Irish beer humor

One of our stops in Ireland was a pub/brewery called The Porterhouse Brewing Company. They brew beers and serve other beers, but theirs is the only Irish beer they serve (aka NO GUINNESS). They have a very elaborate (and humorous) beer menu. I've included some snapshots. (funny part is at the end, but bear with me)

Cover page:

A few of their beers:

Here's some shots of their descriptions of other countries and other beers:

Very nice and informative, right??
Well, here's the description of the USA beers:


This Irish are funny ones, I tell ya. But really, in a country where everyone drinks Guinness like water (literally) can we blame them for making fun of American beer???

More of Paris

Yes, we did see more than just the Eiffel Tower in Paris. We saw Notre Dame, which was huge and amazing, and made me miss my Grandma a bit, as she loved cathedrals and would've loved to see it. We were there during mass and as Mr. Lush noted, the choir was so beautiful it sounded like angels. (of course the choir should be amazing, but for some reason we were surprised...possibly because we don't frequent church services?) Either way, the architectural beauty was amazing:

We went to Pere Lechaise cemetery and saw Jim Morrison’s grave:

(not as impressive as I’d imagined – it was even sort of behind another one, and the bust was gone)

Another tip from Rick Steve’s book was to see the Rodin sculpture garden for 1 Euro instead of the Rodin Sculpture Museum (6 Euro). It was a good tip – there were actually many sculptures in the garden and the garden itself was lovely – many roses. We saw The Thinker, among others.

We did not see the Louvre. I know, I know! But, we just didn’t want to stand in that long of a line, so instead we went to the Musée de l'Orangerie, where Monet’s Waterlilies (Les Nympheas) are displayed. I had no idea they were so huge! They immerse you.

Honestly, Friday was such a beautiful day that we just did a lot of walking around and people watching in Paris, (versus Museum going) so we have a ton of random pictures of beautiful things, such as this statue in the Place de la Concorde, representing the city of Bordeaux. (it seemed fitting to take that picture, since we actually visited Bordeaux and were told it was a “mini Paris”.)

It was a great time. And yes, we took a ton more pics of the entire vacation - I just didn't want to overwhelm in the blog. But if you're a friend, watch out, you might get the "opportunity" to view a good 50 or 60 more!!!!! (just kidding, we try not to be "those people" who force you to look at each and every pic, but if you want to see more, we have them. I also plan on making a "Blurb book" of our entire trip.)

Sparkling Eiffel Tower

***WARNING: This entire post is about the Eiffel Tower. I know, I just had to do it. I couldn't help myself!****

Prior to our trip, I poured over travel books, travel websites, etc to find the "best kept secrets". Evidently the Montparnasse Tower is one of them. (details later) We went by the Eiffel Tower, hung out on the park area for a little bit and took some pictures.

By the way, should you go to the Eiffel Tower, I would recommend bringing a picnic with some snacks and wine, we wish we would have and that's evidently the Parisian thing to do. The Eiffel Tower is beautiful up close, but the lines were sooooo long. (around an hour, at least) Plus I wanted a city view picture WITH the Eiffel Tower. So, we had a drink at a little cafe and took the metro to the Montparnesse Tower, which is a 56 story (with 59 total stories to the top observation deck) skyscraper. Not so pretty on the outside (think Sears Tower in Chicago) but with evidently the best view of the city. We hope for the good view and less lines- no time to waste on the 2 day trip.

LESS LINES? That's a joke. There are NO LINES. ZERO. We walked up, bought a ticket, went up the elevator, wisked up 56 floors in 38 seconds, and were greeted by a woman who told us in one minute (10 pm) the Eiffel Tower sparkles for 5 minutes. Really? AWESOME! From entering the tower to being at the top it was less than 5 minutes and I get to see a sparkling Eiffel Tower? Evidently I missed this part in the books so it was a great surprise. You do have to walk the last 3 flights but the view....is totally worth it.

And to my surprise....it sparkles again at 11:00.

So my new camera takes pretty good pictures, but the video is grainy. Can't be perfect, right??(however, the 6 seconds gives you an idea of the sparkling)

I won't say DON'T go up in the Eiffel Tower, because I haven't been up there so I don't know. I will say however, a trip to the Montparnasse Tower should be on your to-do list. 10 Euros for a view like this? Its a no brainer.