Dublin

We arrived in Dublin at about 8 a.m. We had to disembark the plane via stairs and walk about 50m to the terminal. It was surprisingly cold and windy and there was a slight smell of the sea in the air. It felt like Victoria in early March. The line up for Passport Control for non-EU citizens took a bit of time but we were so exhausted that it was a bit of a blur.

After collecting our luggage, we took the Air Link Bus to O’Connell St. and walked to our hotel. I had found a really good rate for the Belvedere Hotel on Orbitz a few months back and booked us for 2 nights at about $100 (total). This was really cheap for Dublin. Unfortunately this was a non-refundable reservation so when our flight was moved to a day later, we lost a day of the reservation. This was actually a good thing because I thought the hotel was rather run down. The people working there were very friendly, but the building was extremely smoky and not very clean. My mom is convinced her room had “visitors” (ghosts). We thought we saw a zombie outside of our window in the middle of the night, but it turned out to be a really drunk guy trying to make his way to the next pub. He took about 15 minutes to go five feet, fell over, then took another 15 minutes to get back up. He eventually fell into the bouncer outside the lap dancing club across the street and then passed out on the sidewalk for a bit.

The View From Our Room

Once we had checked in, we decided to wander around Dublin. We walked down O’Connell St. and crossed the River Liffey. We walked by Dublin Castle and through the courtyard. Eventually we came to Christ Church Cathedral and decided to go inside. Even though it is a working church, it is also museum during the day when no services are taking place. The church was founded in the 1100’s.

The River Liffey

Christ Church Cathedral

Inside Christ Church Cathedral

We were getting hungry, so we did would any good tourist would do and headed to the Temple Bar area. The actual Temple Bar was not open, but we found another place, the Quays, that was open and were able to bring Rosemary in. We had out first pints o’ the black stuff in Dublin and afterwards were ready for a nap.

Pubs

We slept until about 9 p.m. and then wandered around the O’Connell St. area. Pubs do not allow children after 9, so we bought some Guinness at an off-license and got some take-out Chinese at a scary looking place beside the hotel. The food was really quite good and was only 6 Euros an entrée.

We had to leave for our flight to London at 4:30 a.m. and I really wanted to get a few hours sleep. This did not work out though since Rosemary was wide awake. At least we didn’t over-sleep this way.

Dinner in Dublin