Dublin

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I have to love my sisters for taking me to an Indian restaurant in Dublin for my birthday. Best birthday ever! Flowers in my hotel room from Claire, and a torte (tart?) from the hotel staff. Only one mishap so far and it may be because Jeanne abused a luggage salesman in another life or something. The wheel fell off her monstrous suitcase. In Switzerland it was the handle.

Although we've all sworn that we would never take a bus tour, we took the "Hop on Hop off" double decker bus and were driven all over Dublin with a running commentary in the background. A little nippy but I'm so glad we're not driving! We learned quite a few tidbits on the tour. First of all, there's an abundance of historical evidence that women have not traditionally been held in very high regard in this country. Thank goodness things have changed. And did you know that St. Patrick had his own brewer? Or that St. Brigid worked in a leper colony and turned her bath water into beer because it nourished the lepers? Why didn't they teach us about those kind of saints in St Nick's instead of the gruesome martyr torture stories? We also learned that Jonathan Swift had Meniere's disease but mistook his dizziness and other symptoms for mental illness, so he never married. Not sure I get the connection but it made it into the commentary. All these random stories with every rendition of Danny Boy playing in the background at stops. I think we're finally desensitized and have lost the knee jerk response to cry when we hear that song.

Despite all our research we wind up in what may well be the only pub in Ireland where everyone whispers and the bartender is humorless. Clai saved me from heading into the men's room, and I had to go over the river and through the woods to get to the ladies room. Literally had to go outside. Thank goodness Claire is here to remind us of the rules and tell us what we can and can't do. Like no taking pictures of the bartender without asking his permission. Jeanne was sure that Scotland Yard wasn't going to be all up in our Facebook pages in case he was on the lam. Actually the pace picked up in the pub when people got out of work. Gotta love those accents. Off to the Dingle peninsula tomorrow.

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