Day 1- Dublin

Hi all! 

So Dublin- day 1. Oh my!

We did the overnight direct flight from St. John’s to Dublin, and landed at just after 7am Ireland time. We did not sleep on the plane. At all. 

Dreary-eyed we made it through immigration, and then into this weird in-between place where we collected our baggage, and then through customs, and then ta-da! Welcome to Ireland. 

I was expecting London Heathrow, but was instead met with something more along the lines of Halifax airport, what a pleasant surprise! It wasn’t stressful to navigate at all.

We promptly picked up bus tickets into the city and for a Guiness tour, and looked around for a SIM card. The airport was sold out! So, that meant no internet and no calls.

Using the map in our travel guide, we managed to figure out what bus stop we had to get off at, and asked the driver for directions to the Ashling Hotel. He said “Go across the bridge, and along the grey”.

Our first awful directions!

Off we went, across the bridge, and along this grey wall. After about 6 mins up the road, I began to figure we must have missed it. Back down the road we went, and as we paused to look around, a kind parking guard was able to steer us off in a better direction! 

Eventually we found the Ashling- we had walked past it… and were very surprised to find our room ready at 10am!

After dropping our bags, we headed off to explore.

BUT FIRST- FOOD! We wandered into “The Natural Bakery”, and found the most amazing sandwiches, made on from scratch bread made from Irish wheat, with real local chicken and cheese and arugula (they call it rocket). SO DELICIOUS. There was also a flat white and a cookie for later. The flat whites are amazing here!!! Just like Australia 😍

We found our way to Pheonix park, seen the giant memorial there to the Duke of Wellington, and then R had this idea that we should rent bikes. Oh. Sure. Let’s rent bikes, it will be fun! 

I thought I was going to die.

I thought I was going to be hit by a bus, in Dublin, and that would be the end of me.

For the record, there was orange safety vests and helmets involved! 

But, there was also bike lanes!!! Which apparently are fair game to be shared by taxis, and BUSES!!! 

At one point, we came upon this mob of Irish locals and horses outside a church, and had to navigate well into traffic, and when we finally made it around, R said “You seen the glass buggy for the casket right?”. Well I certainly made sure I seen it the second time down the street! What a true Irish funeral! 

We didn’t get to any of the churches or the Chester Beatty Library, because I was just finding it too stressful to be on the main roads on the bikes, so we turned around and made it back to the park, and spent a lovely two hours looking at the gardens, and even found the Fallow Deer Herd! What beauties 😍

We capped off our afternoon by stopping into a shop for Italian sodas, and I commented on the “Vancouver fog latte”. When the shop owner discovered we were from NL, she shared that she was actually from northern BC! She was lovely! And wicked Italian cream soda.

OH! 
We also did the Guinness tour! I have such an appreciation for the craftsmanship of the black stuff now! They had one of the earliest feminist commercials- “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle” and we became certified pourers!

Supper was “Irish Gourmet burgers” at this place we had driven past on the bus into town, after an appetizer of homemade donuts, because we’re on vacay!

40,000 steps later, after a long, interesting day, and it was finally time for bed. Till tomorrow! 

Ps (yes, a day late, because I wanted to add pictures and didn’t have internet!)