Choral Society Trip, Dublin--part 2

Okie Dokies, here is part 2!
First of all, 1111 page views! whoot whoot! ^_^

The Night before, when walking around (after originally going the wrong way) to get to Doyles to hang with the rest of the choir and be social, we kept seeing foam flying around--in the air,on the street--I thought it was one of those clubs that do foam parties, ya know? but the next morning,  on our way to the Guinness Storehouse I saw the fountain...
must have been some kind of prank?

Dieuwke and I went to Trinity first to see if their tour times matched the website. They didn't (and neither did the prices) so we went to go to the Guinness Storehouse first.

Before we left Trinity, however, I heard music...and like moth to the flame I went after it!
I have tried for an hour now to get the video to upload...
Kyra is not amused...
if all else fails, try pasting this into the search bar?

http://www.youtube.com/v/P3BDuXG4IEI?version=3&autohide=1&feature=share&autoplay=1&autohide=1&attribution_tag=MUL5U8jmNPdBTZ3oVauihA&showinfo=1

This is the courthouse in the middle of the city...

These are what I believe to be old bullet holes on the courthouse--brownie points if ye can tell me where from/when, for those of you still playing back home!

A daytime view of Christ Church...

found this to be pretty creepy, if you watch Doctor Who then you know why.

Yet another view of Christ Church...

 There are plenty of buildings that I recognized, but couldn't remember the names of...So I took their pictures anyway :)

 Yay! Now to the fun part of the day!

Here, beneath our feet was the contract signed by Arthur Guinness for a 9000 year lease...

the ceiling in the main room was a huge barrel

the storehouse was about half Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, and other half history of Guinness advertising. This picture here was showing all the malted Barley...

"Barley provides the basic raw ingredient for fermentation, contributing to the balanced flavour and uniqueness of  Guinness beer. The roasted barley gives Guinness beer its characteristic deep ruby reed colour"

Saw the hops in there and thought of home. I miss the smell of hops in the morning: Liberty, Centennial, Sterling...

At one point I saw a huge  barrel,inside were people sitting along the edge, watching this man talk about the different types of Guinness... it was a bit strange.

I, for some reason, really liked the part that talked about how they made the barrels... reminded me of Blackberry Farm back home.

In this case was a harp. If you moved your fingers along the glass it made sounds as if you were playing it.

I was the first to volunteer to learn how to  craft the perfect pint of Guinness.

I already know about the first half, how to hold the glass and pour, the different types of gasses involved (Carbon Dioxide and Nitrogen) etc...

If you have a stamped, official Guiunness glass, just aim for the harp, you must pull the tap all the way down.

When it hits the word 'Guinness', slowly tilt the glass vertical again.

When it reaches the top of the word 'Guinness', you put the tap back, placing the glass on the shelf (not the bar, as it is not finished yet) and wait for the surge to settle...

Once it's settled, you take the glass back and place under the tap. push the tap away from you with two fingers...

You don't need any more gas at this point, so you're just filling up the glass for presentation.

wait until the head rises just above the glass, and place on the bar for it to settle again...

3...

2...

1!

Yup, that's how it's done.

I even got a certificate to prove it!

Dieuwke and I, after this little adventure, walked quickly back to Trinity to see the book of Kells. Obviously there was no photography allowed...

but there was in the library!

After seeing Enders Game, and re-reading it for the 7th time, seeing these two being directly across from each other made my day--Alex, I'm sure you'll remember why!

Last few pictures of Trinity before we ran back to the bus...

Overall, it was a grand weekend!