Tipperary to Dublin

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I met the gang at breakfast this morning - all except David & Nick who were up early and on their way to Wicklow before I got up! After breakfast Brid & Alex were going to drive me to the train station to get a train to Dublin however, I didn't figure into the plan that Pope Francis was arriving in Dublin that morning. All the trains seemed to be booked out online but we figured we would head to Limerick Junction and try our luck. With 5 minutes before the train was departing at 11:20, I was able to buy a seat (at an inflated price of course!) but then it was a quick goodbye to Brid & Alex and I was on my way.

The train was comfortable, quick and had good wifi! What more could you ask for (Oh, they served shitty coffee but then I shouldn't have expected any better). I arrived at Heuston station in Dublin at 1pm and decided I would walk to Cormac & Jen's as most of the roads were shut and it was less than a 1 hour walk (by 5 mins perhaps lol). I stopped in at an off licence and picked up a nice Australian bottle of red wine (Yering Station Shiraz) and continued on my walk. I definitely wandered into some unsavoury areas but just kept my head down and kept pounding the pavement. I arrived at Corm & Jen's around 2pm and this is when I got to meet Isabel and Harry (finally!). Issy has just turned 4 and Harry is 18 months old - beautiful kids! Jen was out visiting her Mum but when she came home we decided to take the kids out to the local park. It was a good walk to the park with Issy on her trike making sure she beat me. Harry fell asleep reading his book - adorable!

After fun and games at the park - mostly had by Issy and Corm - we then walked to the shops to have an ice cream. Then the race was on to get home first. I had mentioned to Issy, who didn't want to wear runners, that I had my runners on so this would mean I would beat her. She quickly put runners on then the rest of the time it was all about beating me haha. Anyway, suffice to say she did (although that was because she was bossing Cormac to "push me faster, Dad!"

Corm and Jen cooked us a lovely dinner of roast chicken with vegetables (yum), Issy fell asleep on the couch before dinner and Harry entertained. After dinner they out Harry to bed and we retired to the lounge to watch some TV (some of the Pope event) and catch up over red wine. Lovely evening and so good to be able to catch up with them.

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