Saturday, July 29, 2017

Quick trip to Dublin

Katherine is nearly finished with her internship in Dublin, but about half way through we took a quick weekend to visit her.


Our apartment was a little smaller than I remembered booking. Probably because I wasn't sure if all of us were going, and I thought the couch looked a lot bigger in the pictures and could work in a pinch for one of the kids.  Well, turns out not so much.  My comments to the landlord included suggestions for a pull-out couch and some food in the pantry.  One box of oatmeal, a half stick of butter, and some freezer-burned ice cream aren't really satisfying when arriving 90 minutes late (delayed flight) at midnight. Nicholas and Rebecca shared a room. Really shared. Jonathon got the way too small couch. It was only for 3 nights.




Dublin is a very walkable city. Our first day we poked around the Temple Bar area, saw where Katherine is doing her internship, and went to the Leprechaun Museum. Leprechauns aren't real (shhh) so there's nothing in the way of what you'd see in a regular museum, but stories about leprechauns and fairies have been around for centuries, and that's what this little museum is all about.

Three big guys on a tiny couch - manspreading


This bust didn't have a name. No Name Bust.
The next day we visited Trinity College, saw the famous library, and accidentally took photos of the Book of Kells (actually Katherine did, she was properly tut-tutted.) I'll tell you a secret though, I think the Book of Armagh is better. We visitied the Little Museum with the best tour guide (If you're lucky, you'll have Ronan) where one of Katherine's roommates worked. The Little Museum is a 30-45 minute run-through about the history of Dublin and well worth a visit.  We walked through part of  St Stephen's Green, a beautiful park. Saturday evening we did an Escape Room (see my Escape Room blog entry) and were flying through but for one puzzle that we all stared at each other for 10+ minutes.  That was embarrassing.

Lunch at TripAdvisor recommended Sheehan's Pub.

A little birthday shopping!


A little birthday dessert!



Sunday we had some time before our flight so we walked past Christ Church Cathedral and St Patrick Cathedral (no visiting... it was church time and the entrances were all guarded to allow church-goers only!), and tried to book a Viking duck tour but they were booked. So we did a second escape room we happened to walk past and they had a head-to-head room open right then.  Lucky. Boys vs Girls, and the Boys won by a few seconds (I'm pretty sure they got more clues than we did). We'll get them next time.


Once again, we're in love with Ireland. I think we're building our case for moving there permanently one day.

And Katherine comes home in a week :)