
NOREEN YUN AND
MARIE HART ENJOY A STOUT AT THE SOURCE
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THE
GRAVITY BAR OFFERS A SUPERB VIEW OF DUBLIN'S
ROOFTOPS
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In April,’08, I
realized a dream come true by visiting Ireland, the land of my
rather
distant but nevertheless revered and certainly romanticized ancestors.
My first
day included a whirlwind tour of Dublin, the
National Gallery
and the GUINNESS STOREHOUSE
which is what the company calls their
brewery
headquarters. By the time I reached the Guinness compound I was more
than a bit
jet-lagged and jittery so I cut the tour of Guinness brewing history
short and
took the elevator to the ninth floor to the famous circular GRAVITY BAR
eager
to collect my complimentary pint. Gravity is a large open space filled
with
people from all over the world, buzzing around the very functional and
centrally-located bar area like bees buzz around melted ice-cream on a
summer
side-walk. There are small tables positioned around the perimeter so
patrons
can enjoy spectacular views of sky-scraper-less Dublin-town. |

A STORM
FORMS AND PASSES FASTER THAN SEAMUS CAN POUR A PINT
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JAMES JOYCE
QUOTES ARE ETCHED INTO THE WINDOWS
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Quotes
etched into
the windows from such classic Joycean works as “Portrait of the Artist
as a
Young Man” and the “Dubliners” draw the eye to famous Dublin land-marks like the Wellington monument, St Stephen’s
Green and Trinity College. Though
lack-luster and long-ago, my English-major
credentials were savvy enough to register a respectful pause.
Against
the back-drop
of the Wicklow Mountains, I watched the sky turn from clear blue to a cloudy, menacing hail-storm, then back to
sunny again all in a ten-minute span. An unflappable bar-tender,
not-surprisingly named, Seamus poured me the perfect, shamrock-topped
pint
which I downed with appropriate Irish-American alacrity. Now a pint of
Guinness Stout
is always good, but when it comes complimentary, as part of your tour
it
borders on greatness. I’d have gladly paid for a second but the
pressures of
tour life prevailed. We were off to the north in the morning and I
needed a
clear head to fully appreciate the sights I had signed up to see. No worries. It seems they do serve Guinness
in Derry. |
GUINNESS
SIGN PHOTO BY CHRIS POH
______________________________________________________________________________________
MADELEINE BEST HENN was born and raised in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. She graduated from La Salle University with a degree in
English and a passion for the literature, landscape, and history of
Ireland and the British Isles. She also indulged an interest in the
well-being of the human psyche and went on to earn a nursing degree
from Holy Family College. Along with free-lance writing, she is
employed as a psychiatric nurse and a mental health program
administrator. Madeleine is a wife and mother; she is suitably proud of
her own Irish
heritage and currently resides in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. |
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