On to the Emerald Island

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We both slept very hard but were not fully rested, but that is the price you pay for world travel. Day started at 5:30, showers in the all-in-on Bathroom, a bit of re packing then breakfast. The breakfast choices were; a full English, a full English or a full English. It was a hard choice but we went with the full English. Otherwise known as a breakfast heart attack. Two sausage links, two slices of rasher bacon, on over easy egg, deep fried hashbrown, blood pudding (I have no idea what is really in it), beans, and toast. It was good, how could it not be, but did have a bit of an adverse gastro intestine affect (not Mexico City so don’t worry).

After breakfast we were off to the ferry, a quick 5-minute walk from the B & B. It was a cool day, a bit overcast, but the humidity was 94%, so while Jerry was freezing, I was sweating. Ferry left at 9 we had a 20-minute wait before the buses took us to the ferry, they drive you right on. The ferry is about a mile from that actual terminal. And to call them a ferry is a bit deceiving; they are more like mini cruise ships. We paid a few quid more to get comfortable seating in the Stenaplus lounge, comfortable seats and complimentary beverages and light snacks, not that snacks were needed after the full English. They also had table service if you wanted to order hot food. The food that others were eating looked pretty good and we will get a chance to partake on our crossing from Belfast to Scotland later in the trip.

There were some interesting characters in the lounge, a group of about 8 English blokes, a very motley group if I have saw one. They were fine, but they polished off 5 bottles of complimentary wine between them all before 11 am. We like our wine, but not before 1.

The crossing itself was very relaxing, the slow rocking of the ship put me to sleep. Not even the two lattes helped keep me alert. It took a little over three hours to get from Wales to Dublin. We docked right in the middle of the docks where all the cargo ships are loaded. We did go through customs and a very cute drug dog checked our bags, pretty sure the only thing he smelled was Tarragon. We did get a stamp in the passport, which we did not get when going through customs in London. Taxis were abundant and it was a quick 10 minutes to the hotel.

A work about cab drivers. The drivers here are so not a New York taxi driver, this is a good thing. They are friendly, always help you in and out of the cab and load your bags. They are also mini tour guides and love to talk. From the docks to the hotel got the complete 5-minute version of Irish history. The most amazing thing, is that they almost always say we are tipping them to much, no New York driver would ever say that, they would be more likely to yell at you because you didn’t tip enough.

We arrived at the hotel about 12:30 and got to check right in and go to our room. Now most travelers would go to their room, unpack have some lunch and then take a nap. Not us, went to our room, did the minimum of packing, then down to the restaurant to have lunch and then were off for the rest of the day.

The restaurant in the hotel, had a very limited menu and was not Irish, they did have fish & chips, so I of course had that. It was really good the haddock was nicely batter but not heavy but a nice light crisp coating. The tartar sauce was good I just needed more. The interesting thing, is that while we are in Ireland, I ended up speaking Spanish, as everyone that worked in the restaurant was either from Spain or Bolivia. Jerry had a burger with Irish Cheddar and Irish Bacon, a bit over cooked but we really just needed to eat before we headed out.

The rest of the day was the Hop on Hop off bus tour. If you have been following my blogs, this is something we started doing a few years back. While it is very much a tourist thing to do, we find that it is a great way to introduce you to the city. Great when it is your first visit to a city. We will be doing another one in Belfast. The other plus was it was our transportation to The Guinness Storehouse, the only actual activity for the day.

We spent about an hour on the self-guided tour and yes, I even did have a pint of Guinness, ok I had 5 sips, that is all I could take. Jerry drank about 2/3 of his. The pint was at the end of the tour in the Gravity bar, which offered spectacular views of Dublin. The tour was very interesting and should be done if you are in Dublin. It is of course much more exciting for those in their 20s (especially the boys) and for those that actually like beer.

After the tour we had to wait at the Hop on Hop off stop (or as Jerry now refers to it as the HoHo). A very nice retired couple who got off the HoHo at the same time was also getting back on, we had a nice chat (they are from Chicago). We talked about several things, retirement being one of them, he highly recommends it. Trust me no one has to convince me about retirement, you would be preaching to the choir here.

The second half of the HoHo trip took us through a large park, actually large enough to contain two central parks. The park also has the second largest obelisk (I am not sure I believe it, didn’t really look any taller than the obelisk at Bennington Monument in Vermont, but none-the-less I will take them at their word. The largest is the Washington Monument, and it is about twice as high. There is also a zoo famed for the birthplace of the MGM lion.

We arrived at the last stop and back to the hotel a bit later than we had hoped, the wine store, which we could not fine, because it was inside a building and google can’t figure things like that out, was closed. No wine-thirty. Turned out to be fine, since we had to rush go get ready for dinner.

For our first dinner in Dublin, we choose a place called Sole Seafood & Grille. It is on the South side of the river in the heart of Dublin. We were going to walk, but even after only a half day of walking (8,272 steps) we were just to tired still from the travel. We had the front desk call us a cab instead. I only mention this because the driver was amazed, we could even get into the restaurant on a Friday night, as it is usually booked. Well, we had made this reservation three months ago, so our advance planning apparently paid off.

The restaurant was on a pedestrian only street so we had to walk the last block. It was a very busy Friday night; the pubs were overflowing in to the streets and the street was crowded with young and old alike.

We had to wait a few minutes for a table to be ready, but our timing was perfect because after us, people were waiting up to 20 minutes for their table and they had a reservation. The place was packed. It seemed as if they had enough servers, but clearly did not have enough kitchen help. I had a straight line of site with the kitchen and the orders up on the board were never less than 30.

The waitress was very friendly, we could not place her accent, she was clearly not from Ireland. I guessed Belgium or Germany, but was way off turned out she was from Brazil. While the food was all good, the fact we were there on a Friday, impaired a true enjoyment. The food coming out of the kitchen was very slow, it was 30 minutes between each course, at one point the salad was never coming. The concept of each dish was very thoughtful and new, the execution however was simply not there. That said, this is what we had.

We of course started with champagne; you really can’t screw that up. The bread was good, the Irish butter was great. Jerry had a prawn cocktail with a Maria Rose Sauce, the shrimp was not well cleaned, so that distracted from the overall presentation and taste. Jerry cannot stand biting in to sand. Well, who wants to eat sand? I had a tuna tartar, again very well composed but was just lacking in umph. The Caesar was not even close, the dressing was more like a ranch. The entrées were again were a great concept, just poorly executed. I had Plaice (a type of sole) with a mushroom mash (no mushrooms present) the fish was served with a crawfish beurre blanc. Here the problem was the crawfish was overcooked and the entire dish was just over room temp. The fish was moist but I just don’t like Luke warm fish. The most interesting thing on my dish was the samphire, which is a cross between a chive and asparagus. Jerry’s dish while much hotter also missed the mark. He had salmon, cooked perfectly, but the warm potato niçoise salad totally missed the mark. It was decomposed, so none of the flavor melded together. The entire dish was just not cohesive. The wine was perfect, an excellent bottle of Sancerre.

The gest dish of the night, and therefore dish of the day, was the Irish Cheese board we had for dessert. The Irish blue was particularly good.

This is not a never go to again place. We would definitely give it another try, just not on a weekend.

An interesting thing did happen at dinner. At the end when we were talking to the server about where she was from, we also talked about Providence. Turned out the couple at the table next to us went to Brown University 20 years agon, so they were very familiar with Providence, of course 20 years ago Providence was a very different place, or so I hear.

That ends the first full day of the trip. Tomorrow (which as I write this is now complete) is a full day of sightseeing in Dublin. Rain is expected, well it is Ireland.

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