FIVE DAYS IN DUBLIN IRELAND

Monday October. 23, 2006

3:40 AM. Good Morning! Breakfast (made the night before -- am I efficient or what?) Check list: Everything turned off? Locked up? Flight departs from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport at 9:30 AM (so far). Bon Voyage!

Name of the Airbus 320, “Aodhan”, Our pilot was a young woman, Captain Wilson. Nowadays with "no frills" we could purchase a snack on board. We had cappuccino. Quite a bucketful for only € 2.00! With the time change we got into Dublin about 10:15 AM. Let the fun begin! The airport bus went to the Dublin busstation which is right across from our "Hotel Isaacs" (thanks to good planning on Daan’s part). See the website:

< http://www.isaacs.ie >

 Our room wasn't ready yet but that was OK. We checked in our roly-bags (both weighing 14 kilos on departure) and then it was time for Shopping! First off to O'Connell's Street where we found a "Supermacs" fast food restaurant.They had a special: a Bacon/cheese Meal with chips (that's fries) and a medium coke for € 3.50. Let the gorging begin! That was our introduction to Irish "fast food". Now here's a sample of Irish "slow food" we later found in a local butcher shop window:

Time for grocery shopping! By the way, there will be a “Full” shopping list at the end of this story. Off to good old Marks & Spencer’s (Department Store) Food Hall. We haven't been there since Amsterdam/Brussels/England, when they moved out of mainland Europe. I've missed it. There we found "Whips". There are only 3 to a box but you don't need more. They are mounds of chocolate with marshmallow fluff inside -- death by chocolate topped with a walnut. Next stop, Tesco’s supermarket -- another of our favorites. There we got a 2 liter bottle of sparkling water for the room to keep ourselves "moisturized" (we always keep a liter or 2 of bottled water in the hotel room) and some soup in British and Irish flavors.

Back at the hotel, our room was ready. The TV even had BBC1 so we wouldn't miss our favorite programs. In the afternoon we went to Trinity College to check out the opening times of the exhibit of the "Book of Kells", for tomorrow and then walked to "Temple Bar", nightlife district of Dublin. We walked over to our hotel from our last trip to Dublin nine years ago "River House Hotel" in Temple Bar.

Nothing has changed. Also 9 years ago we went to "Eliza Blue" Restaurant in the area, where we had wonderful food and a "Banoffee" pudding that we wanted this time too. Eliza Blues was newly modernized with a hotel to boot, new menu and No banoffee pudding.(boo hoo). Anyway, dinner was chicken Caesar Salad with croutons for starters, pepper steak in a nice sauce with mushrooms and onions and wonderful potatoes. Of course we were “Attacked” by the Pepper Mill Monster. "PEPPER???" Um, yes, please." Daan had a "Murphy's Irish Red" and I had a dry white wine. Daan said his Murphy's tasted "creamy". I said "Oh, a milkshake for drunks." We didn't have dessert. No banoffee (boo hoo).

Afterwards we took some pictures of the River Liffey and Eliza Blues by night. Good start to the week, wouldn't you say?

Tuesday October. 24, 2006

Every morning at the hotel we could have a Full Irish Breakfast, which is a Full English Breakfast without the beans. Hold the "pudding" (blood sausage) please. There was also a buffet for cereals, croissants, yoghurt, toast, fruit, juices, coffee tea, etc. and so on. Off to Trinity College and the Book of Kells. Here's the website:

After the exhibition we could go to this very long, high room, (called "The Long Room”) the library, where they had shelf upon shelf of VERY OLD books. No, we couldn't get near the collection which was up to the ceiling but they did have some very old editions in glass cases to see.

From there we went to "West Coast Coffee”, which was in part of the College, for capuccino's. Well, students have to drink something to keep them awake with all that studying! Off to Grafton Street and the Stephens Green and Jervis Shopping Centers etc.

At Dunnes Department Store Food Hall we found the Polish Dept.! Time to tell you about the "new" Polish community in Ireland. Yes,  the European Community has opened up to the Poles (etc.). We're beginning to wonder if there's anyone left in Poland! (Yippee!) Hey! Our Grandparents had the Guts to leave the "Old Country" and dare to start a new life someplace else (Heck, I Did Too!) My hat goes off to ALL the young Polish people we came across in all the places we went to in Dublin, including our hotel, Beshoff's Fish & Chips and all over on the street! 

Back to the trip: Then we tried out Many of the singing plush Christmas animals at Dunnes' Christmas Dept. (tee hee!). They seem to mix Halloween and Christmas displays here. Who cares? We even heard the first Christmas song of this year while standing in a supermarket checkout line! I think this is the earliest I've heard one yet! Then we found the Lidl (discount supermarket, like we have in Holland). We'll eat in the room tonight so we got Irish cheese, ham, bread, cherry tomatoes, cole slaw and wine. Of course we got other stuff to add to the shopping. In case you think we're eating too much, our step count for the entire trip was 11,000 to 30,000+ steps per Day! Thank you.

Wednesday October. 25, 2006

RAIN! Well, it's Ireland, what did you expect? "Even when the sun shines it rains in Ireland" (as the old saying goes.) Off to Tallaght (a town southwest of Dublin). 9 years ago we took the bus there through the beautiful countryside (and were in a bus accident that made page 7 of the Irish Times.)

Nowadays we could buy a day ticket for the "LUAS" tram system for only €4.60. Good value for money. It's fast, clean, efficient and Dry! Everything along the way is getting built up. So long beautiful countryside!

To "The Square" Shopping Center, Tesco's Supermarket and their Polski Dept.!  A freezer full of Pierogi and other Goodies! This time Daan took a picture. Smacznego!

We went back on the LUAS. Two young women and a girl got on. Mówic' po polsku? Yes, we're all over the place! Off to “Beshoff's Fish & Chips, the oldest fish and chip shop where Beata served us and spoke Polish with the manager. Will the last Pole to leave Poland please turn out the light?

But you probably want to hear a little about the food shopping. We found a candied apple for ME. It's a fall treat in Ireland (and the U.S.A.) apparently. I can get them at the Weihnachtsmarkt in Aachen Germany for Christmas. Also, we found Scrumpy Jack apple cider. Haven't had that since the "British" store closed in Utrecht. However, Redd's apple piwo from Lowiczanka's (The Polish Sklep in Utrecht. < http://www.lowiczanka.nl/index.php >) is a good substitute.

We went to Lidl for a little something for dinner in the room. Two "cup noodles", cherry tomatoes (love 'em), and a camembert and  a bottle of Lambrusco rose' for later in the evening.

Thursday October. 26, 2006

Then we went for a bagel with salmon and cream cheese at "The Bagel Factory" and some souvenirs. We got another of "Declan's Finnians" for our collection:

This time we chose a plaque: "May you be in Heaven for an hour before the devil knows you're dead." Daan also bought me a celtic design necklace, a shopping bag saying "The leprechauns made me buy it" and a souvenir spoon. If you're Dutch you Always buy a souvenir spoon. That way your guests can see where you've been and they haven't when you give them a cup of coffee.

Then off to the Dublin Sightseeing Bus Tour. € 15.00 per person is Good value for money. They have a “red bus tour” and a “yellow bus tour” following a slightly different route. You can get off and on their 20 different stops along the way. As we got off the driver said the ticket was good for 24 hours so we could go again the next day (Hey! I like Good deals!) We planned on doing the "yellow tour" the next day.

Later we went out again in the RAIN to the pub. Cancel that. Standing by the door, waiting to be seated we discovered we were OLD, like, we weren't Under 30! Maybe it isn't so in the Many Irish pubs but the one we'd picked was ,um, er Youthful.

Soooo, you Know where we ended up. Eliza Blues! This time we had the mussels in white wine sauce, chili peppers and green onions to start. Then Daan had the steak again. I had the pork and leek sausage on champ (mashed potatoes with green onions) and onion gravy. I had another white wine and Daan had another Murphy's "milkshake". Dessert for me was mango cheesecake with mango and passion fruit coulis. Daan had an ice cream assortment with raspberry coulis. Coffee to close. Did I tell you they had a couple of tables of young folk having a night out from the office? You could tell that was the case because there was "older" 40-ish guy there, probably the boss who would pay the bill. Reminded me of nights out from the bank where I'd worked many years ago. I told Daan I don't remember it Ever being as Loud as it was in Eliza Blues or the pub we'd just left. Daan said we have to realize that We didn't have mp3- players back then!

Walking back to the hotel we passed a young man on the street bare to his waist. Oh yes, and he was Green! He must've been Irish!

Well, it's almost over, just time for a Scrumpy Jack. After the bus tour tomorrow it's good bye Dublin.

Friday October. 27, 2006

Off to O'Connell's Street to the Tour Bus Stop. Another red doubledecker bus pulled up. What the heck! We got on. This time we didn't have a taped commentary but a running commentary from Anthony, our Irish driver!

They say if you kiss the Blarney Stone you will be blessed with the gift of eloquence. Well, we think Anthony has not only Kissed the Blarney Stone but has a Loving Relationship with it! A Better tourguide couldn't be found anywhere! "Let's start with a soundcheck. If you folks upstairs can hear me stamp on the floor". We did. He said "Riverdance".

We all had to sing a verse or two of "Cockles and Mussels" ("Sweet Molly Malone") with him as we passed her statue.

There is a new "monument", “The Spire of Light”, in O'Connell Street. A tall stainless steel needle-like structure, that lights up at the top at night. Anthony said it cost Millions of Euros to build and thought the price "A little steep to accomodate one pigeon."

When he stopped off at the Guinness Storehouse" he said it was "The bus stop for alcoholics".

He also said "a woman who didn't understand the difference between the red tour bus and the yellow." She asked "How do I know it's the yellow bus?" He said "You can tell it's the yellow bus by the Big Pink Ribbon tied around it!"

We passed the cemetery where the inventor of the crossword puzzel lies buried. Anthony said you could tell where: “6 down, 3 across.” He took the yellow route (which we didn't expect--Hey! Everybody gets the bus tour they deserve!) so we got to see everything we missed first time around.

Coming back to square one, O'Connell Street was blocked off by the police. We didn't know why. Our bus made a detour and left us all off a few streets further on so the passengers could transfer to the yellow bus behind us. Daan and I were closer to the hotel than O'Connell Street at that point so we just walked back to the hotel.

Nice flight back in the sunset and the lights of Amsterdam while flying in after dark--too bad there was turbulence. Before I forget (DEMENT!) here's the rest of the shopping list.

 Love, Rosemary & Daan