Walk about Dublin

After 12 hours of sleep we are ready to explore Dublin. But first breakfast is included with our room. You can never be sure what kind of food you’ll find. Well, we were surprised! 

We were told to come after 8 when it is less busy. Hmmm maybe not. Probably one of the best buffets I’ve seen.

There was hot food, (back bacon, eggs, potato, sausage) cheeses, sliced meats, cereals, oatmeal, yogurts, bread/toast, croissants, juices, coffee and tea, fruit, fruit salad and more…

Our meals 

Now off we go to explore . First Trinity College. Found out we have to book to see the Book of Kells and the library. So we will do that tomorrow. 

Wide open spaces and lots of people. So off to St Stephen’s Park. It is here the uprising took place in 1916.

A lovely place to enjoy big trees and open spaces. Next stop was called Marion Park with Donal said there would be artists…didn’t find that but discovered the National Art Gallery of Ireland. 3 floors of old classics! 

Van Gogh and Monet among hundreds of Irish painters.

Time for lunch and the gallery had just the perfect snack.

I had prosciutto and Brie, Evelyn had turkey. Delicious! Even Yellow Bunny enjoyed the gallery when she hung out with a famous painter??

It seemed time to check out the streets of Dublin. 

The weather was perfect, almost hot, and people everywhere. We were surprised how many young people just sat on the edge of the road to eat and drink! 

Some things you see are a little unusual…

It is now time for gelato! 

You can not go to Dublin without seeing The Temple Bar. So working our way, we checked out a Vintage shop….

Not quite for us but interesting…. On to the Temple Bar! 

Hundreds of young people on the road, I wonder what’s inside? 

Heading homeward… we have walked about 10k today.

A little time to relax till we meet our gadventure group.

We got together in the hotel hallway spot so hard to hear others say who they are, where from and way on the trip.

There are 15 people- 12 female, 3 males. Looks like 4 Americans, 2 New Zealanders, 1 Australian and 8 Canadians (Victoria, Gibson, Montreal, Ottawa)….I think 

As a group went to a pub for dinner. Really really loud in there! And we were at 5 different tables so not a lot of interaction. That will happen in the next few days! 

We had fish and chips with mushy peas, salad and fries. The fish really good, the fries not so ☹️.

Off to bed to get ready for tomorrow….

[Autosaved] Dublin

We’ve made it to Dublin. Just flying in you can see the beautiful countryside. Yes it is green! 

And yellow! 

I must say we were not well rested on the flight but had a lovely dinner of butter chicken with rice, tomato sauce and edamame, plus salad, bun, lemon mini bundt  and cheese. No photo since we were so hungry since it was 9pm! I forgot. 

Our plan is to catch a bus about 30 minutes into town. We can not find a sign about how to get to town. So I ask. First guy sends us one way for 2.5€ and when we got there this person said no, 15€.

He sends us in another direction. We find the bus and fortunately I actually had coins on me. We get on with our 2.5€ and the bus driver wants 2.6! He lets us on anyway!

On the ride into town, a super friendly and helpful Irish man just happens to sit by us.

Meet Donal… Donald without the d! I now have a list of pubs, music spots, cafes, neighbourhoods and more.

And all because he saw my Canada tag on my backpack. And also showed us where to get off the bus to our hotel.

Having a little rest and off to explore… We made it to out hotel room. Very convenient but a bit small bathroom. 

We went exploring along O'Connell street, busy downtown.

Twice on our trip, some people have said … “you can tell you two are sisters”!

I think so! This the River Liffey behind us. We kept on to O’Connell street where we found the giant Spire. It is 120m tall and was built in 2003 and is a landmark on O’Connell. 

The Post Office is here too

Of course there has to be a statue. This is Jim Larkin. He was the founder of the Irish Labour Party. 1874-1947.

While Evelyn was getting her eSIM, I checked out some art

It has now been more than 24 hours since we’ve really slept and had a good meal. So first we ate probably one of best seafood chowders ever and a super salad! Being old… we split them. 

And now to bed! We are having trouble keeping our eyes opened.

Good night.

[Autosaved] Heading to Ireland

It’s finally here. My sister, Evelyn, and I are off to explore Ireland and maybe connect with our Irish roots. Grandma, Annie Laura O’Neil, would be proud of our adventure. 

Yellow Bunny is ready for ferry, bus, sky twin and flight to Calgary and then Dublin. 

Last night we successfully had a wedding for 20 in our backyard. Weather was perfect. Everything worked perfectly. 

And now I can relax. Car, ferry, bus, skytrain and now at the airport. 

My sister is new at this travel in big cities, but she is doing great. Line ups are new to her.

Grabbed lunch at White Spot and now can wait for our flight. 

Yellow Bunny is ready for trip too. 

Time for home

The trip is over as we sit in our small room so we can get easily to the airport now in Lisbon. 

But first we got on the train in Porto 

And of course Yellow Bunny

We transferred to the train to Lisbon. If we were in charge of trains we would label each train car with its number! Some confusion but we made it

Now Val likes to get her steps in each day. Once we arrived at our train stop she suggested we walk. Now teachers are know for being economical (cheap) but this has nothing to do with cost. So with our bags we walk. It’s only 4.5 km. Get those steps in, however, it was in the heat of the day and all up hill! There was lots of cobble stones too.

Challenging yes but we made it, totally soaked from sweating. I had not dressed for a hike! 

Our room..

Now we need food. Our host suggested a place near by. We

told him we had just walked from the train station, he did not believe it. We did feel quite proud. 

So for dinner he suggested at short distance away to eat.

Placemats

A hamburger (?) with an egg on top. Plus fries and salad.

We did get through the (I’m sure it was pork) burger, some

of the fries and definitely the coke! We skipped the salad.

Now it is time for gelato.

With little effort we walked much further and found much more activity and “real” restaurants and of course gelato! 

Our photographer insisted he take our photo in front of this huge church. Why not? 

Very new and beautifully simple inside.

Back to our room to pack for flying tomorrow.

It has been an amazing 14 days. Val and I have never traveled together before and after 14 days…. We would do it again. It has been a problem free adventure. And a big thanks goes to Gadventures for their job at getting where we had to go and to take such good care all the way! Thanks our leader, Bruna.