From Guinness and Carriage Rides to Fairies and Folklore

Friday, we went to the Guinness Storehouse during the day. It was really impressive. Apparently, when the founder, Arthur Guinness, started, he signed a 9000 year lease for the Storehouse. After learning about the brewing process, we went up to the Gravity Bar. It was amazing! All the walls were windows and you could see all of Dublin. Unfortunately, our tickets for a complimentary beverage were only good a Guinness, so I had my first stout beer experience. It wasn't my favorite but the bartender made a 3 leaf clover in the foam on top. Once we were done, we took a horse drawn carriage (our horse's name was Johnny Cash) to our next destination, the Brazen Head. When we first got there we got a few drinks and took in the environment. However, my brother went to the restroom and my mom went to take pictures. So I was sitting there by myself and I started to look around the bar. That's when I made eye contact with this old man in the corner. He had to be late 60s, had a large beard an was smoking a pipe, and almost looked homeless. I smiled then glanced in the other direction. I kid you not I looked away for a split second and behind me I heard "Where ya from?". The man was standing right next to me. I almost screamed I was so startled. I collected my composure and began talking to Frank. He ended up being a very nice gentleman and told me about when President Obama visited and how they made a special keg for him. Apparently, the secret service came over weeks beforehand to taste test it and make sure it wasn't poisoned or anything. Frank proceeded to give me shit for not liking Guinness. After we were done talking to Frank, we went upstairs for "Food, Folklore, and Fairies". It was a dinner where they would tell us Irish folklore and play Irish music between courses. I even had Traditional Irish Stew for my main course and it had lamb in it. We learned about the potato famine and how people used to believe in a fairy world (leprechauns are actually one of the fairies they believed in). After dinner, we went back to the hotel and went out. We went to a lot of different pubs including one called 4 Dame Lane. That's where we met our friend John. John told us some crazy stories about Vegas. Supposedly, he paid a midget to climb a tall pillar in a bar and jump down on his friend. However, as the midget jumped, the friend saw and moved out of the way. Then, the midget had to go to the hospital cause he was knocked out cold. He told us another tale about how he paid cops to kidnap and torture his brother in some foreign country for his bachelor party. I think John has some bad karma coming his way. John then insisted that Brett and I dance. So Brett and I get into a dance battle. I have to say that, beforehand we had noticed that most of the people in the bars were pretty horrible dancers. As Brett and I were dancing, the other people start to clear off the dance floor. After a while, we started to feel awkward being the only ones dancing so we stopped. Then, John admitted to me, "you guys are way ahead of us here in Ireland." We decided to go see some other bars. After that bar, we went to a bar that just played 80s music. We stayed there for a while until this really drunk guy started talking to us. He seemed to be angry, but I couldn't make out much of what he was saying. Then, he proceeded to drop his pants and start dancing right next to us. Brett and I decided that was our cue to leave. We ended up going back to 4 Dame Lane. Where I met some German friends. They were hilarious and a couple insisted that I marry them for a green card lol. What was especially amusing to me is one of them was convinced that all of America was like the old Weatern movies with John Wayne. I tried to explain go him that it's not and he was very disappointed. After the bar closed, Brett and I still wanted to be out so we asked two men on the street where we could go at that hour. The men turned out to be gay. One of them was hilarious. He kept tellin my brother that he was gay and just in denial and that he had been in denial too. My brother handled the situation very well and explained to him that he was not gay. Then, as a woman walked by the man yelled out to her, "Umm, Excuse me ma'am!! You should quit smoking!" The woman yelled back, "Fuck You!!" He then turned back to us and said, "yea, she's probably going to shank you later." The other man he was with was ssssooo nice he even gave a homeless man a bite of the food he was eating. I have never seen so much hospitality in my life. Anyways, we decided it's too late to stay out and head back to a hotel, where I run into a hen party (bachelorette party) that insisted I stay up and drink with them. They were very nice women; however, everytime I tried to leave, they insisted that I stay and poured another glass of wine for me. I think I finally got out of there a little after 5 in the morning and as I walked in my room, I could see that it was getting light out. All and all it was a good day though.