Darlings of Dublin

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Tuesday, June 30th - Rock of Cashel

With time running out on our trip, we left Tuesday morning for our last destination which was Dublin. By now you could tell that I ran out of planning time before we left because I horribly underestimated the time to get from Cork to Dublin and oh by the way the car rental had to be back by 2:00pm as well. With reluctance we chopped out intermediary stops at Ardmore, Waterford, the famine ship in Ross, and the Glendalough monastery which left us barely enough time for the Rock of Cashel.

The Rock of Cashel did not disappoint. High on a plain, the Rock of Cashel is a castle that was once the seat of the kings of Munster. It was fought over many times until a clever Irish chieftain donated it to the church, forever keeping it from his enemies. The imposing castle is very interesting to walk through due to the size and architecture and the grounds of the castle have been turned into a very scenic cemetery.

Super Glue - Man’s Best Friend (Sorry Lassie)

After the brief tour of the Rock of Cashel we hit the highway again for Dublin. According to Gina the Garmin, we had just enough time to beat the deadline to return the rental car. But that didn’t take into account the time to put gas in the car or fix the mirror. Ahh, you didn’t think I forgot about the mirror all week did you?

After we lost the mirror, I had back tracked on the road to the point where I remembered hearing the branches scrape the car. Sure enough, the cover for the mirror was mostly intact and laying on the ground except for the corner which was missing. Now at the gas station, I opened the glove box to retrieve the cover and my most secret weapon for repairing it. No, it wasn’t duct tape. It was super glue !!! A few dabs of glue later and the mirror was as good as new. Well, except maybe for the corner that was still missing. Maybe, just maybe, I won’t get a letter from the car rental company when I get home.

Darlings of Dublin

Happy to be freed from the bonds of the rental car, we checked into our hotel and went exploring Dublin. After seeing so many tour buses in the rest of Ireland, I think that Dublin must be their home. The streets were packed with hop on / hop off tour buses, public buses, airport buses, double decker buses, green buses, blue buses. It was a frenzy of buses.

We walked down Grafton street with all of its shops, and waded through the crosswalks full of people as they walked along the River Liffey. Pausing by the river, I snapped a photo of the girls. At that moment, they were my darlings of Dublin. I guess they were just too tired to fight anymore!

Dinner Wasn’t Too Baaaaad For Once

For dinner we went to the Temple Bar district which is full of pubs (no surprise) but also real restaurants (woot !). The whole trip we had struggled to find food that didn’t cost arm and a leg or was served in a pub. We sorely missed the great food in France. Don’t worry Pierre. The French will never have to worry about competition from Irish or English cuisine.

Tonight’s selection was Gallagher’s restaurant which served traditional boxty dishes also known as potato crepes. I had the lamb boxty which was a crepe with lamb stew and it was great. In fact, I told the girls it wasn’t “baaaaad” at all. Say it like a sheep, come on ! And thus began an evening of baaaaad jokes that had Alyssa and Erin covering their faces in embarrassment. They blamed me, and I blamed the large glass of beer I had with dinner.

Wicked, Tricksy, Sneaky Little Hobbitses with no Internet

With most of Ireland in the rear view mirror, our thoughts have started turning towards home. The girls have especially missed their friends, the privacy of their rooms and many other things. At dinner that night our conversation turned to what each person would do first when they got back to the States.

For Alyssa, it was turning on her cell phone so she can start receiving SMS messages from her friends again. For Erin, it was a toss-up between playing with the dog, or kicking the soccer ball around the yard. Tiffany wanted her big screen TV and I couldn’t wait for my precious Blackberry to be connected to the internet again 7x24. Yes, my precious. We wants it… we needs it !! Must have the precious connected to the internet again. MINE !! Gollum, Gollum, cough, cough.

Observations - Polish Ireland

The last time I was in Dublin, the Poles were everywhere. With Poland’s entry into the European Union, highly skilled Polish workers flooded to higher paying countries to make a better living. Dublin was one of their favorite destinations, and the sheer number of Poles seemed to power the economy. It seemed like the entire service industry like restaurants, shops etc was staffed by Poles. They even had their own super markets and restaurants dedicated to selling Polish goodies.

With the recession on now, I had wondered how they were faring. While I did see plenty of signs that the economy was in distress, I was pleased to see the Poles hanging tough like everyone else. For a moment I feared they had given up on Ireland and gone home. But just like the Irish immigrants stuck it out in the USA and helped make our country great, I think the Poles will do the same in Ireland.

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Photos

Rock of Cashel
Alyssa loves the Rock of Cashel !!

Imposing Castle
The Rock of Cashel looks so huge when you first see it.

Inside the Cathedral
Inside the cathedral at the Rock of Cashel

Celtic Crosses
The grounds of the Rock of Cashel have many scenic Celtic crosses such as this.

Towers of Cashel
The girls pose in front of one of the towers at Cashel just before it rains.

River Liffey
The girls pose in front of the River Liffey in Dublin

Comments

[Alyssa]

baaaaaaaaaad
cheap sheep joke. ^.^