Tuesday- renting the car

We took a cab to the  Hertz car rental on South Circular Road.  We checked in at the desk and the fellow behind the counter said that before he could give us our brand new Renault there were two important questions that must be asked. 

So Maureen said 'What colour is it? 

and the hertz guy asked 'What colour are your shoes?

The answer to both was black and the car was ours. 

we rented it for 10 days with the stipulation that the car be back by 1230 in the 10 day and full of gas. We asked if we could load up our luggage in to the car and leave it at the hertz lot until later as there was still a few things we wanted to see in Dublin.He said no problem , just be back before five. He gave us the easy directions to get out of Dublin onto the N7 and so with the car loaded and locked we took a cab back to Trinity college which was just down the street from our hotel.

Tuedsay - Early morning in Dublin

Beautiful morning, . The air is cool but not cold, a little early morning mist.  Yesterday we had discovered the church and Maureen decided to go today so all we have to do is find it again.  I will find the laundry and then we shall go for breakfast together .that is the plan. The Launderette was open and Teresa explained how they worked. Quite simple really. Told me that they did a lot of the hotels and hostels laundry requirements and that some of the hotels charged quite a lot for the service they provided. When I looked at what some hotels charged , ours was actually very reasonable. I wrote postcards on top of the washing machines. After Maureens clothes were washed and I had transfered the wet laundry to the dryer I  went to find the mail box. 

 side note. the mail boxes in Ireland are green. and they vary in size depending on the amount of use they get. In some towns the mailbox was 12 x 8 x 6  inches. I found that interesting. very efficient.  This does mean that you have to pay attention to where there might be a mail box as they are all different depending on the size of the town 

 

Of course I took photos of everything. It was just down the street and easy to find so I wandered around a little bit. It was quiet. There was very little traffic unlike yesterday which was insane. They drive 3 inches away from each other and figuring out crosswalks was tense as sometimes they would stop at the corners and sometimes they would not. They being drivers of vehicles and they drive really fast it seemed to me. 

Sidenote

 When I first got into Dublin and was walking around with my map, I could not find a single street signpost. 

I finally asked somone and he told me they were on the buildings. I could not see what he was talking about but said thank-you and continued wandering around trying to see what he was talking about. 

Finally I saw a sign. Up high on the corner of a building. The street signs in Ireland are usually on the sides of buildings, on the corners, to be more specific. 

The rule seems to be that the name of the street will be shown at either end of the street up on the corner of the building.  Sometimes they will be on every corner because the streets are very short so you have to pay attention to what street you are on as there may or may not be another sign for some time. 

I did find the mail box and I did find Maureen and we did find the launderette again which was good or Maureen would have had no clothes.  

Went for breakfast at the Central Hotel. Scrambled eggs, toast,  fruit and tea. They didn't put out very much at one time so you had to wait to get your portion.  Nice hotel but more expensive than ours and very busy. We went back to our hotel and packed things up. Have to say that the staff at the Adams Trinity are very helpful. Archie was great. kept us laughing.

Second Half of Day One

In the afternoon we went through my Village Walks of Ireland box, that the ladies I work with at  Le Papier had given me for my birthday and picked out the walks we wanted to do in Dublin with the time that we had. Even though she loves Dublin, Maureen wants to get out of the city, so we arranged to leave  a day early. She is more of a country girl. an island girl really.Our first card to be used was Number Six- Merrion Square. It brought us to the Dublin National Gallery and it was marvelous.

  Among the  hundreds of beautiful paintings,

 Monet and Renoir, two of my favorites.

 Could have spent the whole day there but we only have so much time and too much to see.  Merrion Square park

 was lovely and the doors of the stately Georgian homes that line the north side of the square are a knockout. 

Took lots of pictures. 

 Stopped for a baileys hot chocolate at the Earl of Kildare Hotel Pub which was built in 1837.

 A  lovely little break in our meanderings. 

Some window shopping on Grafton street where we picked up postcards from little shops.

 It did rain on us but we were armed with raincoats and umbrellas. 

A little side note.  They use paper bags in Ireland. You hardly ever see plastic bags. The first time I bought post cards and they placed them into a paper bag, I thought  'are you mad! it is raining outside and the bag will turn to mush and my cards will get ruined'.  Of course I didn't say that . 

What I said was  'thank-you'.  Yes my paper bag did get a little wet but things did not turn to mush

 and nothing got ruined. 

 Anywhere we went we saw very little evidence of an  irresponsible use or abuse of plastic. There are very few plastic bags hanging around in trees or blowing down the streets in Ireland. Actually there was very little garbage on the streets any where. A very tidy country. 

 

Decided we were famished  so pulled out Village Walks card Number Two- Temple Bar and bravely sallied forth. Maureen in her bright green raincoat with the reflective tape strip across the front and back which looks really cool in flash photos and I in my green raincoat with the light plaid liner in the hood. 

Wandered around  the temple bar area in the rain seeing  the famous ha'penny bridge , built in 1816, and all the way down to Fishamble lane, one of the oldest streets in Dublin. We saw the entrance to the castle gate but not a great view of the castle, oh yea, it was raining and dark by now.  A lovely  dinner at La Pino Restaurante in Temple Bar. Very Tasty. We had already had our first  Guinness   "Slainte"   earlier in the afternoon at the Stag Heads Pub which  is steps away from our hotel, (our uneducated palates thought the beer  bitter),  so for dinner we had wine. After  a large dinner a little more wandering around temple bar to walk off dinner,  more of a waddle really. History ! History! History! Vikings are in Maureen's family history so found the village walks card number One-Viking Dublin, very interesting  The rain was gentle  but steady and we found a hostel which charged almost as much as our hotel with not as many amenities ! We finished off our first evening in Dublin  tucked into our warm, dry beds in the Hotel ,talking of all the experiences  we had that day, planning our activities for tomorrow,  content in the knowledge that we were in Ireland .

Ireland!

the customs fellow at Dublin Airport said I looked Irish. what a great guy!

I only had my carry on so I went straight to the buses which were good. Went to Dame Street and found the Adams Trinity Hotel with no difficulty.

I proceeded to check in only to find that Maureen was not there yet. This was a great concern to me as she is my traveling mate and she was supposed to be here yesterday. I immediately had visions of accidents, sick family members and/or of Maureen being lost.

I went up to my room and in about 15 minutes there was a phone call from Maureen.

WHERE WAS I? (what do you mean where was IIIIIIII)

Well I was in the hotel room that's how you go ahold of me. Where are you?

Turns out she couldn't find the hotel yesterday as I gave her an incorrect address. She was at the airport for two hours waiting for me and somehow we missed each other.

So she is on her way now, she says she will catch the bus. I waited for her outside by the bus stop.

There is lots of traffic and tons of people. I wonder if it is always like this?

She took a cab and surprised me by being in the hotel when I went to check to see if I had missed her.

After a much needed quick buffet lunch at the hotel in their dark wood second floor mezzanine dining room, we both decide that

trials and tribulations aside, we must go see Dublin!

We are in Ireland!

For 13 days!

With places to go and things to see.

Museums

Art galleries

Shopping

Restaurants

People

I love Dublin!

Getting there

Flying to the Minneapolis airport was a short flight. sunny in Minneapolis. The airport is very large with lots of interesting shops and restaurants. I kept myself busy by sketching, by walking to the farthest point away from my gate and then taking one of the little golf style carts they have to transport passengers back to my gate. I took the shuttle train  and , after exchanging some canadian money for american, I had some Sushi. 

The flight to Amsterdam was long I watched movies. Last Chance Harvey, The day the earth stood still and  Marley and Me. Only slept for a few hours. saw some lovely little lights over England or Scotland. The flight locator map was not real accurate.

 Coming into amsterdam  there were 60 wind generators in the bay very cool. I loved the red, cream and brown rooftops of the buildings in the city. Amsterdam has a most interesting airport. They have roads under the airport, which  I found quite an interesting use of space on their part. Lots of chocolate and cheese. I bought some postcards and had a croisssant and a tea and wrote a few quick notes to son in law Brent, Friends Nina and Will, Sister Kelly and Aunt Marg. Afew more hours and then on to Aerlingus. 

Maureen and I are going to Ireland.

The old country. 

There, to climb mountains, walk on beaches, sleep in castles and to drink in the history of our forefathers.

Possibly a few whiskeys and ale are also on the horizon.