Last night in Ireland

 

New Friends

The Three Cousins Storm the Tower House

The Kitchen Garden at Phoenix Park

I Miss My Dog

Oscar Wilde Statue at Merrion Square

Witticisms

At St. Patrick's Cathedral

OK...that's a bit weird and creepy

Kneeler at St. Patrick's

Original Tile Floor at St. Patrick's Cathedral

Bell Tower at Trinity College

Word of the Day

Thermalophobia - An abnormal fear when one is showering that someone might sneak in, flush the toilet, and scald them to death.

Having had a decent night’s sleep, BW Babe woke up REALLY early and, of course, then I woke up too. I considered dozing on the bus but knew it was unlikely. I got BW all settled in to the lobby with breakfast and coffee, guarding our luggage, while I headed in to the breakfast room for my own breakfast. BW and I have become rather good at moving our luggage from Point A to Point B, but, we REALLY won’t be missing that particular aspect of traveling.

We were all on the bus by 9 AM, on our way to Dublin. Our first stop was to visit Phoenix Park. We were told that the park has deer roaming around but…we didn’t see any. We did see the Wellington Memorial, an obelisk made of Whitlow granite, a statue of Phoenix Rising in the center of the park, and the Papal Cross where Pope John Paul II visited and spoke when he was in Ireland. We stopped to walk through the kitchen garden near an old Norman towerhouse called Ashtown House which was built in the 16th Century. Then we drove on to see a light in the window of the prime minister of Ireland's residence, in keeping with the Irish custom of keeping a light burning in a window to welcome any guest.

We passed the Guinness Brewery. The place is huge! So that’s where they brew the beer that I’ve been enjoying while I’ve been in Ireland. I’ll truly miss it when I get home. Somehow it just doesn’t taste as good back home.

Batt stopped the bus for a short while so we could get out and see the statue of Oscar Wilde while he gave us a brief history of the author and recited some of his writings. I’m going to have to consider reading more Oscar Wilde. His witticisms in particular.

After a nice lunch, our group split up. Some of us went out on their own (this included the Harpist, Lord Douglas, and Mr. D) and some of us (including BW Babe and I) visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Trinity College.

I can now say that I’ve been inside two St. Patrick’s Cathedrals. One in Dublin and one in New York City. There was a group of people from Connecticut who were singing when we arrived. Batt took us around the church, showing us where the author Jonathan Swift and his wife were buried inside the cathedral. He also told us that when Oliver Cromwell conquered the area, he stabled his and his men’s horses inside the cathedral. I took a picture of the last of the original floor tiles from that time.

Our visit to Trinity College was interesting . BW Babe and I were excited that we were going to be able to see The Book of Kells. There were LOTS of people waiting in line with the same goal in mind. As we waited in queue, I overheard one young man say in exasperation, “Frankly, I think we should just Google it.” When we finally did get inside to see the book, it was very difficult to get near the case holding the Book of Kells with so many people crowding around. However, I can now say that I’ve seen The Book of Kells …and not just on Google.

We hooked up with the rest of our tour members and boarded our tour bus at 4:30 PM. We’re staying at the Pillo Hotel tonight. After checking in and hauling our luggage to the room, BW Babe and I went down to meet the Harpist in the business center at the hotel so we could print out our boarding passes. We weren’t the only ones with the same goal in mind. There were three people ahead of us and it became immediately apparent that someone had been messing with the hotel’s computer. After getting the computer re-set and back in working order, the Harpist ended up helping everyone print out their boarding passes. Unfortunately, BW and I discovered that the website for our airline wouldn’t let us add our second check-in suitcases online. ACK! Once we got back up to our room, we tried to call the airline but…of course…they were closed for the day. Then, it occurred to me that we could use the time difference between Ireland and Arizona to our advantage so I e-mailed HTP about our dilemma in hopes that he could help us. We arrived late for dinner but not too late.

However, with thoughts of re-organizing and packing and figuring out my customs form data, I decided that spending time out in a pub, listening to our musicians play until past 10 PM, wasn’t all that great of an idea. I knew that packing would take at least an hour and then I needed to borrow a scale from one of our fellow tour members so BW and I could make sure that our bags didn’t weigh more than they should. That took some time but even more time was needed to figure out the customs data so we could easily fill out the form tomorrow morning. *moan* Thankfully, HTP was able to get a hold of someone at the airline and arrange that our extra bags have been added to our reservation. Thank goodness for HTP!

It is now past 1 AM and I should be in bed. We’ve got a wake up call scheduled for 4 AM. All our bags are finally packed and weighed and our customs data is prepared so it should be fairly easy to fill out the proper forms when we get to the airport. Our airport shuttle is picking us up in the lobby at 6:30 AM…SHARP! We’ll actually arrive at the airport early but between going through customs and getting our luggage checked in and getting a boarding pass from Chicago to Minneapolis (we couldn’t print out that boarding pass for some reason), we decided we’d rather get to the airport with plenty of time to spare.

Random Quote of the Day

Nonconformists travel as a rule in bunches. You rarely find a nonconformist who goes it alone. And woe to him inside a nonconformist clique who does not conform with nonconformity

Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)