Beginning of Irish week

In honor of St. Patrick’s day I am dedicating the rest of this week to Ireland and all things Irish. I have many more serious things to reflect on which will come later in the week, but let us start off with something fun, delicious and stereotypical: GUINNESS.

Last year my family spent a week in Ireland. Most of our travels were off the beaten path. But we did start our trip with the most touristy thing we could think of. We arrived in Dublin at 8am. By 11am we were at the Guinness factory. The boys paid their respects.

Guinness was established in 1759. In case you didn’t pass junior high school history, that means Guinness has been around longer than the United States. They have a museum tour in Dublin which winds up at the top of an nine story building where you get an entire pint of Guinness. This was the first time I ever had Guinness... and I learned a little of what heaven is like. I was under the impression that Guinness was very heavy. It is actually much lighter than I thought it would be and learned that it is very low in calories! Needless to say I ended up drinking a lot of Guinness on this trip.

To give you an idea of how much the Irish respect their beer, check out this little van we found. It literally drives all over the country to ensure that quality Guinness is being poured in every little pub in Ireland. My sister gives that the thumbs up.

So this St. Patrick's Day join in a tradition older than the 4th of July and enjoy yourself a pint of Guinness.

Cheers!