Our Last Few Days

 

We started this trip appreciating all of the water in the Netherlands. We now say goodbye to the green of Ireland. We are just finishing up packing and will soon head to the airport. We are all on the same flight to Boston and then Alex will connect to his San Diego flight while we connect to San Francisco. We wish we could take the water and green with us. 

We have packed a lot into this last two days. 

BOYS AND BEER/LADIES WHO LUNCH:

On Monday Jim and Alex took the train into Dublin with tickets reserved for tours of Guinness and the Kilmainham Gaol (prison and museum). 

View from the bar at the end of the Guinness tour.

 

The prison tour provides an interesting and emotional overview of the history of the prison and the role it played in the rebellion and uprising. 

Having done both of the above on our last trip, and not liking beer, I decided to spend the day in Skerries with Andrea. We took a walk around the various beaches. We talked with the Frosties, a club of older-than-me adults who meet daily to swim in the now 60 degree water without wet suits. We did not join them but did wade a bit in the waves. 

We had a lovely lunch at the Old Mill - dating back to the 12th century.

We all met up for a sunset dinner at a restaurant here on Skerries. 

Tuesday we were back to Dublin. Our plan was to start on the north side of the Liffey, with a visit to the Famine statues and EPIC the Irish Emigration Museum, which is new since we were last here. It explores the diaspora of the Irish people. 

Next stop on our agenda was lunch at The Church Restaurant, a converted 18th century church, also on the north side.  

Continuing on the north side we walked to The Spire, also known as The Monument of Light

And we can never go to Dublin without visiting this statue of James Joyce. 

The afternoon was spent on the south side of the Liffey. At the Trinity College library we viewed the Book of Kells, a text that dates back to 800 A.D. also included the tour is a walk through the Long Room which is filled with 200,000 of the Library’s oldest books. It was built between 1712 and 1732. 

This is my unintentional artistic shot of Brian Boru Harp. Notice Jim in the background! This is the oldest surviving Irish Harp and is the model for the insignia of Ireland. 

We walked through historic St. Stephen’s Green making sure that we did not miss the second James Joyce statue. 

We walked up Grafton Street, heading back to the train station. I was hoping to unload the rest of my Euro coins since they can’t be exchanged back to US coins. We happened upon this duo playing on the street, with two little girls dancing with glee, and I was able to add the bag of coins to their guitar case. 

Take a listen:

Link to video

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C2zImZ3-F82q0IMzRZJT3fcIhuZOV3AI/view?usp=drivesdk

After a mad dash to catch our train, we settled into our final public transportation of the trip. 

Back in Skerries, Eimer and her older daughter Lillian stopped in to say goodbye. 

Our last dinner in Skerries. 

Andrea was the most wonderful host - actually a Super Host on AirBnB! We highly recommend her spare bedrooms if you ever happen through Skerries. 

The clock is ticking and I need to wrap this up. We have had a most amazing adventure and also loved having all this time with Alex. 

Honoring the three countries we have visited, tot ziens, au revoir, and slan.

And for the country we are going back to: goodbye

Thanks for joining us!