Here's to Arthur!

Nain's note:  This post was written while in Ireland, one day after the exciting celebration of Arthur Guinness Day....enjoy!

Now I don't think I have hidden the fact from all of you that I'm an avid Guinness drinker (Hell, it was one of the reasons why we picked Ireland as a honeymoon destination), and it couldn't have been more perfectly planned that we picked a week where the entire country of Ireland takes a day to celebrate the man himself, Arthur Guinness.  (Don't you love my hat?  So Irish, isn't it?)

It was our fourth day in Dublin, and we had seen signs all over the place advertising the occasion.  What was to happen was pubs everywhere were going to celebrate Arthur with a toast at exactly 17:59 (or 5:59 p.m. for those of you in the States) on September 23rd in Mr. Guinness's honor.  T had gotten an email about it before we left for Ireland (because, of course, we are both fans of Guinness on Facebook and receive regular updates...) so we were pretty pumped.  We were so pumped, in fact, that we decided to brave the "party district" of Dublin, called Temple Bar, to celebrate and be a part of the madness.

We started at a pub where had previously had dinner called the Auld Dubliner.  We got there around 2:30 that afternoon, which seems early, but trust me, you had to get there early.  The place was pretty full at that point.  We were lucky enough to score a table and decided to hole up there at least until the toast before we explored the area. 
 

They had live music, great food, and the Guinness was, of course, flowing.  As the afternoon progressed, the place got more and more crowded until around 17:00 (5:00 p.m.) when you could barely even walk around.  Fire codes were being broken, I'm sure.  It was near impossible to get to the bathroom at that point because the crowds were so bad.

As the hour approached, it hit 17:59, the time for the toast.  With pints of Guinnes in hand, we joined the revelry and toasted to Mr. Arthur Guinness.  The crowd erupted in cheers, clinking glasses all around and then into song, traditional Irish pub songs, of course.   It was by far one of the coolest things I have ever witnessed.

We finished our pints (let's be honest, these weren't our first pints, but still...) and decided to walk around outside to catch some fresh air since breathing room was sorely lacking in the Auld Dubliner.  Man, even the streets were insane.  People were out drinking, singing, dancing.  Garda (Irish police) were out everywhere to police the crowds.   This is a picture of apparently something big going on.  We couldn't tell, but there was this huge crowd, and everyone was cheering and trying to take a picture so I can only assume it was something big.  So, here's my picture, attempting to figure out what was going on. 

Wandering around to find our next pub destination, we made the mistake of running into apparently the very end of a fight, as there were police surrounding a group of men, one of which had about three stab wounds dripping with blood.  Yes, I could have done without seeing that, and it's a bit too much for me so we turned around. 

The next two bars we hit were the Oliver St. John Gogharty's and the Quay's Bar.  Both were equally as crowded and lively.  It was so much fun, and everyone was so friendly.  We had a wonderful time, as we were just happy to be a part of it all.  I felt like I had come home to my motherland. 

Ironic thing, though, while at Quay's Pub...we found seats next to two Irishmen, a couple from Spain and a lady about my age who was also a lawyer but was from Italy.  How crazy is that?  I met a fellow lawyer!

T and I had so much fun we have decided to carry on the tradition and have our own Arthur's Day, minus the police and stabbings, of course.  It'll be at our house next year with some Irish music (not live, but hey, we can only do what we can do), Irish cuisine, and a keg of Guinness, of course. 

I should tell you guys that as I sit here, handwriting this post so that I can type it out later when we return home, I am sitting in a cafe with T, drinking coffee and enjoying a delicious berry scone.  I'm so European.  My God, I could just live here.

Happy belated Arthur's Day, everyone!