When I booked our small group Vagabond tour I knew it was a 7 day tour and assumed 7 nights. Wrong (rookie error). Part way through our trip Trevor identified the error and we managed to book an extra night at the same place, so we are having two nights in Dublin at the end of the Ireland leg, instead of one. That was very opportune as it has given us a chance to leave Ireland in the morning with bags full of clean washing. It also gave Trev a chance to have his beard trimmed neatly again, and for us to do more walking than we have in quite a while.
We started the day looking to find a laundromat to do our washing. We had spoken to the receptionist last night, who told us where to go, but all of these were cleaners who would take our washing and do it for us (for a price) rather than do it yourself.
We walked and walked and walked . Without clear directions and without the ability to search on-line while we were out and about, we finally arrived back at our lodgings with our full backpacks of dirty washing still in place, feeling hot, bothered and frustrated.
The fellow on reception has been here for three days and had no idea of what was around, and no idea how to find out and eventually offered to do it here, while we went out to do our touristy stuff! So we actually ended up coming home to find our washing all nicely completed for us.
While the staff here were doing our washing we went out to see some more of Dublin. Unbelievably the sun was beating down, and we decided to continue without even a jumper between us...and it turned out to be an excellent decision. Although the wind was slightly chilly at times in the shade, it was great to go with just a bum bag weighing me down.
First stop was St Stephen's Green- a large park with a lake which was a gift to the people of Dublin from a rich family. Lots of kids were having fun watching the ducks and a large contingent of fluoro vested adults were tending a large group of fluoro vested kids in the playground (day care group maybe?? )
Here we had our only glimpse of a red squirrel. He came out of the bushes very close by for just a few seconds and then scampered off again. (Sorry-too fast for a photo)
We deviated on to another park -Iveagh Gardens which holds the only permanently structured archery field (effectively a sunken lawn) and also has an elephant buried there (from the Zoo!), also a gate that I thought John Such and others interested in metal work may find as fascinating as I did.
From here we wound our way past the performers in the mall
And found ourselves a bite of lunch at a salad and burger place-where Trev delighted the waitresses by applying his skills to the kiddies entertainment activities pack. His find-a-word skills are pretty good, but his mirroring skills need a bit of work I think. Note the newly neatened facial hair.
Then on to Trinity College main entrance to join a historical walking tour of Dublin. Our leader has many historical qualifications not least being a PHD in medieval history of Dublin, so was well qualified for the job.
From here we traversed the city once more, covering Trinity College itself, the old parliament house (now the bank of Ireland),
Temple Bar, where she showed us the remains of the medieval tower and the level of the city at the time (many metres below the current level) and the umbrella flowers that open when it rains in the meeting area,
And Dublin Castle.
After a couple of hours of that we headed home with a bit of a deviation up the canal to admire the sculpture of the horse and boy. The horses used to pull the barges on these canals and this sculpture was put here in memory of them. We happened to catch the old lock being operated by hand to allow a dinner boat through.
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| Thom and Laura- We thought your place was covered in ivy take a look at this place! They will be pulling it down next year due to the structural damage...... only kidding 😊 |
We have not figured out the pedestrian practices...people seem to push the button, but then walk while the light is still red if no traffic is coming too fast towards them. Then on some street corners there is crossing in all directions at once. We will still be guessing when we leave I am sure. We will try not to get cleaned up by traffic between here and the airport.
Now we are reclining on our beds, catching up on Facebook and email, packing our bags freshly again,wondering where it was that one of my good pairs of socks left my possession and planning how early we need to be out of the door in the morning to catch the plan to Gatwick. This time tomorrow hopefully we will be eating dinner in London with our friends Tim and Joanne.
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