After a couple of days of adventures I felt I should catch up before we get to far behind. On the housekeeping side we have mastered the washer and dryer! I know that seems a small thing but for those that remember our stories of Norway with a half of dozen Norwegian women at our home exchange home. Neighbors rallied round to help us and there we were with a bunch of Norwegian women in our tiny laundry area all speaking Norwegian chattering away trying to explain how to run the machines, or the guy at Mr Bubble in Salzburg trying to explain the wash cycles and the money needed to run the darn things, and although I can't remember the specifics of the laundry in Paris caper I'm sure there was one. So this time, all was in English and nothing fancy so we breezed right through. Small victories!
That brings the whole concept of Home Exchange to mind. As I mentioned before it is not for the faint hearted. Normally when we travel there is a housekeeper, bell man, engineer and front desk at the touch of a dial. Not so with a home exchange. Invariably there are no hangers or very few and no one to call to deliver. Linens can be a challenge as in this trip. Of course there is the different appliances and life styles represented. This represents some of the learning curve of course and then there is shopping, public transportation and automobile. That brings me to today's adventure.
Our intent was to go south to Wicklow which would give us a chance to test our sea legs in the car and of course the driving from the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road! Our home hostess neglected to notify me she had not secured a GPS for us and that they use their phones. So we found ourselves clueless of where to go and using our phones would cost a small fortune in roaming charges. So when there is a question simply head to the nearest Pub which in our case is only about 50 yards away. The young man at Fitzpatrick's was happy to draw us a little map and said its just so simple and easy "you could walk if you wish it would only take a couple of minutes." Having observed the Irish in the past two days and the pace of their walking, we decided we would drive it. We left with a vague map and directions such as "when you get to O'Rooney's pub bear left keep the petrol station on your right...go to the roundabout and take the third exit toward Sallynoggin.....(you get the drift)" And so we gingerly got into the car (on the wrong sides), held our breath and off we went....sort of. I telling John he was way to far to the left (my side)and was going to brush a light pole! The streets in this area are as narrow, as many we have experienced in other countries, but this 'opposite' driving makes it more of a challenge. And to complicate there is generally parking on one side so when you meet someone (which is constant)one of you must wait for the other to come through. Well it may come as no surprise that we got lost straight away (picking up the lingo). The only way out was to head back toward the water and then to Dalkay the next little village.
The next chapter was lunch at Finnegan's Pub which had come with high recommendations prior to our trip and then we learned this is where Michele Obama and the girls lunched with Bano about a week ago. The pub was lovely and the folks both at the pub and the community were so excited to have been the choice for their visit. Turns out Bano lives right in this village and is around where we are staying all the time. No one here thinks it is a big deal. I'd love to meet him though!
After a late lunch at Finnegan's and some great conversations we headed out with a new set of directions to Sallynoggin to buy our GPS. John with white knuckles and me in a bit of sweat. We made it, yes we went directly there and scored a Tom Tom to go! With a job well done we headed to the car, pulled out the cigarette lighter and plugged our new TT in and nothing. No amount of jiggling would convince it to work so, spotting the gentlemen who had helped us I called out "Sir...sir" and he spotting a old lady (me) in distress came right over. He saw quickly we had a broken socket. Looking at each other with huge eyes John and I felt 'we are doomed'. We were rescued, however, the gentlemen took us into the store to charge it enough to get us home and then set us up with a charger for our house. Whew...now it was only to find a parking spot back in front of our house which only required John to drive up on the sidewalk once (not uncommon here). Any thought of more 'entertainment' for the day was out of the question. Instead we set about looking at more plans and reservations that needed to be made for a week from now when we head for Scotland as well as packing to head west tomorrow.
Well enough about the housekeeping side of the trip. Yesterday was a great day which we spent in Dublin city. We have a train station within 10 minutes (our walking speed)from our house so we jumped on that and in a short time were downtown. Because we tend to get a late start here we really needed to find a place for lunch before much touring. As we headed down a main street (not sure the name)looking for the perfect spot we were stopped by a young man who encouraged us to go to his place. Normally we don't do that but it was only a few yards away so we thought we would take a look. What a delightful lunch! We went for the gusto with Irish Cottage Pie and Irish Stew and a pint and glass (not Guinness I'm afraid). It was a definite share dish with a shameful amount going to waste but if you are going to sin that was surely the way to do it.
Our destination was to Trinity College dating back to 1592! We were entertained by a delightful grad student on a half hour guided tour. Wow, hard to believe some of the tidbits she shared. One that sticks with me is the residence halls. Specifically, an old brick building that appeared dismal to me, seems to be in hot demand. Until 1992 the building didn't have central heating or plumbing and students would be up early in the morning lined up outside to use the showers and toilets (2 doors). I asked didn't they have a problem filling the place and she said quite the contrary it is considered a real privilege! We enjoyed the shade of two huge trees in central square that were Oregon Maple. We learned they are not known to grow this size even in Oregon and they can only explain it to the rain and the fertile soil beneath. Seems hundreds of years ago it was a burial ground for Monks!
The real draw at Trinity College was the famous Book of Kells dating back to @ 561 a.d. by the monks on Iona Island . Some were scribes and others artists and what art! The over was gold and jewels so when the Vikings sailed in and raped and pillaged they ripped off the cover and threw the book into a field. Some months later a farmer found and recovered it. We were able to see this amazing book along with several other ancient writings and were in awe with the art involved. The writing didn't simply include writing but intricate and beautiful pictures were drawn around specific letters. We had never seen anything quite like it. We finished at the college with a tour of the Library called the Long Room which is about 200 feet long and the height of 2-3 stories housing 200,000 books. They don't use the books however, of course partially because of their age, but also because they are not in order by title or author. Instead by size from the largest to the smallest. I wonder who's idea that was?
By the end of this tour everything was closing for the day so we had to drop by the famous or infamous Temple Bar. We had one drink and a delightful time. At 5:00 the traditional music was already playing and I would challenge anyone to sit more than 5 minutes without having to tap your feet or fingers or perhaps begin clapping. Looking around it seemed everyone was grinning from ear to ear and heads were bobbing. John was super impressed with their Whiskey menu it had 286 listed however they have 395 different whiskeys in house. One final story about the Temple Bar or more exacting, the people of Ireland. When we arrived and found two stools there were three ladies nearby about my age that were enjoying their Guinness and really enjoying the music with singing and clapping with delight. They were Irish but I got a sense they were not Dubliners. As John and I got a chance to get a table I decided to go to the restroom and given the size of the bar thought I would just ask someone. I picked one of these ladies because they attracted me. The lady I asked immediately jumped from her stool took my hand and literally holding my hand took me to the stairs pointing down with a "There you go dear, be careful now." What can I say? I have a feeling this journal is going to be filled with these kinds of stories. Nice way to close this chapter of Dublin for sure.
I'll end the day with a quote from one of the folks we met in the past couple of days that supports a bit of friendly competition between areas or counties in Ireland that we have already begun to enjoy. "The only good thing coming out of Dublin is the road to Cork."
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