WE MADE IT TO DUBLIN

June 3: Dublin

 We were both tired but elated to be on Irish soil.  Customs was a breeze and after we located the Aer Lingus help desk to explain why we weren’t on the plane from Heathrow to Dublin and checking to see that our flight back to London was still confirmed, we headed for the bus to take us to our Bed and Breakfast.  The busses require that you have exact change so we dissected some of our large Euros into smaller denominations.  At the bus, I realized that I had change to total 2.50 Euros not the required 2.40.  I got on and told the driver my dilemma and smilingly he said, “We can take 10 cents over, 10 cents under, we have no problems!”   The lady of the B&B had provided very good directions to her home and while we were looking at a map to confirm what was happening, a gentleman sitting behind us inquired as to where we were going and provided additional help in finding our bus stop. 

The bus stopped ½ block from the front door of the B&B so all future movements

promised to be quite easy.  We were greeted by Pat (Padraig) Sweeney and shown to a nice 3^rd floor room where we quickly took a 2 hour nap.  We awoke around1:00p feeling  refreshed.  We spent time with Bernadette Sweeney getting the lay of the land and maps to be used as we spend the next 2 days exploring the interesting city of Dublin.  She had a stash of “Hop On, Hop Off” bus tickets which she sold to us.  These tickets provide all bus transportation for 72 hours including round trip narrated tours with 24 points of interest at which you can get off, do your investigation, and then catch the next bus. 

Azalea Lodge Bed and Breakfast

We headed into downtown Dublin for our cursory round trip tour.  The bus ride in was easy and it appears that we will be able to travel around Dublin, at least for several days at a minimal cost and maximum ease.  Again, a gentleman sitting behind us noted that we were trying to figure out where we were on our map and offered to help.  He pointed out interesting landmarks along the way and guided us to the correct stepping off point in the heart of downtown.    

The drivers, for the most part, are quite knowledgeable and talk nonstop for the entire trip as they weave their busses through extremely narrow streets in heavy traffic.  This one guy was really funny with a dry since of humor.  The trip took 1 ½ hours.  We had gotten on at stop 9 of 24 so at the last stop, we changed busses and drivers.  The second, although knowledgeable, lacked the since of humor.  As we traveled, the first driver had mentioned a restaurant, the

Arlington Hotel Bar and Restaurant

Arlington Hotel Bar, had super food and live entertainment nightly so we rode the bus all the way back to that stop nearest that point and got off. 

This is one of the many old establishments that is a landmark in Dublin.  We checked out the menu I landed on a house special that included sow belly (which is like a block of our uncured bacon), pudding (similar to our pork sausage with blood added) and a link of pork sausage.  In order to stick with local customs, I had a pint of Guinness.  I found my food to be good.  I had promised myself that I would try their pudding assuming that it would be unappealing in both appearance and consistency but when it arrived, I wasn’t sure which one was the pudding.  One looked like a patty of fried sausage.  Assuming that it would be safe to eat that, I attacked it first and it turned out to be the pudding.  OK!  I can now eat and enjoy pudding. 

Fat, happy and wind blown in Dublin
(I'm not really that fat!  It's the picture)

We had gotten to the restaurant at around 5:30 and were finished eating before 6:30.  We had chosen this place because of the promise of live Irish music, however, that didn’t start until 7:00.  We were both really tired so we headed for the bus that would take us back to the B&B. 

Upon our arrival, we were met by Chuck Gibson, one of the individuals who will be on the England part of the trip with us.  We had communicated with Chuck back in February and had planned to meet him in Dublin.  We sat in the parlor while he told his of his several special cars and other interesting thing as our eyes drifted to half mast and our heads bobbed.  We finally excused ourselves and headed for bed.  It was a bit after 8:00p and fully daylight but we crashed.