We just got back from a quick weekend in Dublin, Ireland. Jess and I took a flight to Dublin (super cheap, $80 for 2 round trip tix, I love Europe!) and we met a bunch of the UW MBA group there to go experience Dublin. It is definitely the happiest place on earth, WAAYYY better than EuroDisney! The people are incredibly friendly and they had plenty of tourist and non-tourist suggestions for us.

A couple of highlights you'll see in the photos are the St. James Gate Brewery, home of Guiness, the Malahide Castle, and the Brazen Head Pub.

The brewery was fantastic. It had a ton of very educational displays about Guiness advertising, changes through the years (the formula is tweeked almost yearly like Coke's) and the overall brewing process. There is a pub at the top of the main building where you can have a pint of Guiness and enjoy the views of Dublin.

Another cool site was the Brazen Head Pub. It is the oldest pub in Ireland dating back to 1198. The oldest still surviving pub is in England, established 1189. The Brazen Head opened as an inn, stable and a pub at the only crossing of the Liffey River (which cuts Dublin in two). The other fun site was a medieval castle in the little town of Malahide. It was a fantastic old castle with a large public garden and a great, creepy old graveyard complete with broken leaning tombstones. The castle even has a special room in it specifically for Huck, the castle's ghost. All in all, a great trip.

We also had a ton of fun at all the pubs in the touristy but fun Temple Bar area. We are off to Nice next week to escape our bombshelter studio and Paris for a while so post again after we return! Now I have to let Jess type...

Hello! Here are some helpful beer-drinking tips that we learned in Dublin.
1) Only knackers drink Budweiser.
2) Whitwicks is for women. (Joe tried to order one and got denied.)
3) You should just order a Guinness or a whisky, unless you're a knacker.
Also, people actually talk about *how* the Guinness tastes at a certain bar. For example, "Cobblestone Pub pours a beautiful pint".

Another tidbit... Ireland has been experiencing incredible economic success over the past 2 decades, coinciding with a 21-year streak of having a woman president. Coincidence??Dublin was full of fun and we'll defitely be back!

Here are some more photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59007731@N00/sets/72157594346227122/detail/