Day 14 - Sun, clouds, rain

Dublin

We stopped at the Linen Chest in Newtownards to purchase some linen souvenirs and then headed south to Dublin.  We tried to find a bank prior to entering the Republic to exchange our pound sterling back into euros, but to no avail.  One bank simply wouldn't do it.  We didn't have much to exhange.  Our B&B was in Malahide and that was a busy little town.  We drove a short way out of town looking for the Beechwood Country House.  When we found the place, no one was home so we went back into town for lunch.  It took a while to find a parking space.  After lunch we walked around town a while and then went back to the B&B. . . still no one home.  We sat in our car in the courtyard for about 1/2 hour until someone came.  Joe came over to our car and when we told him who we were, he said they went shopping because I said we wouldn't be there until 6.  I think I said "by 6".  As described in Michele's book, he is gregarious.  We didn't meet any of the other family members.  Since we were first there, we had our pick of 3 rooms, and naturally we chose the largest one.  They recently had plumbing problems and had water running down the walls in the rooms, however, the clean-up was finished when we were there.  We didn't have enough time to see both Malahide Castle and some of Dublin, so we nixed the castle.  I wanted to go into Dublin to get a feel for the city.  Joe listened to what we wanted to see and also offered several suggestions.  Being a retired taxi driver, he was well acquainted with the city.  The parking at the DART station was bad and Joe said the bus would pick us up at the driveway of the B&B, so we chose the bus.  Joe went over the bus schedule thoroughly with us so we knew when the last bus to Malahide would be.  When we arrived in Dublin we asked the bus driver what stop to catch the return bus.  Then we were on our own to explore Dublin.  I didn't have a map of the city with me, so that was our first purchase.  O'Connell Street was amazing, the widest shopping street in Europe.  I forgot to take a picture of the street that day and didn't have the opportunity the next day either.  It was later in the afternoon so we didn't get on the hop-on-hop-off bus because most of the sites closed at 5.  We had dinner at Flanagan's Pizzeria and it was just ok, nothing special.  We caught the last bus back to our B&B and got in after 11.


Day 15 - Cloudy, sun, light rain

Joe fixed a great breakfast and conversed with us about what we did the day before and asked about our plans for this day.  Again, we caught an early bus into Dublin with the destination of the hop-on-hop-off bus.  Our first stop was Kilmainham Gaol.  This was interesting, but also kind of depressing. . . a story that has to be told.  Our next stop on the bus was the Book of Kells at Trinity College.  We also toured St. Patrick's Cathedral and Christ Church Cathedral.  I love the churches.  Lunch and shopping rounded out the day because we had to be at the Brazen Head for a show at 6:30.  I need more time in Dublin to see the museums and parks, etc.  I don't think I fully enjoyed Johnny Daly's show at the Brazen head because I was so tired from the full day and still had to pack for the flight in the am.  The show at the Brazen head was "Food,Folk & Fairies".  We had a great dinner with about 3 choices, drinks were not included.  In between courses Johnny regaled us with tales of Ireland, some truth, some legends, some fairy tales.  We had a 20-30 minute walk to catch the last bus to our B&B.  The bus sometimes stopped right in front of the B&B and other times down the road, depending on the driver.  I felt like all the time we were in Dublin, we were either waiting for the bus or riding on the bus.  I'm not a big city person, but I think Dublin needs 3-5 days to appreciate the city.  It's so busy.

Day 16 - Rain

We chatted with a woman from the Waterford area at breakfast.  She was in town for a conference.  I commented about how much I liked the meusili in Ireland.  She said "Do you suppose it's the milk"?  Well, probably, at home I drink 1/2% and I bet this milk was at least 2%.  I also like the butter better.

We made one wrong turn on the way to return the car, but arrived in plenty of time for our afternoon flight.  The flight to Boston was uneventful, but we were delayed in Boston about 2 hours because of a delay of the flight coming in from Detroit.  We arrived home after midnight, tired and glad to be home, with memories of an awesome trip.

Trip notes to come. . .

-- Edited by Merle at 15:55, 2008-01-21

Merle,

What a wonderful report. I liked the summary at the end. Bob is still the king of loooong trip reports though. Sounds like overall it was a great trip. When is the next?

Michele

Michele,
Now my husband says if he does go back (before, he didn't want to cross the ocean again), he would like to combine it with a trip to Scotland. So, I can start planning again, but it will probably be 2-3 years.

Anchoress,
Thanks for the info on the butter and milk. That might have had something to do with the weight gain also.

Merlene