Oldies but Goodies

Picture of Covent Garden on a Saturday afternoon....LOTS of people

No we didn't make a trip to Washington DC this cherry blossom is in St James Park in front of the palace. This park also features some crazy looking birds and ducks

PAELLA!!! We went to a Taste of Spain festival on Regents Street where they made two enormous dishes of paella over open fires.

Gardens at Kensington Palace

This is a picture of Neal's Yard near Seven Dials. A really neat hidden pedestrian Street in central London which has local coffee and art shops. I had a great fresh juice from a shop in the small square mmmmmm :)

Advertising 101

the three of us on our pub crawl... great beer, great live music, and great company :)

Above are two advertising techniques used by Four Star Pizza in Dublin

#1: Price inflation only to lead to drastic price cuts.... 32 euros for a three topping pizza!!! no wonder they needed to lower prices WHO would ever pay that much??

#2: Sex Appeal... I have never seen this much cleave on a Domino's ad haha. Plus keep in mind this is a 6' high poster not a flier haha.

In our quest to find the pot of gold we tracked done some local leprechauns at their hangout... they did not give out any secrets however so the search is still on

My Goodness My Guinness

We started off with a picture in front of St James's Gate Brewery..entry to the factory. Factoid #1: Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease in 1759 at a rate of 45 pounds a year.

This is me playing in the barley :) Factoid #2: Guinness is made only from 5 ingredients... water, malt, barley, hops, and yeast

Sarah doing a Guinness Beer Bong...too bad we forgot the funnel...messier this way. Factoid #3: 10 million glasses of Guinness are enjoyed around the world every day (only a small percent through a beer bong)

We made it through the tour and got to taste our prize... a Guinness fresh from the factory with an amazing view. Factoid #4: The gravity Bar is the highest bar in Dublin at 46 metres off the ground!

Some more fun facts...

#5: At an angle of 45 degrees it takes 119.5 seconds for the perfect pint to settle

#6: The ancient harp symbol was initially used as a symbol for Guinness, registered in 1876, and later adopted by the Irish government as the official symbol

#7: Back in the day doctors actually prescribed it to patients and even women while breast feeding

#8: The Guinness Factory is AWESOME

Jail House Rock

image of the main prison area in Kilmainham Gaol (Jail) in Dublin. This is were many leaders of Irish rebellions were imprisoned and some executed in the prison by the British and later in 1923 by the Irish Free State.

This is me inside my cell shivering since there was no heat in the jail. Good thing i had my scarf .... but no mittens :(

This is John in his cell, he was not allowed to open the door even for visitors so had to take a picture through the key hole. Sarah and I convinced them to let him out on good behavior so we could go to the Guinness Factory!!!