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November 13th 2008

Published: November 30th 2008

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Kat Larsen

Guinness

The factory

Dale and I both got Friday off work and flew to Ireland to see the All Blacks play Ireland. As soon as we got into town we headed straight to the Guinness brewery. The brewery was set out well and it was great to see how Guinness was developed into such a unique tasting beer. At the top of the brewery was a bar with 360 degree views of Dublin which was great, so we sat with our free beer and had a look around. The highlight for us both was when I looked up and saw Richie McCaw looking at me (it must have been my NZ tiki bag I had on). I quickly nugged Dale and got the camera out in time to get an impressive shot with the famous NZ captain. FANTASTIC! Later as we walked down the main street we noticed Ian Jones, Jason Eaton and Sitiviti Sivivatu but didnt manage to get photos with them.

Andrew (my cousin) finished work at 7pm so Dale and I walked around the town and checked out the shops while we waited for him. After a long day, we were happy to get some frozen pizza and drink and

Waterfall

head back to his flat for a quiet night. We had a big feed in the morning with a bit of black pudding added to the mix, watched the league semi final then we were ready to head out to the big game. We stopped off at one of Andrew's friends houses, also Kiwis, and met up with a bunch of All Black supporters. We got tattooed up, tied NZ flags around our necks had a few drinks and nibbles then we were ready.

Watching the All Blacks play at Croke Park was amazing!
As soon as I walked into the stadium I got a tingly feeling, 82 thousand spectators packed into one space created a fantastic atmosphere. Unfortunately the first half of the game was a bit slow and the All Blacks were not performing to their usual standard. But we were glad the second half was a bit more exiting. We had a great night out after the game and found Dublin to be a great place to party and sample more Guinness.

The next day we headed out and saw places like Trinity College the Bank of Ireland and had