Live From Phibsboro, Dublin II

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Loyola House, Phibsboro, Dublin

Hello out there in the Blogosphere . . .

Last night, Charles, the elderly husband of Margaret who actually runs the Loyola House, told us that breakfast was between 8 and 8:30am, which sounded okay at the time. But after our lonnnnngg day and night in Dublin it was with great regret that I set the travel alarm to 7:50am.

By 8:00am we were out the door and in the car to have an ice coffee and ice tea (Renee is now a confirmed tea drinker) and a smoke. We didn’t actually GO anywhere in the car. Let me explain. There is no smoking at anyplace that we’ve stayed, except the main room at the castle, where there was a gloriously stinky peat fire burning most of the time and tobacco smoke actually made the room smell BETTER. So, the car is a great place to have a smoke, drink last night’s coffee/tea and listen to the radio. In short we use the car as a clubhouse. Oh, and it’s heated and dry in the car.

At breakfast, we finally met Margaret O’Connell, the landlady. She fed us eggs, sausage, bacon, tomato, toast and cereal. She also told us of her visits to America. If you ever stay here, DON’T ask her about Minnesota.

Then, we were off, again to Dublin. Today’s trip was much better than our marathon time killer yesterday. Our main goal was to go the National Gallery of Ireland. We found it around 11am and it was locked up and closed without so much as a sign saying what time it was opened. We had been told, by a reliable source that it was, indeed, open on Sundays. Renee approached a young lady on the sidewalk and asked here if she knew when it was open. She didn’t know and was quite apologetic about it. We continued down the sidewalk, in the wind and rain; only to be approached by the young lady that didn’t know when the Gallery was open. She had used her Blackberry to look it up online and chased us down to let us know. The people here can be extraordinary.

So, it was off to kill some more time in Dublin. We found our way down to Grafton Street, where a street musician and a puppeteer were setting up. There was a guitar player, who was Asian and an Irishman who manipulated the marionette. What a show! He brought the little guy to life.

Then it was down and around to St. Stephen’s Green and the St. Stephen’s Shopping mall. Oh, and we found a Shoppe near Grafton where we bought an Ireland Sweatshirt and T Shirt for me and a warm Ireland vest for Renee. Oh, and I picked up an Irish cap made of Donegal Tweed for a mere 20 Euro! I love it and our current landlady does not, so I shall wear it whenever I am in the house. Hee Heee!

The National Gallery was exquisite. There was Irish art, there were Monet’s and Picasso’s and SO much more. All of this was housed in buildings that were serious artworks in and of themselves. We spent hours in there and then went to the Natural history museum (both of which were free of charge).

After that we were quite tired (in the course of a day, besides all the walking, there are tons of steps to climb) and decided to call it an early day. We grabbed some delicious chicken ceaser salad wraps to go, for supper and got our bus (there all double-deckers) back to here. Ren is napping right now. This tourism stuff can be hard work.

That’s all for today. Kevin and Renee

Also downloaded, at great expense, in the Chartbusters, Phibsboro, Dublin