I got back state-side a couple of days ago, took a couple of days to catch-up with work. It was good to get away from the 9-5, or more like 6-2 (the late 2), for a few days. The wife and I took a trip to Dublin for the New Year with a group of four others. That included my brother-in-law and his new, lovely, american citizen of a girl friend, my ex-sister-in-law and a friend of my wife’s. You find some things out about people when you spend a few days in a condo together, and not all of them are good. That, and group action always involves a great deal of wasted time—drives the wife and I batty.

We rented a three bedroom unit, right around the corner from the Temple Bar area, smack in the middle of Dublin. This, combined with the three-bill airfare, made the trip fairly inexpensive. ’Course, it may have interrupted my couch demeanor, but that’s probably a good thing.

You may not know this, but Ireland is green, really friggin’ green. The other thing that I didn’t expect was the low apex of the sun. Looking south, a three or four-story building would offer a fair amount of shade. Basically, the light is always like 10 a.m. in the Midwest. Combine that with an upper 40ºF temperature and you get a real nice winter. A little damp, which makes it feel a bit cooler, but all around nice. Good pub weather.

If you get to Dublin, make this your first stop: The Brazen Head. It’s just off the beaten path, on the south side of the Liffey river. Our group entered the pub, passed through a 5' doorway and seated ourselves next to a fireplace, in a room that was 15' square, including the bar. It’s a great atmosphere. The walls are slathered in currency, most of it green backs, that is inscribed with patrons’ sentiments. We ended up getting the attention of, aside from everybody, a particularly amiable gentlemen that worked in gov’t security. He bought us a round, mentioned that he met Clinton a few years back and then he shed some light on the Rising of 1916, why Ireland isn’t unified and so on.

After that, make a stop at the Temple Bar, shown in the photo above. It is touristy, mind you. But it has a layout that is lovely. Due to the climate, outdoor seating is always an option. The space transitions between indoor and outdoor without much of a notice. You can sit down at a table that due to the proximity of the walls and surroundings feels inside. Then you’ll notice that in the middle of the table is a propane heating fixture. Don’t spend a great deal of time there—food is not served—unless you’re looking to spend time with other people who aren’t from there either. Also mentionable is Fitzsimmons. Again, not the Brazen Head by any means. Very current, live music, co-ed scene.

Which, is a good segue. My wife, in a round about sorta way, mentioned to some of the local men that the Irish women are not all that attractive, especially in terms of fashion. I’ll admit that Dublin is no Barcelona by any stretch of the imagination. Of course, she was in her cups at the time. I was engrossed in deep political discussion with a young guy that was part of the group . After a few rounds of ear-to-mouth conversation I was made aware of the former fact that my wife was generally pissing off the indigenous folks; and that my new-boob, ex sis-in-law was getting offers from the male patrons.You cannot take a fake blonde, big-titted, Red Bull drinking broad anywhere. We made an exit as we were discussing the cost of housing in Dublin.

New Year’s eve was spent at Taylor’s Three Rock, just outside of the city. It was a cliché evening that featured this act and some fine Irish dancers. When in Rome, right? Of course, Big Tits was called up on stage during the audience participation section of the evening. The end of the evening was a bit of a train wreck. The place is packed with patrons. It’s about ten miles outside of the city. So, walking is not a great idea. There are zero cabs. At 20 euros a trip there is a good amount of cash on the table. We waited for about thirty minutes. The establishment does not call taxis—which is really weird. We started the hike. Since there was six of us, and actually more like 7.5, we needed two taxis. The first group found one easily and the other four of us walked a good hour or so before one was kind enough to stop. Unreal.

The rest of the trip included Trinity College, Christ’ Church, a tour of the Guinness brewery and a day trip to the Wicklow mountains. All lovely.

So what about the Guinness, you might be asking? At first, I wasn't that impressed. I’ve always been told that it is so different over there. Ummm…no. The beer is exactly the same. The difference is the circulation. If you go to Chilli’s and order Guinness you should be clubbed with luke-warm ham hock. Any place that sells a large quantity of the ruby-dark libation is going to be about the same. It’s when the keg sits around for six months that you get an inferior taste. If you are buying your Guinness from the grocery store in the widget cans and expect a great taste—you also get the bacon-flavored bludgeoning. If you are like me, I only hit the liquor isle for the stuff if I have been strung out for over six months. Sometimes you neeeed it. I understand. So, yeah, the taste is great. The head is really creamy and coats your entire palette. Stick your nose in it and enjoy. If you frequent Irish pubs around town that are respectable, it’s not the holy-grail. Since we are on the subject, we all know that Guinness is served from a tap that is nitrogen-based, right? Well, over there, they also serve other beers through the same taps. Kilkenny was absolutely fantastic with the nitro-cascade. Honestly, I could put it down better than the stout. Fab-u-lous.