The Friendly Irish

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Geo: 53.3441, -6.26749

We arrived in Dublin this morning just before 8am. We were cold waiting in the windy mid-40 degree weather for our hotel shuttle bus but it felt nice to get some fresh air after that stuffy plane for nearly 9 hours. We arrived and the front desk attendant said she had good news: our room for tonight was ready.... and she had bad news: the hotel is now entirely nonsmoking. Kamie was irked but he has decided his electronic cigarette is pretty darn great and has been using it continually indoors.

We literally threw our bags down, changed clothes, grabbed the bare essentials and walked back out the front door of the hotel and down the street to the local bus stop. We took the local buses everywhere today. Dublin (and the outlying areas) has an excellent local bus system that is clean, user friendly, and < 11 Euros for a family day pass. We picked-up the pass at a local convenience store, easy peasy. We first went to Kilmainham Gaol - a former prison now restored - with tales beyond compression of political prisoners and child prisoners. The youngest child ever sentenced to prison in Kilmainham was a 5 year old boy who received a 2 1/2 month sentence for stealing. Kamie loved the Irish history and I thought our tour guide was excellent. We got lucky today because they are filming (another) movie at the prison today so our entry fee & tour were free! We donated a few small Euros to the Ireland Public Works however by warming up with a hot chocolate with whipped cream (me) and a hot tea with cream (Kamie). We were standing in the prison yard where prisoners were released for one hour every 23 hours to exercise and it started raining... and raining hard.... but within 5 minutes it was a sprinkle. The weather is exactly what we expected.... a few sprinkles, cooler, & windy... I like it.

We spoke with several Irish folks today while waiting at various bus stops or while riding the buses. They told us Ireland has a 100% smoking ban inside any public venue now. They hate it too. You know I don't care but hubby doth protest. We loved talking to them and them to us. Friendly is the best word to describe everyone we met today. Everyone. When was the last time you could say that?! They want to know where in the United States we are from and have we seen the rest of Ireland and they share their stories. Good, helpful people too ~ we had to ask directions now and then and they were quick to jump-in and answer - sometimes 2 or 3 at a time. Lovely folks. Also, a quirky thing today - I got lots of comments from the ladies on my nails - they love them & seem to react as if they have not seen this done before - several ladies simply made small comments or made slight gestures of approval but others went into full conversations asking about them. They are simple acrylic French manicured nails. Funny, really.

We had lunch at Quay's Irish Restaurant - fish n' chips for me (so-so, I was too tired to eat and didn't want greasy) and mussels with clam chowder for Kamie (he said they were good). We were too tired to finish our meals and had finally hit a wall around 2pm. We walked to the closest bus stop and started toward our hotel. I fell asleep on the bus. When I woke-up we were a couple of stops away and so we walked back to the hotel and I was in bed within five minutes - 3:15pm. We had, at that point, been awake over 32 hours straight as we were only able to nod off and on for a few minutes at a time on the plane.

Kamie started being loud and funny around 5 hours later ~ a clue to me that maybe I should wake-up! He was hungry. We dressed and walked next door to an adorable restaurant where I had a grilled chicken sandwich with fresh basil, thickly sliced mozzarella and tomatoes on ciabatta bread... it was soooooooo good. I also drank three pints... of water!! Long plane rides =dehydration. Kamie had grilled chicken on soda bread with tomatoes and cheddar cheese. We also had some warm brown/soda bread with butter. I could eat that stuff all day.

We came back to the room, disposed of some wine in the suitcases, and I rearranged everything hoping to hit under 44 pounds for both suitcases. I took a long, wonderful shower. I tried to sleep again but instead, I'm on here. It's 2:21 am. We have to be on the 5 am shuttle to the airport tomorrow morning. Yikes!

Tomorrow... Venice, Italy!!

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