What is J-walking?

Today I walked over 18,000 steps, totaling nearly seven miles. And during those seven miles there was plenty of time to notice the things that are just a bit different here in Dublin than back home.

Firstly, a lot of people walk here. It makes sense because most things are pretty close together and for anything else there are bikes or buses. But before that, let's review the topic of walking.

People know how to get around by foot in Dublin. And they do it fast, probably because everyone crosses the street whenever and wherever they want: middle of a busy street, the gap between two cars (stopped OR in motion), or right in front of the police man. Obviously, J- walking must not be a thing here or else everyone would be getting a ticket.

Preston and I have been watching and learning. We have progressively been getting around the city faster and, on

occasion, J-walking. Though we do tend to stick to crosswalks because we keep looking left for the oncoming traffic instead of right. Luckily, they have painted either "LOOK RIGHT" or "LOOK LEFT" onto the road at every crosswalk.

I am very glad that we did not rent a car for our stay in Dublin. All the roads are very narrow, mostly due to being such an old city. People park on the sidewalks and come very close to pedestrians while doing so. But what surprises me most is that, even with all the J-walking and cars going everywhere, nobody has been almost hit, or vice versa, and I haven't seen a pedestrian flip someone off or glare at a driver. It's a well-oiled machine!

Even so, Preston and I planned on using the free Coke Zero bike rental service, but we are kind of chickening out with the traffic being backwards. The Coke Zero bikes are still a fantastic set up though. They are public bikes that are free for the first half hour of each trip. And even additional time after that is inexpensive. A 3-day unlimited pass is only €5. Why don't we have this in America?

Back to the events of the

day...

We slept in to recover from the flights, which was MUCH needed. Then it was right off to lunch at The Bakehouse. We could both justify getting stew/chowder because the weather is actually chilly (but comfortable with layers). It was so good! Preston had a beef stew and I had a seafood chowder that were both served with bread and butter. Oh. My. God. Some of the best bread of my life. And the butter, too. Yum.

Then it was off to our main activity of the day: The Guinness Storehouse. On the way there we passed a very small film crew that was filming a period piece, and smelled lots of horse droppings from the carriages that roamed the area. To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from the storehouse--just a museum and maybe a droll tour of some big brewery machines. But they really go all out.

You start on the bottom level and work your way up to the top--following the shape of a giant pint glass. At the bottom of

the glass, on the first levels, is the museum. We learned the obvious (how Guinness is made) but also other interesting tidbits, like how a wooden barrel is made by hand.

I told Preston, "Just cancel your gym membership and start making barrels instead." That guy in the black & white demonstration video had some guns!

From there each level has different activities. The Guinnesstache where you drink a Guinness and they tell you what type of drinker you are based off of your "stache." The Tasting Room where they have these white barrel-like machines that send out aromas of different beers and their components via vapors. (Bonus: We each got to take two

samples of Guinness instead of one "because tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day!" This was already after our first sample at the end of the museum.) There was a photo booth and live music, but the highlight was something I didn't even care to do at first: pulling your own Guinness.

We weren't even going to pull our own Guinness at first because the line was long. However, on another level of the giant pint glass we somehow accidentally ended up ushered into the queue (that's the lingo for "line" here in Ireland). Once inside, a young Irish girl enthusiastically taught us how to properly pull our Guinness in six steps. We may not have earned a certificate for pulling the perfect pint of Guinness (they were actually giving out certificates), but it was still just as good, even if I was afraid of overfilling it and just kept giving

it one "blip" at a time to top it off.

In the end, we toured the storehouse, had live music, three samples of Guinness, and a complimentary pint, all for only €20.

On the way back home, we added another couple thousand steps and ended up getting some sushi simply because the Guinness I had had really needed a lavatory. The sushi was weird. Our California rolls had some dull mushy stuff that was supposed to be crab. But my bladder was much happier.

We grabbed some groceries at a local market for breakfast on the way home and contemplated what is different in Ireland after finding the eggs on the shelf next to the cereal instead of in the refrigerated section. (Seriously, is that okay?)

So here's a little list of what is different:

• J-walking is not illegal.
• Eggs are not refrigerated.
• Bathrooms give full privacy and you don't need to worry about children climbing under your stall door.
• People don't walk and text. Hardly anyone is on their mobile phone in general.
• Anything below €5 comes in coin form instead of paper.
• People are not as grumpy.
• A lot of people smoke. Young and old.
• Every car is a manual.
• Gas is not as cheap as you think it is. (€1.18 for a liter. There are 4 liters in a gallon. Math.)

I'm sure this list will grow as our travels continue. But it's 1:00am here and we have to rest up for St. Patrick's Day!