In The Beginning...Ireland

It all began when my son, Adam, was accepted for an semester overseas. I am a potter of sorts, so he hit me up for gifts to give people as he took the long way around. His first stop was Ireland where he met with a college buddy whose brother was studying in Dublin.

What do college students do in Dublin? They visit the Guinness Brewery where they not only learn how the brew is made but they learn the proper way to pour the perfect pint and are even awarded a certificate of accomplishment. Then they sampled the brewery's products at the glass bar with an incredible view of the city. 

They took a tour of a famous old prison and this was Adam's comment on that: "We went
to an old jail that was famous for being the place where the Irish revolutionaries were executed by the British in the early 1900s.  It was a slightly creepy place and extremely cold.  It was made so that air would be flowing through it at all times and it made it a very very cold place.  I would hate to be crammed into one of those cells with only a thin blanket, a candle, and a Bible. 

Kilmainhan Gaol

A short distance from the prison, the boys ducked into a tavern to get out of a sudden heavy downpour and ordered bowls of  Irish stew to warm them up. A magnet was passed to the proprietor.