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Our last full day in Ireland was a beauty and not only
with the weather, when I looked at my cell phone, the network was
Vodaphone, not 02! With Vodaphone working, we could get a data
connection and emails via our devices!
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The sun was shining bright,
temperatures were already in the 60's when we exited the hotel around 9
am. We stopped to get a coffee at the Insomnia Café (coffee was terrible
at the hotel) and then went in search of walking shoes for me, and a
lightweight sweater for Karen. My old tennis shoes were falling apart, and
the plastic ankle support was tearing through the lining of the shoe,
tearing into my foot. |
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We ended up at the St.
Stephen's Mall. After visiting a couple of athletic shoe stores, I
followed Karen into a local department store, Dunn's. This was the place
to shop! Stuff was cheap! I got a nice pair of walking shoes for 25 euro
and Karen got an equally good deal for a sweater. |
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Armed with our new goods,
we headed to the Pearse Street Dart Station to catch the train. The
attendant suggested that we purchase an all day pass, allowing hop-on,
hop-off service for just 11 euros each. The furthest point south served by
the Dart is Greystones. This town is just into Wicklow County. It is built
right on the shore and is bordered by hills on the other side. |
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The ride down is along the
coast, so we got a good view of the Dublin Bay and the towns south of the
city. On the ride down, we spied some neat ruins on the water in the town
of Dalkey. We decided this would be a good place to stop on the way back
to Dublin. |
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Our time in Greystones was
short - not much more than an hour - so we did not see a lot. But we did
walk into the town center and had a beer at a café called Bels. We also
made our way to the beach and boardwalk. |
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We then caught the train to
Dalkey. It was about half way back to Dublin time wise. Dalkey is a cute
town. The walk from the train station to the city center is about a
2-minute walk. It was after noon and we decided it was time for lunch.
Next to some ruins was a restaurant called The Queens Bar. What attracted
us was the out door seating. The weather was glorious, with beautiful
sunshine and 70 degree weather. We got a great table in the far corner of
the restaurant yard, right next to the ruin and across from the church. I
had a Smithwick beer and a great Steak and Kidney pie - delicious! |
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After lunch we headed next door to the ruin. This turned
out to be an old storage house dating to the 19th century. When
Dalkey was a major port, these square towers dotted the township and
provided valuable long-term storage for foods and other perishables. A
brief narrated tour was available, followed by a self-guided tour. It was
actually kind of expensive for such a small town and small attraction, but
we paid the 6-euro each and spent the next 45 minutes investigating the
site.
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In addition to the storage house was an old
cemetery with ruins of an old church. |
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Next we headed toward
the water. From the train, we had seen ruins that appeared to be on an
island just off the coast of Dalkey. |
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This indeed was the case.
We made our way to the water and found ourselves at the parking lot of a
grade school - a school that appeared to have just released its students
for the summer, as kids were carrying boxes of supplies out with them. |
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The ruins were cool, and we
also had an excellent view of the Dublin bay and across the bay to the
peninsula that contains the town of Howath. If we had had more time, we
would have taken the DART to the northern end in Howath. |
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We got back to the train
station just in time to catch a 3:02 train back to Dublin. We had seen
much of Dublin, but there was a couple of things left to visit, including
the Henry Street shopping area (of great interest to Karen), the Ha' penny
Bridge and the Dublin Castle. We made our way out of the Connolly train
station, located north of the River Liffey and closest to the Henry Street
area. Our walk took us across O'Connell Street, and we spied the location
where our tour bus had died two days before. The Henry Street area is
quite a bit bigger than Grafton Street, but lacks the upscale feel and
shopping that Grafton enjoys. There is a street farmer's market, and a
couple of large indoor malls right off the street, but overall we gave
the edge to Grafton. |
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From there we made our way
to the River Liffey and found the Ha' penny bridge. We crossed it, took a
couple of pictures from the bridge and of the bridge and then headed
parallel to the river on the south side. |
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Eventually we cut over to
Dame Street to find the Dublin Castle. Due to security precautions (for
reasons that still are not clear - the tour bus guy said it was cause
President Bush was in the country, but he never came to Dublin, so I do
not know what the truth is), the Castle was not open to the public. Karen
visited the souvenir shop and a I snapped a couple of photos. |
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We could go inside the City
Hall building. The lobby is beautiful and has a very impressively
decorated dome. |
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From there we made our way
down Dame Street to get back to our hotel. On the way, we stopped at the
sculpture of Molly Malone, and snapped a photo of Karen with her. |
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Back at the hotel, we
rested up a bit, checked emails (now that we were connected!) and washed
up for dinner. We had the thought to dine on Dawson Street, which featured
some more upscale choices than Temple Bar. But when it came down to it, we
wanted something more casual. I looked up recommended restaurants in our
tour books. We had the thought to visit another traditional Irish cuisine
place and there were a few listed not far from our hotel and near Grafton
Street. We made our way, but ultimately picked an Italian restaurant,
Pasta Fresca on Chatham Street. No surprise that we each ordered pizza!
They had outdoor seating and the weather remained very nice, so we wanted
to enjoy it. |
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Back at the Shelbourne
Hotel, we stopped in the bar and Karen grabbed a seat as I went to the bar
to order our drinks. I was absent from my wife not 2 minutes, but when I
returned to the table she had a suitor! He introduced himself as John
Mahoney (is that something John Doe over here?) and seemed smitten with my
bride! He was clearly disappointed with my presence. John (or whatever his
name was) lived about 3 hours away, but had business with the agriculture
ministry of Ireland, so apparently visited Dublin frequently. Since it was
Friday night he was planning to head home. Spotting Karen, however, I
think he had a change of heart - if only his luck was good. Unfortunate
for him, Karen was already spoken for. After making small talk, John said
his good-byes, but not before stealing a kiss from Karen! As I am often
reminded, the wisdom of Lou Costello is best heeded (I paraphrase), “I should have
married a plain girl, cause no one will try to steal her, and if someone
does, who cares!” Oh well, too late for me. |
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