just back from a weekend ‘whistle stop’ trip to Dublin. We’re knackered, but it was fun.
We stayed in the Temple Bar district, at the Parliament Hotel. I wouldn’t recommend the Parliament — it is overpriced and really noisy, Lord Edward St. is a major arterial street — but the area between the Liffey and Trinity College (my granddad’s alma mater) is fun and bristling with energy.
We did some clothes shopping for Malcolm at Penney’s (great bargains – thx Siobhan!), had a real Guiness at the source (a bit of a letdown, really — I preferred the Guiness pour at Le Guillotine in Paris), heard some good Irish music and had a very nice dinner with my brother Dave who has been Dublin-based these last four months or so and is heading back to Portland in a week’s time. We also had a nice time throwing around a (minature) Irish football with Malcolm in St. Stephen’s Park.
We rode the open-top bus around and walked a bit, but that was the extent of our touring. We did manage to bring home some bold roast coffee from Starbuck’s and some Bulmer’s Cider.
It was all a bit rushed and haphazard: We didn’t plan our trip like we usually do, and that is a mistake with a four-year old: His sleep and eating cycles were all messed up, and a couple of tantrums ensued. We’ll be more careful on our next trip in late September… off to Paris then.
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