Thursday May 8th
Train to Charles de Gaulle airport and flew to Dublin in 1 hour 20mins. Bus to Dublin with everyone else. Then a cab to our lovely hotel. Our cabbie told us all about the best sights of Dublin and said 'Ach its' just so warm'. We told him we have been bringing the good weather with us - touch wood. It's all of 16 degrees mind you, but it is nice. We have learnt quite a bit from our various cabbies. Especially pronunciation. For examle in Helsinki it's not Arthur as in the Arthur Hotel. Which he could not understand. Had to show him the address and then he said Ahh, Arture! And shook his head. Then of course in Avignon at l'Hotel Horlogue. Where? I had to show the address again Ahh l'otel orlogggggssshh.
We have spent about the same amount on hotel rooms in each city we have been to. Avignon and Dublin are our best so far for the money, smaller towns.
Of course the world's NOOIISSE record goes to Barcelona!!! But we did love Barcelona anyway on zero minutes sleep a night with la broken ribs.
We have only had a couple of rude
people. Mainly la Patisserie lady in Avignon, who woud not serve me la Patisserie. I am not sure if I met the weight requirement to order patisserie in Avignon. The third time I went back to try to order after she had sent me away, a french man got served first after coming in and standng next to me. I said, I am the invisible woman and he started laughing and said something to her and then she served me. (Perhaps you must serve la tourista merci) And the Patisserie was for Martin anyway! Then it took a long time for la Patisserie to reach our table. We thought she must have been warming la patisserie in the oven so it was just so, but- no it was not warm when it arrived.
By this time we had done a lot of laughing which may not have helped! Otherwise Francois at Citadine apart'otel is not recommended! Made us wait for 2.5 hours to get our room in Paris, thanks Francois!
That's not bad in 4 weeks travelling, as everyone else everywhere has been wonderful, helpful with language, keen to talk to us and proud to share all about their beautiful
hometown. Now all we have to do is learn to speak Irish in the next four days.
We went out after a rest and walked around O'Connell St, over the Liffey and around Temple Bar. Popped into famous Gogarty's for a Guinness, some traditional Irish music (Martin approved) and The Craic.
On the way home we popped into The Dublin GPO. Site of reading of proclomation in 1920 about the Irish free state. Bullet holes in the supporting columns. The Post Office is open till 8pm here. We watched the BBC news to get the weather, they cover all of UK, Northern Ireland, Europe, but not Dublin and the Republic.
Ireland's Flag
Map of Ireland