Messing Around Dublin

The first day after Adrienne got here from the states, we hung around Dublin and saw what the city has to see.

(Two days before Belfast, by the way.)

In Dublin Castle, there was an art display showing items paused in production:

Corks

A marble

After that, we stumbled across the only thing that surprised me more than Belfast: a "Customs Museum." In other words, a museum dedicated to taxes. 

No, really.

I am not kidding. 

They have a museum dedicated to taxes. 

This is something I just don't think you'd see in America.

Examples of contraband seized by customs officials.

And these are stamps.
The sign wasn't very clear, but I'm pretty sure these are stamps similar to the ones imposed by the Stamp Act that infuriated most of Colonial America. Clearly, a different attitude was taken in Ireland.

Anyway, after the mind-blowing (to me, anyway) tour of the tax museum, we went to none other than the Guinness Storehouse, and we read all about the making of Ireland's most famous beer.

Barley

Water from the Wicklow Mountains

An exhibit dedicated to the barrels used to store the beer

A Guinness ad

Another Guinness ad

We got a free Guinness at the end. Served cold, by the way. 

So, that was pretty much Dublin.