Brussels to Dublin, Ireland

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Thoughts on countries so far:

Scotland - Cold, windy, beautifully! Drive on the wrong side. People are friendly. Galic is weird! Really like Irn Bru soda! Neil, our guide rocks!

Germany - Warmer, but windy on the Rhine. Enchanting towns. Everyone rides bicycles. Inexpensive for a tourist area. Dogs are everywhere... even restaurants, stores, and train stations!

Luxembourg - It may be the country with the highest income per capita in the world, but they don't keep their streets and public places very clean! Spend some money on public maintenance! Clothing... women's at least, is expensive! Lower Luxembourg City (Base?) is quite pretty.

Brussels - Very diverse in people and buildings. A lot of historical places. European Capital, and buildings to show for it. Never seen so many Kebap or Doner meat restaurants. Waffles are grrrreat! Crepes good too. Need more than a couple days to really explore. Transportation is varied, plentiful, and confusing!

Forms of transportation taken this trip - Walking, taxi, bus, train, tram, metro, boat, plane. Not planning to cycle.

Ireland - Much more like home, but nicely different. Good transition place before going home, just wish we had another day or two here.

Well, today we start our homeward journey. We woke up in plenty of time to catch our RyanAir flight from Brussels to Dublin, Ireland. I thought we were following the directions correctly when we got on Tram 51, but after riding the whole way to the end of the line, we discovered we'd gone the wrong direction and would have to ride the tram all the way back to where we started, then another 6 stops until Gare Midi station for our train to the airport. That was bad enough, even though we still had plenty of time, but a few stops along the return route about 6 Transit police got on board and of course, we didn't have valid tickets anymore, having ridden one way, all the way. Fortunately, the police checked our tickets and realized the stupid tourists had made a mistake and moved on. Being arrested in Brussels would not have been much fun! So, we reached the Gare Midi station and found the ticket/information office, stood in line forever, and finally got two tickets to the airport. After the previous fiasco I was crossing my fingers that the guy had sold us tickets to the right airport, since there is more than one, and Zantarem was not the name on the ticket. I'd seen on the internet that it had a different name, but that didn't make me feel that confident. My confidence was bolstered a bit more when we reach the track and an English-speaking guy confirmed that this was the track for Zanterem airport. Still, I was very relieved when we reached the airport and more so when we discovered that our flight did indeed leave from that airport. You see, most RyanAir flights apparently leave from the other airport, but not ours.

We were disappointed when again we happened to pick one of the few flights that left late. RyanAir has one of the best on-time departure records of all airlines, world-wide. We finally left around 11:30 instead of 10:35 and after a brief flight we landed at Dublin airport. We've been here several times before, so we quickly found the 747 Airlink Express bus that would take us within a block of our hostel for the night, Jacobs Inn. Again, unfortunately we got off on the right street, but walked several blocks in the wrong direction before asking a nice idle bus driver who informed us the hostel was back the other way a few blocks. It was actually right around the corner from where we'd gotten off the bus, and less that a block down the street. We'd previously stayed a night at Jacob's Inn, but since it had been a number of years, we didn't remember much about it. Jacobs Inn is another of those not-so-modern, but cozy hostels, with free breakfast, free WiFi throughout (!), free coffee, and a 10-bed dorm that seems to have filled up. At least we have an ensuite bathroom with shower, and have made friends (sort of) with a number of our roommates.

After checking in, paying our bill, and unloading in our room, we headed out for some coffee and something to eat, since as usual, it was like 2pm and we hadn't eaten since last night. On the way to the hostel, Manoli had noticed an interesting looking place called Insomnia that had a cafe and seemed to have a good variety of quick foods, so we headed back that way. We had our daily coffee (my first of many), Manoli picked a fruit salad and tuna fish sandwich and I had another King Rib and some mixed salads. Everything was pretty good for cafeteria food and cost like 12 Euros. After lunch, we started strolling around, picking up even more souvenirs, and didn't return to the hostel until about 6pm. After a brief rest, we went back out for Manoli's mandatory supermarket visit and ended up picking up dinner. This time Manoli had a couple of oranges, some yogurt, and a slice of an unusual-looking cheese called Porters Cheese. She enjoyed it all, except the cheese which she thought was a bit strange. I saw a nice assortment of sushi which was appealing, but ended up paying 9 Euros for it, instead of the 6 Euros the other, smaller assortment was. Oh well, it was quite good, with salmon and shrimp, along with regular sushi. We returned to the hostel to eat it, then watched some more Sherlock on NetFlix before Manoli turned in and I started on this blog.

Tomorrow we catch an early bus to the airport (for which we already had tickets since we purchased round-trip tickets for 2 Euros off), and start our U.S. Airways flights back to Charlotte then Pensacola. See you next in the good old US of A.

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Photos

Jacobs Inn Hostel
Jacobs Inn Hostel

Insomnia Cafe and Cafeteria
Insomnia Cafe and Cafeteria

The Abbey Church, Dublin
The Abbey Church, Dublin

Cheers, Dublin version
Cheers, Dublin version

Irish Independence Memorial
A very unusual statue commemorating all the folks who lost their lives for Ireland's independence.