The Irish Sinnott

So I flew to Ireland this weekend. My one flatmate was returning home and the other flatmates decided to make sure she got home. We stayed with her family in Galway for two nights. We saw the sights!!! It was quite good.
I was in Dublin for 1 1/2 days all together. Enough time to find the Sinnott Bar. I went in for lunch and ended up staying quite a while. I met some young Indian london bankers on a birthday weekend in Dublin. I helped them finish a keg of Guinness. I am not a huge fan of the taste normally but I think it tastes really good in Dublin and I think I would feel weird drinking anything else!!
Interesting fact about Sinnott Bar in Dublin: Each Table has two kegs installed in the center and a self pouring tap at the table. You have a choice of Guinness or Carlsberg- a lighter beer. There is an electronic tracker of how many pints you drink. This was just fascinating and the guys I was with and I had a great time tapping the keg!! I left them outside of McDonald's to finish my tour of dublin. They were going to go pass out! I love meeting fun people and having a few hours of good times. We each took responsibility for the worlds problems, the bankers- responsible for the economy, me- responsible for the Iraq and Aghan wars. We had several drinks to each respectively. It was a bit light hearted but we did find commone ground to discuss issues in a friendly way.
I stopped by the Celtic Whiskey shop, had some irish whiskey, went to Temple Bar area and listened to Authentic Live Irish Music, and then finished off the night with an Irish Coffee. It was over 4-6 hours just in case you thought me an alcoholic. I also had a maximum of 4 drinks with these events! I got on my train and never the less, took a nap and ended up in Galway.
The next day my flatmate and I went on a 7 hour bus tour of Ireland, including the cliffs of moher, the Burren-boggy area in Western Ireland. I had a fantastic time. Seeing the Cliffs of Moher made the long day worth it! and again my Anthropology bend on things was stimulated by the prehistoric findings, the English castles, and talk of the little people. There are Leprauchauns everywhere, you have to believe and you have to look for them...
My sunday was spent running in Galway to some sights and sounds. It is right on the coast and for me this was lovely!! I can count on my hands the amount of times I have run on a coastline. I am deprived in Iowa... We then did the Guiness Tour, it was fun to see how the process is made but not that much different from the Miller Brewing tour, which is free. But one overarching theme to my weekend was, "I am contributing as much as I can to the Irish Economy" everytime I looked at the price of trips/souvenirs/food. It is expensive but their economy has been devastated since the the economy failed. So again I felt socially responsible.
I did the city tour and say the K----- gaol (cant remember the name of the jail, but very historic like, alcatraz but involved with all the Irish independence events), the Jameson whiskey factory and some cool sights in Dublin, that are associated with Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, and Michael Collins.

If you get a chance-- I highly recommend it!
I am flying back next week on monday so I think I will make one more post and then catch up with most everyone from the States until I go traveling again...

take care, blessings, and love!
kristina