Dublin Day Two

George Bernard Shaw at the Writers Museum

In order to satiate my Dad’s unquenchable desire to tour government buildings, he and I walked over to Dublin Castle on the morning of our second day in Dublin.  We decided not to take the formal tour, but just look around the place for a while. 

Later, we met up with my mom and Martin and took a tour of the Dublin Writers Museum.  Given its size, Ireland has produced an absolutely undue number of prolific literary figures: James Joyce, WB Yeats, Jonathan Swift, and Oliver St. John Gogarty to name a few.  The Dublin Writers Museum, quiet, mellow, and a bit off the beaten path, offered insight into trends in Irish literature over time and the lives of individual artists.

Martin & I enjoying a sample of Guinness

After lingering in the Writers Museum cafe and picking up a copy of Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the family embarked on the rather lengthy walk to the Guinness Storehouse.  Founded in 1759 when Arthur Guinness signed a nine thousand year lease on the building, the Guinness Storehouse is to the beer drinker what the Vatican is to Catholics.  We enjoyed a tour detailing the process of making Guinness, and as my mom put it, “learned way more than we ever wanted to know about beer.”  The highlight of the tour, however, was the Gravity Bar.  Situated at the top floor and visited at the conclusion of each tour, the Gravity Bar features 360 degree floor to ceiling windows offering an unparalleled view of Dublin (along with a free pint of Guinness).  White letters are subtly etched into the glass, detailing what you’re looking at and giving popular literary references to those sights.  The Gravity bar really made the tour worth it, and is a definite must-see for anyone visiting Dublin.