey Buttafucco's house (in my hometown of Massapequa) and shoots Mrs. B in the face.
The worldwide web (WWW) is born...thats right people, Kelly and I were dating before the internet.
Timothy McVeigh blows up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
1996 seemed to be the year of plane crashes. TWA Flight 800 explodes off Long Island, the ValuJet crash in the Everglades, an Ethiopian Airliner is hijacked and crashes into the Indian Ocean and Ron Brown (Secretary of Commerce) is killed in a plane crash in Croatia.
The biggest story of the year, Princess Diana killed in a car crash in Paris.
The economy is booming, everything is going great...then BLAM ! A sex scandal involving the President...thanks Bill...what a f-ing mess.
A brave new world. Napster comes out and we can now download music from the internet for free ! The music industry scrambles to stop napster as we all melt our dial up modems trying to download every song ever made (insert modem noise).
September 11, 2001 - the day that changed everything...forever.
The "Reality" TV revolution that started around 2000 with "Survivor" churned out a huge hit with "American Idol" which led the way for even more ridiculous TV shows.
