Pulling a Pint

On Wednesday, we toured Dublin. We bought passes on the hop on/hop off buses and visited several important political, cultural, and historical sites including the National Museum, Trinity College, and the Guinness Store House. The museum had several terrific exhibits especially the one on the Easter Rising of 1916. This was, perhaps, the most important of the Irish attempts at rebellion. The Irish force, led by Patrick Pearse, took over the General Post Office and attempted to capture all of Dublin, driving out the British forces. It was an ill-fated uprising and after several days of shelling, the leaders were captured and taken to Kilmainham Gaol. The general sentiment of the Irish population was that this was just another quixotic, romantic and foolish attempt to free the island from British control. However, as the Brits proceeded with executions, the public sentiment shifted to outrage at the barbarous treatment afforded the prisoners. The outcry started the march to freedom, which came within the decade.

The "Long Room" Library and the Book of Kells exhibit were the highlights of our visit to Trinity College. Luckily, the exhibit was not overwhelmingly crowded and we were able to spend a far amount of time looking at the original manuscripts from the Book of Kells. Just gorgeously and so intricately illustrated. Mom was just thuderstruck by the entire exhibit.

However, for some of us, Ireland exists most definitively in other icons. Yes, I'm speaking of Guinness. This was a "must" stop for Stacy and she made us proud when she, an excellent student, pulled a "perfect pint!"

We ended the night at O'Shea's with good Irish pub grub and some trad music.