Guinness Storehouse... and a very crummy afternoon

Upon the recommendation of our friend, Tom, we both had read a book earlier on this trip called "The Search for God and Guinness" (fabulous book, by the way!). Dublin is the home to Guinness beer, the brewery, and the Guinness family. The book was fascinating about how not only did the family produce an excellent beer that was healthier than hard alcohol (emphasizing moderation), but they were Christians who made a significant impact on their community. They started Sunday schools, some descendants were pastors and missionaries, they greatly improved working conditions, hired doctors who improved the health of the employees and community. Pretty impressive stuff. So, we were thrilled to tour the Guinness Storehouse.

We went directly there from Dublin Airport, Chet driving on the left side of the road and doing really well! It was a bit stressful getting there because road signs are pretty much hidden in Dublin and the streets are confusing, but we were pleased to make it there and enjoy our time.

The Guinness Storehouse was interesting, with multiple levels of history of the beer and the family. The top culminates in a beautiful view of the city and a complimentary Guinness. Here are some photos from the Storehouse.

The actual 9,000 year lease that Arthur Guinness signed to take over an old brewery at St. James Gate in the 1700s.

One of the old big brewing vats that was on the tour. They had a video inside.

Map of the Guinness Storehouse... the inside area is shaped like a pint glass. Interesting concept, eh?

The pouring of Guinness taks 119.5 seconds... you can see it in different stages after the first pour.

View of the city from the top. It was nearly a 360 view. This looks at the most prominent area of downtown.

Chet with the "God and Guinness" book at one of the gates. Cool building and interesting tour!

Well, this is where our trip went quite bad... after enjoying the tour, we walked back to our newly rented car which was parked on a side street very close by. The complimentary car park was full so we parked there and paid instead. We didn't think much of it because it was close, other cars were parked there and there were people walking up and down the street (this was at 11am, we were back to the car by 2pm).

When we arrived back to our car, the back window had been broken into, and both of our bags were gone. That means both of our nice backpacking backpacks, most of our clothes, our glasses/extra contacts, extra shoes, our power cords, our hiking clothes, a bunch of stuff from REI, our headlamps, etc. The police came and will look for our bags (they think that since there is nothing that easily sold that they'll be dumped somewhere) but we were left with very little for the rest of our trip... and all of our favorite clothes, basic gear and glasses (this is one of the most annoying things) will need to be replaced. Oh, and we have to pay for the window that was broken on the rental car because the damage insurance we have has a deductible. Needless to say, there were some tears yesterday (me) and some complete exhaustion. But, we are working on buying new toiletries, clothes and other necessities for the remaining week and trying to be positive (Chet is better at this than me). So, pray our stuff will turn up.

Two lessons I will share, though... always get travel insurance on a trip (we will get money back for the travel delay with the ash and for our stolen baggage) and always get really good insurance coverage on a car if you will be driving it in Dublin/Ireland. Oh... and maybe don't park around the Guinness Storehouse if you ever go there... apparently though that area is well maintained, it is surrounded by flats with drug addicts... didn't realize that when we parked there.

Here is to hoping the rest of the trip goes well... we are off to smaller towns and the motorcycle race Chet has been so excited about in Northern Ireland.

Much love, Brianne