Weekend happenings

Phew, I'm finally getting this blog caught up! This past Friday one of Chad's attendings invited us over for dinner. Here they call attendings, consultants and surgeons go by Mr. not Dr. - confusing I know!  Anywho, Mr./Dr. McNally and his wife had us over to their home in Howth for dinner.  Mr. McNally suggested we take the Dart (one of the train systems here) instead of driving because parking can be an issue.  So, we walked to the station, paid for our ticket and hopped on...all with plenty of time to get there.  When we arrived and Howth Junction we got off and assumed we were in Howth - NOPE.  We had gotten off way to early and the next train didn't come for 35 minutes! So after paying 10 euros for 2 tickets we then paid 15 euros for a cab ride to get us to their home so we weren't late....haha so many new adventures! We made it and had a fabulous evening with great food and good company.  Howth is an adorable little fishing village and Chad and I plan to go back so we can explore the town. I wish I had taken my camera though so I had some pictures to post!

Saturday morning we woke up to beautiful sunny weather and decided to get out and explore Dublin.  Everyone had been telling us to go see the Guinness Storehouse, that it was sooo neat and had so much history behind it.  We took the Luas (the metro/subway thing) over to take the tour.  The tour was EXPENSIVE, self guided and left a lot to be desired but we still had a good time.

Before we made it to Guinness we walked by a church where a wedding was taking place. Chad and I had to stop and watch a little because these girls and their dresses were ridiculous!  The bride looked beautiful, as she should but her bridesmaids.....it was too funny. I have never seen so much spray tan and hair bleach in my life!! It was like Jersey Shore gone Irish! I snapped a couple candid photos for evidence. Can you see the one on the left coming out the church?

It gave us a could chuckle to start the morning. We made it to Guinness and paid our 40 euros to get in and like I said we were somewhat disappointed.  They give you a map and a basic rundown then its up to you to walk through on your own.  The problem with that is there was no one along the way to answer questions or give more info.  After having taken the Anheuser-Busch tour in St. Louis (which is free I might add and guided) Guinness could do a lot better.  Chad's comment, " I didn't even get to pet a horse on this one". For those of you who haven't done the AB tour they keep the horses on site for you to see and pet.

All that being said, it was really interesting to learn the history and see the building behind Guinness which was started back in the 1700's.  Probably the most interesting to me, Arthur Guinness signed a lease for the original building and land back in 1759 for 45 pounds and 9000 years.  I wonder what it will cost them when the lease runs out? Haha

Welcome to Guinness!

Copy of the lease is displayed in the floor of the atrium

They kept a sample of the original yeast in a safe which has been passed into each new batch

Of course I liked the bulldog labels!

 We had lunch in their cafe which was actually really good and then hopped back on the Luas and headed home for a nap...yes we are old!!

Another bulldog we spotted on the way home

Sunday we got up and went to church.  Chad found the only baptist church in a 50 mile radius so we went to check it out. We are for sure the minority here as most people are either Catholic or Church of Ireland.  It definitely made me miss our church in St. Louis but I'm sure after we go a few more times it will be better. The people were very nice and even though they are between preachers right now the sermon was pretty good. The building itself is beautiful!

After church I wanted to go out to Kildare County to an outlet mall...yes I came to Ireland to go the outlet mall.  No really, Chad needed some new pants and we still needed some things for the apartment. It was about a 45 minute drive to mall where we shopped around. When we were finished we walked into town to find a place to eat and stumbled St. Brigid's Cathedral. It was originally a pagan shrine built in 1223 that was later converted into a church. 

After we had explored the interior and grounds we were starving.  A local woman suggested we eat at Harte's which was a great suggestion. The food was excellent! We both ordered filet which was served on a 440 degree stone. Basically, it came to us seared on both sides and we used the stone to cook it ourselves. We also got a lesson on Gaelic football by our waiter as there was a game on between Meath and Dublin...Dublin won incase you wondering.

Can you see the Club Orange off to the left....he is addicted!!

After dinner we headed home so Chad could get some rest before going back to work Monday. We are still trying to decide what to do this weekend....either stay here in Dublin and explore or go to another nearby town?