Another lovely weekend spent in Dublin! Friday a large group of us headed into the city centre on an excursion to the world renowned Guinness factory!
We took the bus into town and then walked about 35 minutes out to the edge of Dublin near Pheonix park. It took us a long time to get there because we walked around the whole property (which is rather large!) before coming across the entrance. We walked around, learned about the ingredients, the process of brewing the beer, and the history behind the family, and of course enjoyed a "free" pint at the top of building in the Gravity bar. It was a great day, and a delicious pint!
Fun fact: When drinking a Guinness, first take a small sip and swish it around your mouth. Then take a deep breath and take a large sip and when swallowing, breath out through your nose! You will taste the poetry! It is sweet and savory!
Apparently Guinness tastes the same everywhere and it is only a myth that it tastes better here in Ireland. Guinness is also brewed in various places around the world, however, I like to believe that it does taste better here!
Today we headed off to Newgrange! It is a tomb about an hour away from Dublin! It is magical and incredible. It's not every day that I stand in a 6000 year old tomb built by people from the neolithic period with graffiti from the 1800s. Below is a picture of the entrance where the sun shines into the chamber on the winter equinox. They demonstrated this using "faux" light and it was amazing, I can only imagine what it is like with the sun!
wow. love the winter solstice tomb. what a wonderful choice for a tomb really - in that often people symbolize the end of life with winter (and the beginning with spring). who and what are in the tomb?
ReplyDeleteI only wrote briefly about Newgrange, but it deserves a better explanation! The light chamber is that opening about the "door". You enter and walk about only a couple yards into the tomb and there are three small round chambers, each with a smooth, rounded out rock set on the ground, similar to a bowl. Here is where they would but the cremated remains. It is unknown whose remains they would place there, but it is thought to be anyone from their village. They also would put "burial" gifts in the chamber, similar to what we do today. It's a truly wonderful structure!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kirsten! I suppose I could have "googled" it - but I find that when I do that I get completely engulfed and then lost in internet land. Thanks for sparing me ;0).
ReplyDeleteP.S. Let's talk soon. Let us know when it's best to Skype and Ben and I will set it up. I hope you're having a fabulous week so far.