Tynanwoods Days Eighteen & Nineteen

November 1 & 2, 2006
Days 18 & 19: Zoos & booze; sneaking into Mecca

Wednesday: most of the Gang of 20 left this day. We spent the afternoon at the Dublin Zoo inside Phoenix Park with my cousin Jeanne and her three-year-old Daniel. Jeanne flagged a cab back to the hotel while we took a bus back to the south side and drank a pint at The Duke, where we began our Literary Pub Crawl two nights earlier. We took the light rail home. I decided to not buy tickets this time, since they're expensive and nobody ever asks to see them. It's almost an honor system. And tonight we discovered the almost: after we got on, two light rail employees came onboard right next to me and started asking to see tickets. There's apparently a stiff fine for riding the rail without paying. I did my best to become invisible, and it worked -- we got off at the next stop without being thrown into the hoosegow. But when Ava took my hand as we walked home she said 'Dad, you're shaking.' The adrenaline. So much for my life of crime.

Later we had dinner with Jeanne and Daniel at O'Neills Pub, competing with soccer matches blaring on screens in every room. While we were there the (well) lit pub crawlers came in, and I chatted briefly with one of the actors.

Thursday: We caught the Dublin Tour bus, which we referred to as the 'jump on jump off', since the tickets are good for 24 hours. The bus runs along both sides of the River Liffey and comes with a live tour guide who points out the various sites -- the smallest pub in Dublin, the statue of Molly Malloy, and so on. The top side of the double decker bus is open to the air, which both makes it easier to see the buildings and also butt cold in early November.

Our first jump off: St. Patrick's Cathedral, which among other things houses the corpse and death mask of Jonathan Swift, who was dean of the cathedral for 30 years when he wasn't writing a few things on the side. We wandered about, admiring the gothic architecture and the stained glass. Ava discovered the votive candles, so we lit one for every dead relative I could come up with. (Starting with my Uncle Bill, whose generosity made this whole trip possible.)

We jumped back on the Dublin Tour bus and jumped off at Mecca, aka The Guinness Brewery at St. James Gate. Our aim was to just eat lunch in the cafe and catch the 360 degree view of the city from the 7th floor bar. When we discovered we had to pay a 30 euro fee for the tour -- whether we wanted to tour the plant or not -- that made Dan a very cranky boy. While Xtina wandered through the gift shop trying to convince me to buy some Guinness boxer shorts, Ava wandered off behind the ticket counter to check out a waterfall she heard flowing (yes, there's a waterfall inside the plant). I followed her, Cole followed me, and then Xtina showed up five minutes later PO'd that we'd abandoned her. But we were in the plant and it didn't cost us a dime, so we headed up to the Brewery Cafe and had lunch (and, it goes without saying, a pint). Xtina had Guinness and Beef Stew, I had fishcakes, the kids had chicken nuggets, and it was the best restaurant meal we had during our entire stay. Even the nuggets and chips were good.

Note: In the elevator up we met a brewery tour employee who did not ask to see our tickets but did explain why Guinness tastes better over here. One, they know how to pour it. Two, they serve it at 6 degrees Celsius, or roughly 44 degrees fahrenheit. Apparently the Brits serve it too warm (9 degrees) and the Americans too cold (3 degrees). I think possibly the warm and inviting environs has something to do with it as well.