guinness for breakfast is not a good idea

On the morning after our epic road trip we had our scheduled tour of the Guinness Storehouse.  Each group of MBA students had scheduled a visit to a different business in Dublin and London and my hubby had been part of Team Guinness.

My poor husband had been going through international calling cards like candy for weeks before the trip trying to get us more than just the standard guided tour through the brewery.  I overheard many conversations where my Beloved was trying to get anyone someone from Guinness corporate to come and speak to the group.

He made no progress and was given the standard line of, "The tour guide will be able to handle all that."  His emails went unanswered and conversations fell flat. 

An Irish name like Kenyon Sweeney didn't even help.

To the surprise of my proud little heart, Mark McGovern, the director of the Guinness Storehouse came in just to speak to our group.

My man delivers.

After Mark spoke to us we put on our headsets and was led through the storehouse by a tour guide (it's so loud in there that they have closed circuit audio so we could all hear her talk).

Blah, blah, blah... AND here is the sample room.  A few ounces of the finest brew straight from the tap.

The majority of our group of 41 people belong to the LDS faith, therefore, when the bartender set as many glasses on the counter, less than a handful of us partook.

The funny part was that the bartender thought that the group didn't speak English because so few moved forward to grab a glass.  She said that had NEVER happened before.

Kenyon and I tried our best to make up for it.

Here is Team Guinness:  Nate, Brandon, Dylan, Kenyon and Russ

As the tour progresses in the storehouse visitors go up one floor to the next until seven floors up there is the Guinness Sky Bar where your ticket earns you a free pint of Guinness.  And you get to drink it with a 360 degree view of Dublin (clouds and rain at no charge).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our gracious friends Natallee and Dylan with their Cokes - cheering us on and laughing as we get tipsy.  Did I mention this was all well before lunch?

This marked our final day in Dublin and that night the six of us walked our tired and aching feet back to the Temple Bar area for one last Irish meal together before we flew to London the next morning.

Irish Beef and Guinness Stew all around!