Ireland and Guinness

We had an early start this morning; the alarm went off at 3am. We were out of the flat a little after 3:30 and had to catch bus 25, but we just missed it so we had to wait at the bus stop for about 12 minutes. It was cold out there waiting in the dark. When the bus came it was pretty full, the most full of any bus I've ridden while I've been here, we had to stand the whole time. We just barely made our connecting bus to Stanstead airport, but we did and this time we got seats. We got to the airport and speedily checked in using the self service kiosk, except Alicia who didn't have the same credit card as when she booked her flight (that's how they look you up at the kiosk). She had to wait in a long line, but Juan and Ashley were able to round up her confirmation number and print her boarding pass, so she didn't have to continue waiting in queue. We made it through security without trouble and found our gate. To board the plane we had to go outside and climb the steps up to the plane, it was cool. There weren't assigned seats, so we just grabbed some together. Our flight was less than an hour and was surprisingly quick. Our landing was rough, we really hit the ground. It took awhile to get off the plane and through customs, but I have an Irish stamp in my passport and it is green! It took awhile to figure out what bus ticket we wanted and then it took even longer to buy them because no one had them and they kept sending us to other places that didn't have them either. But we finally got our tickets and took a bus into central Dublin. Our first order of business was breakfast; we found a little place called Gertrude's and ate there. I had bacon and eggs and toast. The bacon here, and in England, is not like the thin strips we have at home. It is more like slices of ham, but cooked more so they're usually pretty tough. But my food was good. Next we caught the green tour bus, the hop on, hop off tour was included in our bus passes, and rode on that for awhile. We sat on top in the open and it was cold. Most of the time it was cloudy and we got a few drops of rain. But it was fun and the driver was a good tour guide, giving funny commentary. We got off at the Guinness storehouse stop and took the tour there. It was really interesting. Arther Guinness took out a 9,000 year lease to build his brewery there 250 years ago. They took us through the process of making beer and we got to taste the roasted barley and sample some Guinness. Then there were floors about the effects of alcohol, their advertising campaigns, and the history. I thought the advertising level was cool; did you know that the Guinness book of world records was started by one of the managing directors of Guinness? The core of the building is open and forms the shape of a giant pint glass that could hold 14 million pints of Guinness. So you circle around it on your way to the top. The top floor is the Gravity bar which has glass walls and boasts a 360 degree view of the city of Dublin, it's one of the highest points in the city. They give you a complementary pint of Guinness with your entry ticket, so we got our pints and enjoyed the view. It was really hot and crowded though, which was a bummer. I drank my first full pint of Guinness, not great but it wasn't too bad. Overall, we all liked the tour, it was interesting and fun. By the time we got done though, we were tired and hungry. Jonah, we made this video especially for you; you'll see why.