Dublin, Ireland

Made it to Dublin arriving at 5:06 AM – the sun was barely up, and Tom swore he was going to wake up the Irish roosters ! Bleary-eyed we made it off the plane, claimed our luggage, wobbled through immigration (Customs), and found our way to the Dublin public bus transportation system. It was disorienting dropping out of the terminal and seeing the cars, buses, and trucks all driving on the wrong side of the road . . . this is going to take some getting used to, and I’m so glad Tom will driving on the left when we rent the car two (2) days from now.

The temp was 50 degrees F (far different from what we left Boston) and we had to put on long sleeve shirts and pull out the jackets from our suitcases. We took the local bus (clean and efficient, double-decker) from the airport to the edge of Dublin City. Getting off the bus we still had a foot journey to complete the trek to our AirBnB lodging for the first two nights in Dublin – walked for 20 minutes, but seemed like 1½ hours when you’re carrying and pulling luggage over old-time city streets.

We found our house location and I proved myself a great navigator getting us there very effectively. We met Fionnuala, our hostess, and although the apartment wouldn’t be ready until later in the afternoon she let us drop off our luggage for the day.

She gave us great directions to Dublin City Centre suggesting we take the bus again, but Tom and I decided to walk it as it wasn’t yet 8 AM. We hadn’t had any breakfast and were still somewhat stiff from sitting for the 6+ hour flight across the Atlantic – so we began our quest for our first Irish Breakfast !

We had read about great breakfast baguettes available at local supermarkets – Subway-style French bread stuffed with your choice of sauces, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and hash brown potatoes. HUGE ! So, we each ordered one, picked up our coffees, and marched outside to sit on a planter box and eat on the nearest street corner – and it was still 50 degrees F and only 9 AM !

We strolled the streets heading into City Centre as we had pre-booked a free guided walking tour last week of the historic city for 11 AM. Discovered some stuff on our own that would later see on the tour, but the tour totally surpassed our expectations for what something free should be. Our tour guide was a Dublin native who has travelled the world and now gives these free tours just working for tips – 31 of us on this tour and most of us gave €10 per person for his 3 hours of work. He provided lots of historical perspective, political commentary, witty stories, and displayed charming Irish humor – much of it self-deprecating on the Irish populace itself.

The tour began at the Dublin Castle, went past Christ Church Cathedral, through the Temple Bar area, and ended at Trinity College. During the tour the clouds parted and the sun came out and we saw blue sky – I was even concerned about getting a sunburn as I hadn’t put on any sunscreen for the day. Our tour guide, Carl Jackson, invited us all to an evening Pub Crawl, but we can’t make it as we’re too tired – never thought I would hear Tom give something like that up so willingly ! Tom claims he is saving himself for the rest of our Irish journey.