Whiskey in the Jar

Last weekend we had a three-day weekend, so I planned a trip to Dublin, Ireland and my friend Pete came along too. Friday after work, we took the train from Wiesbaden to the Frankfurt airport and flew to Dublin. We got to the hotel around 9 or 10 and immediately headed out for our first Guinness. We were lucky enough to find a pub that had both Guinness and live music, which seemed, for the most part to be Irish, so I was thrilled. The guys were really good and they were selling CDs, so after their last song, we went up to talk to them. They told us some good places to go and told us that on Sunday they'd be playing at the bar across the street, which happened to be their favorite bar. We went to watch them play for a bit on Sunday too.

Live music our first night in Dublin.

The next day, our first order of business was to go to the Guinness Storehouse for a tour and a pint. It was a bit outside the city center, but the walk was good. Once there, we walked around the museum they had of the brewery, which included how the beer was made, its history, advertising, etc.


At the end, the ticket into the Guinness Storehouse included a pint, which you could learn to pour yourself or have one poured for you. I opted for learning to pour one myself. Once you had your beer, you could enjoy the views of Dublin from the 360 degree bar overlooking the city.

My certificate after pouring the "perfect pint."

We also visited the Kilmainham Gaol (jail) after the Guinness factory. I know nothing about Irish history, but taking the tour through the jail was really interesting and sad. Kilmainham is where many of the Irish rebellion leaders, to include the leaders of the 1916 uprising, were held and executed there.


Saturday night, we took a musical pub crawl. We went to two pubs and listened to two men talk about Irish music, its history, and a little bit of the musical history of Dublin. They played traditional songs and some different instruments. I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who goes.

We were there for 3 days, because we left on Monday, but in my opinion, that was too much and I could have seen all that I wanted to see in 2 days. I suppose the weather probably played a big role.

Easy

Today is my last day of vacation--I haven't been to work since the 24th. Soon-to-be former President Bush was nice enough to grant the 26th as a federal holiday, so I had a nice long weekend before my friend was to arrive for his visit.

Ready for the update? It's a long one, so take a deep breath...

On Christmas day it was very weird to wake up to an empty house, but I enjoyed my coffee and relaxed until I had to get ready to go. For Christmas, I went over to Amy and Will's house and joined three other couples, one kid, and one dog. We had three different types of lasagna, sides, good drink, and conversation. It was laid back and a lot of fun.

The 26th I took a little hike to this Russian Orthodox church above Wiesbaden. It was kind of chilly, but once you got moving, it was fine. It wasn't much of a view, but it was good to get out of the house and do a little exercise.

On the 29th, my Chris arrived for a wonderfully relaxing visit. We had no plans, but only a few thoughts on what we wanted to do. I've been running pretty much since July and he's tired of work, so for both of us, having nothing planned was probably the best thing we could do. If nothing else, it was just nice to have someone here who knows me really well. It's hard moving to a new place, trying to meet new people, and not letting them see how weird and nerdy you are until you know them. Luckily, Chris already knows I'm a nerd, so I didn't have to hide that!

After he was able to sleep a few hours, I took him out for the requisite German meal of Wienerschnitzel and a beer. Lucky for him, the ice skating rink was open and they were still serving Glühwein, which is something he really wanted, but missed because the Christmas market closed on the 23rd. So we stood by the fire, drank a few glasses of Glühwein, and watched the people ice skate.

Glühwein by the fire next to the skating rink.

Tuesday, we headed to this antique store that I had wanted to go to. I saw this really cool antique bar that I'm still considering. After that, we made the decision to go to Frankfurt to see where Chris used to live when he was stationed there about 10 years ago. First, however, we used my handy dandy GPS to find The Twelve Apostles--Frankfurt's first brewpub.

Chris outside the Twelve Apostles.

On New Year's eve, we decided to stay home, make dinner, and then go watch the fireworks in Wiesbaden. I made these delcious subs from Suz's recipe, the Roberts family bean dip, and champagne, of course. The first day of the new year was also spent relaxing. We took a walk around the park right next to my house that I've never been through. After our discovery that the Irish pub by my house was closed, I took Chris to this Bavarian place and we threw back a few dark Bavarian beers...yummmm.

Preparing the delicious bean dip!

Fireworks in Wiesbaden. (You can see the video I took in the previous posting.)

On Friday, we decided on a roadtrip--winging it with no plans, just a vague idea of where. Our first stop was in Hamm, Luxembourg where the American cemetary and memorial are, to include General Patton's grave. It was a lovely cemetary and memorial to the more than 5,700 American soldiers who died during the second World War.


Heading north, we stopped in a small town called Houffalize, with no reservations and no agenda. The reason we headed there was because my favorite beer I had at the Christmas beer festival a few weeks back was La'Chouffe and Chris just so happened to have drunk that beer at a local bar in Baltimore that same weekend. We found the brewery and although the shop and brewery were closed, the restaurant was open. The server was nice enough to let us use the phone to try and find a hotel and gave us a booklet about the area, but we still didn't have a place by the end of Chris's last beer and our delicious meals. We went back to the first place we stopped and they had a room and what d'ya know....La'Chouffe on tap in their bar ;)

Me with my new friend and number who knows how many.

The next morning, after stopping by the brewery to load up on 2 cases of beer and some souveniers, we went to Bastogne, Belgium for the day. This was the location of one of the battles in Battle of the Bulge. There we visited the museum the town has on the battle, which was great.


After lunch, we headed to Tongeren, Belgium, which supposedly holds the largest antique market every Sunday. After a nap, we took a really freaking cold stroll through the town and stopped to get some Belgian chocolates. I couldn't believe how cheap they were, because I was expecting to pay a lot more. For 7 Euro, you got a box with a variety 15 chocolates in it. And they are yum-my! That night we sampled some different Belgian beer over dinner.

The next morning after breakfast, we bundled up and headed out to the antique market. It apparently spreads throughout the town, with actual antique vendors and just regular Joes who have their things on display. I guess it's more of a flea market, but in Europe to an American, everything is an antique. We both found some treasures, but it was just too cold to keep going, so we left just before 12.

On our way home, we stopped in Cologne, Germany to see the Cologne cathedral, which is absolutely enormous! The construction of the cathedral started in 1248 and was completed in 1890.

Me dwarfed by the cathedral.

From there it was onward to Wiesbaden. You can see the route we took from Wiesbaden to the various places and back, by going here. We were greeted on Monday with snow!



Chris's visit unfortunately had to come to an end this morning. It was a great time, we had a lot of fun, and I look forward to the next one. Thank you for being my "wing" man, Chris!

Auld Lang Syne

Happy 2009!!

Here's what happens when you mix alcohol and fire in Germany on new year's eve.