Goodnight Dublin

 

The morning started with a walk through Dublin to get some breakfast. Fiona wanted to go to breakfast with Ray, so we headed out with his mom and found a pretty popular spot called Lemon Jelly. There was a short line when we got there and by the time we finished, it was a pretty long line. Had a great breakfast.

After we ate we wandered around and looked through some shops before meeting up with Fiona and Ray. We stopped by the statue of Molly Malone. Urban myth has it that if you rub her boobs, it will bring you good luck. You can see that many people have done just that. No, none of us did if you’re wondering. 

Fiona and Ray had a pint and a glass of wine while we wandered. What’s that you ask? Is it weird for me to be in a country where my kid can drink legally? Um, yes. Very. Not ready to see her with a glass of wine, and yet here we are.

Brian and I headed off for a short walk to a beautiful park and found an indoor mall with this beautiful glass ceiling. We wandered in to take a picture and then right back out. The park was a peaceful departure from this bustling area for a little bit. 

We had some lunch before heading back to get Ray and Naomi a cab to the airport. Brian found a street food spot and they all tried a “spice bag”. It was a bag of fries and spicy chicken with a variety of sauces and curry. Fiona, Mack, and I opted out of the spice bags and got boring burgers, chicken tenders, and cheese fries. 

We made our way back to the hotel after lunch and said our goodbyes. Ray and Naomi headed back to Germany and we headed back up to our room for an afternoon rest before the evening trek for dinner. 

We did a lot of walking today. After the evening outing we had a little more than 20,000 steps. Dublin is pretty crazy. It’s a little bit of a walk to the water and into the area where the pubs and shops are. There are all kinds of people wandering on the streets. I have seen a few unapologetic displays of  public drug use in the last couple of days. It stays light pretty late here, and around 9:00 you can really start to see the nighttime crew surfacing. Made me a little uncomfortable walking around. 

Our dinner outing ended with an ice cream disappointment. We walked quite a bit and hoped to have Murphy’s ice cream again. Sadly when we arrived, we were met with a line down the sidewalk. Really way too long to wait for ice cream. So, our crew headed back for the hotel to pack. 

 Goodnight Dublin

Dublin Pride

 

Morning in Dublin was a lot calmer than night. A lot. Street sweepers were out and about sweeping up the mess from the night before. We had an 8:30 tour time for Trinity College and The Book of Kells so we headed out early in hopes of finding some breakfast. We landed in a cafe for a quick coffee and a pastry.

The tour of Trinity College was pretty interesting. Mackenzie loves the movie The Secret of Kells so she knew a little bit about The Book of Kells. We were able to see the original book of Kells which is over 1200 years old. It is “an illuminated manuscript depicting the four Gospels of the Christian New Testament, written in Latin.” It’s always amazing to see history up close like that. 

After the visit, we headed out for some breakfast/lunch. Found a great pub with a cheeky owner who greeted guests with his spunky attitude. The food was good and they need some fans! It was hot in there.

We wandered a bit and by midday, Mack was ready for a nap. She actually started her nap on my shoulder while the group went into St Patrick’s cathedral. I think it was a good choice to stay outside with her. After they toured the cathedral, Fiona, Raymond, and Naomi headed to a pub and we made our way back to our hotel. Today was the pride parade here and it was a big parade! It was crowded, colorful, and festive! It was a fun place to walk through. 

 

Mack is pretty much done at this point. She wasn’t able to sleep at all last night which means I got very little sleep as well. After our early day out, we stayed home and rested until it was time for dinner. Mack wasn’t interested in venturing out so we walked down to Burger King, got her a burger, and she camped in the hotel. 

We headed out to a pub for dinner and found that they didn’t serve food, so we went to another pub. No food. We went to another pub and found some food. Had pretty good food with mediocre service. Nice to just be out and getting to know Naomi better. After dinner we hit up Murphy’s ice cream. It was super good! They had a brown bread flavor which sounds so odd but is really very good. It tasted like bread and butter. I chose a honeycomb caramel with fresh strawberry, and Brian chose a sea salt flavor paired with one I can’t remember. We just might have to go back there tomorrow. I do know that eating restaurant meals 2-3 times a day is a lot. My belly is ready for some lighter meals and less vacation food! 

Ray and Naomi will return home to Germany tomorrow and we will one more night in Dublin before heading off to England. When we wrap up our travels and head home, Fiona will be off to Germany! 

All this adventure is going to take a while to recover from!

Donkeys and Raymond

 Today began with my adventure! The one thing I really wanted to do. I wanted to visit the donkey sanctuary in Liscarrol which is located in Cork. Good news! It’s really close to where Brian’s great grandfather and great, great, grandfather came from. We drove through the town he came from called Boherbue in County Cork. Googled the name in the area and had a good laugh. Pretty special to come all this way and be able to visit.

A while back, my mom gave me a book called Sanctuary that she came across and it was really good. It was a book about a man who grew up on a donkey sanctuary and who fought with the Irish army and ended up with PTSD and addiction struggles. His story was how he found his way back and how the donkeys were part of his recovery. I got to go to his sanctuary today! I was really excited and so glad we were able to make it work!

I plan to adopt Echo and maybe even Jacksie when we return home. For 25 euro per year you will help with funding their care. Check out their website!

After we finished there, we did some castle visiting, had some lunch, and began our trip to Dublin to meet up with Ray and his mom, Naomi. Fiona was most excited about this part. Our journey was tricky and quite a bit later than expected so I’m sure her ride in the back seat took forever. 

Rock of Cashel

After the car rental return from hell, we figured out the bus and made our way to the hotel. We were met by Ray and Naomi and all was right again. We could relax for a bit before wandering the very busy streets of Dublin to grab some dinner. It was a great night. Brian and I brought Mack back to the hotel while Fiona stayed out at a pub with Ray and Naomi.  I made a cup of tea and like the good old days, I’m waiting up for Fiona to get home. 

The charcoal bun was interesting.

The Dublin Portal. It’s an installation that provides a live stream which connects Dublin to New York. Google it! It was super cool! Long distance, interactive people watching.