Day 3

We had some nice food and drink highlights today, starting with Guiness Storehouse. They are celebrating their 250^th anniversary of making the world-renown stout, with 8750 years to go on their 9000 year lease signed by Arthur Guiness. As a business owner, I am fascinated at how the commitment to excellence and social values of one man are continually carried out this many years later. At one point, Guiness had to choose whether or not to stop making other ales and simplify his focus by making the dark beer. That choice proved to be the right one, and that commitment to doing one thing well has lasted longer than my country.



One trouble with being in a new place is knowing who to trust to tell you where to eat. And since we only have only a few opportunities to eat, we wanted to see if we could find good, local fish and chips. A shop attendant directed us to Burdocks, which is supposedly well known in Dublin, a place with a Wall of Fame, on which the top of the list reads the band members of U2. It was ok, but then again maybe we were there on an off day.



We did hit a home run with our dinner choice at Purty Kitchen, a pub built in 1728 and a well-known night spot in Dublin. If bread&cup were in Ireland, this is the vibe I would want it to have. Lively, energetic, with locally influenced food, it was the taste of Ireland we were looking for.

It’s still hard to believe we are away, after such a long season of daily immersion in the restaurant life. Yet I can already feel the results of the necessity of the trip, bringing new ideas, diverting my mind from depletion of labor. Rest is better understood on the other side of the experience. We may mentally ascend to the idea that rest is good, but how few of us really take it seriously. Maybe if we did, our work would be better for it.