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Published: March 5th 2007
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Mitchell & Sons
Wine Merchants! I ran across a busy street just to take this picture! It was worth it! I’m tired of typing. Oh well, I’m pushing through the pain! We got up good and early on Friday and headed out to see Dublin, after checking out and storing our luggage for the day. That is one really nice thing about most hostels…they provided luggage storage for the day fro about 1 euro or so, which is definitely worth it. Lugging luggage all day is not much fun! So, we got a map, a recommendation of what we should try to see and set off. Now, Laura’s not great with directions and maps, so I was the navigator for this trip. But, luckily we found everything pretty easily. We went to Dublin Castle first. There they had a neat little gift shop, which Laura and I picked up little souvenirs in, to remember our trip by. When we left the shop it was raining…Al, I have to say, I’m starting to believe you about the weather thing in Ireland. So, we decided to head for the museum section of Dublin to avoid getting soaked. So, we struck out…And along the way as we stopped to check our map a member of the Guarda (The Irish Police) approached us and said we had that “lost look” he wondered if he could help us. He was in charge of watching the entrance to the Government Buildings, so he walked us over to the covered area and stood there and told us about Dublin. He explained that the Guinness factory was overrated and overpriced…he would know because he used to work there. He explained that the museums weren’t really worth it, the cemetery that we “had to see” would hold our attention for maybe about thirty seconds, and a picture, but then we’d move on. He told us to avoid anything that said “traditional” or “authentic” it would be overpriced and not worth it. He told us our best bets were to just go see the little places, the Guarda Building for example. He told us about the neat architecture of the building. He told us that there are these little Guarda heads that most people overlook when seeing the building that were supposed to be realy cool. He also mentioned that the Cathedral was gorgeous and a must-see. Then, he got a little off-topic and started telling us about a few “tourist-traps” he’d heard about.
He told us a story about a guy who had been running a “Leprechaun Hunt” he would take people out into a fielded area for an extravagant price where he would give them a pair of bad binoculars. Of course, all of this took place at dusk, where you couldn’t see anything anyway. So, the guy had some rabbits that he would dress up in Leprechaun suits then send them running out through the field. The people were thrilled. Then to top off the evening he would take the people to a little pub where on the wall they had the “skeleton” of the last trapped Leprechaun. It was hilarious to hear this little Irish Guarda guy tell us this story. He also told us the best way to get an Irish person annoyed at you quick. Ask where you can find the Lepreechuns (I spelled that phonetically) Not Leprechauns…Lepreechuns. Apparently that’s even more annoying to the Irish than asking where you can find Leprechauns. Anyway, after getting what he called "The idiots guide to Ireland" we set off to see more stuff.
We passed the little graveyard, Laura took one picture, I think it took under 30 seconds, the museums weren't that great, like he said, so we went to St. Stephen's Green. Very nice, lots of flowers, which was cool to see in March! Makes me wonder, are the flowers blooming in Jersey yet? The daffodils?
After St. Stephen's we headed toward the Cathedral hittine up another little souvenir shop along the way for a sweatshirt for Laura and a charm for me! At the Cathedral, which was really pretty looking there was an entry charge, so Laura and I didn't go in, but we took some pictures of the outside...same thing with the other church. We then headed past the Guarda Building to see what our Irish Guarda guy had been talking about. Cool little faces...didn't take a picture though, it was raining at that point.
So, we returned to the hostel to get our stuff and catch the bus back to the Ferry Port. I got our luggage than double checked with the lady at the front desk that we were supposed to catch bus number 53 at the Eden Quay bus stop, not the bus station. She said yes, Eden Quay was the only place. So, we set off. The bus stop was about 3 minutes from the hostel so we were there with lots of time to spare. We sat down and started talking to this older Irish lady that was sitting next to us. She told us how to say hello in Irish, I wrote it down but don't have it on me at the moment...someone remind me to tell you all later...Anyway, the bus came and I asked the driver if it was the bus for the port and he says no. He tells us to get on though and he'd take us arounf the corner to where there was a bus that was leaving pretty much as we spoke. So he took us to the bus station (which I had specifically asked the lady at the front desk of our hostel if that was where we needed to go). Anyway Laura and I, and another older couple that had been at the bus stop at Eden Quay too caught the bus to the ferry port.
The ferry back was the Jonathan Swift and true to its name it was much faster than our first crossing. We we in Wales in just over two hours. The ride was very rough though because of the seas being a rough. At time the ferry rocked so violently that if you weren't holding on you'd have been sliding! But, all made it across safely! Then we boarded the train for London.
Oh yeah, we did go across the footbridge into Holyhead, Wales...just to be able to say we'd been there! Cool little picture for you all from the bridge.
Anyway, that ended day number two of our adventure. We returned to London caught a bus to our hostel and went to bed!
More Pictures and the rest coming soon!
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graymom
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Yes we are all jealous. I hope you are eating (just a grandmothers concern.) I don't know about all this wine drinking. I bet the wine you liked was sweet. Love you and think of you everyday. Not long before your mom and dad go across the big pond to see you. love Graymom