After a traditional Irish breakfast of a fried egg, sausage, black and white pudding (other flavors of sausage), soda bread (we are going to miss that when we leave Ireland!) and tomato (never figured that out as a breakfast item, but oh well!), we walked to the Rock of Cashel and bought tickets for the self-guided tour of the ancient chapel, fort and round tower that sit high on a hill in Cashel. It was interesting, although we're getting a little tired of castle tours, so it must be time to leave Ireland. And indeed it is.
We left Cashel for Dublin. The plan is to return the rental car to the Dan Dooley Car Rental at the airport, then return via shuttle bus to downtown Dublin for one final afternoon and night in Dublin before we leave for Amsterdam tomorrow. The plan worked well, with the minor exception that we missed the correct turnoff from the M50, which is a new freeway looping around Dublin. Our Garmin was worthless for the trip from Cashel to Dublin, as most of the roads we took, the M8 and M50, were freeways which are unknown to our Garmin (who we not-so-affectionately refer to as “Lucy” because there are many times that Lucy has some “splain' to do” as Ricky Ricardo would say. The good news was that because we missed our turnoff in the roundabout, we ended up filling our tank further away from the car rental place. We found our way to Dan Dooley, and drove by the gas station next door, which charged 10 cents more per litre than what we paid. There's a little silver lining in the mistakes of travel, if you just look for them!
We are proud to say that we returned the car without a blemish—thanks to the grace of God and/or my quick reaction to Bev's yelling “Look out!” during the first two minutes of our rental last week, when I almost pulled in front of someone. So two trips to Ireland, and driving a total of more than two weeks “on the wrong side of the road” and we have a clean driving record! I'm still glad we bought the insurance, however! It was worth the peace of mind! My advice to others who are renting a car in Ireland: Don't even think about saving a little money and driving a stick shift! I learned how to drive on a stick shift and I have not problem with that when the stick is on the right side. Trying to learn to shift left handed, while having to drive on the left side of the road, is a recipe for disaster! Pay the few extra bucks and get an automatic transmission, and enjoy your ride!
We got a shuttle from Dan Dooley to the airport, dropped a couple of small bags at a bag drop across from the terminal, for 4.75 euro each, and caught the local service bus downtown with our backpacks. We checked back into the Mercer Hotel, where we stayed last week when we first got to Dublin, and lo and behold, ended up in the same room as we had last week! We then scoped out where we would catch the airport shuttle bus tomorrow morning for our return to the airport to catch our flight to Amsterdam. Then we walked around on Grafton Street, which was packed with Saturday pedestrians enjoying a beautiful weekend day in the City! There were street musicians and entertainers all over. It was a fun, people-watching experience. We found a sidewalk cafe for lunch. They're not exactly in short supply on a day like this in Dublin. The only problem is that, since smoking is not allowed in bars and restaurants (yes, including pubs!) in Ireland, the smokers eat outside. But since it is outside, and Dublin is breezy, it wasn't really a problem for us non-smokers to eat our lunch. I broke down and ordered a cheeseburger, and Bev had a chicken salad sandwich. They were huge, and my burger was good! So I got my burger fix, which may have to last me until we get back to the states on June 1! I'm a big fan of a good burger, but I'm guessing that the food in Italy will be a good substitute!
We went to evening Mass at a church one block from our hotel. The small number of people at Mass was alarming, and we did not see a single family with small children there. The only people there were little old ladies, a few old men, a middle-aged couple collecting money for a disadvantaged children's charity, and Bev and me. Amazing! Of course, as uninspiring as the music and the Mass was, if that's what we had to put up with every week, we'd stay home too! Very sad!
After Mass, we went to Saint Stephen's Green, a famous Dublin park only a couple blocks from our hotel. The weather was spectacular; the blossoms are popping out, a lot of tulips and other flowers in bloom and the trees are starting to bud. People were out in force, enjoying the park. It sure (finally) feels like Spring! They close the park at 7:30 p.m., so we were ushered out and went to the Temple Bar area for dinner and one final night of Irish music and gaiety in Dublin. The bars were packed with noise and people, and we weren't hungry for more pub food anyway, so we found a little Italian restaurant on a side street and shared a lasagna and each had a side salad. It was a perfect amount of food, and really good. I asked the beautiful young woman who was serving us if she was from Italy. She said no, she was from Romania. As good as this Italian food was, like the pizza last night, I'm guessing the chef must've been from Romania too.
After dinner, it was back to Gogarty's Pub in Temble Bar, where our Dublin nightlife had started 10 days earlier. The band up on the second floor was as good as those the first night. The crowd was a very international crowd. The guys standing along the wall next to us were from Norway and the couple on the other side of us were from Dublin. Fun was had by all! We are definitely going to miss this part Ireland, for sure!
All in all, I did not expect to fall in love with Dublin, but I did! Can't wait to come back in a couple years!
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