Dublin Whirlwind Tour

Friday

- Picked up Shray and headed for the Botanical Gardens which was MUCH bigger than any of us had anticipated. We walked around for a couple hours and saw most of what there was to see.
- Headed for Dublin Castle as it was the one thing Shray wanted to see this time. Got lost and got there too late.
- Headed to Christ Church Cathedral, got there too late to see the inside.
- Realized everything in Dublin closes early so that everyone who works can go drink.
- Decided we should go have a drink.
- Met up with Glenn to have dinner and walked until we found a place which took quite a while because we were all very indecisive. Dave and Bev had offered to buy us dinner and it was grand. Thank you!
- Went to bed

Saturday

- Picked Shray and then went back to Glenn’s house where we dropped the car.
- Took the train down town and didn’t get lost.
- Went to the Museum and looked at Irish History.
- Went to Dublin Castle and took the tour. Pretty interesting stuff even if it doesn’t totally look like a castle.
- Decided Royal People really like GOLD!
- Went to Christ Church Cathedral and tried to get inside. We were late again.
- Eric lied (kind of) to a Holy Guy and we got in anyways.
- Realized my husband may go to hell but the church and the crypt were pretty cool.
- Had a moment with God in front of some candles. Maybe that made up for the lying.
- Went to pick up Glenn from work.
- Went to some famous pubs and some not so famous ones. The Temple Bar sucks! Go to the not so famous ones.

Sunday

- Got home early, went to bed.
- Slept in.
- Picked up Shray and headed for Swords castle. It’s closed for renovation but was very funky and castle-ly. A pear tree on the grounds tried to attack Eric and he blamed it on Shray...not very nice of him or the tree.
- Shray spotted something cool looking from a distance and we drove in circles until we found it. Turns out it was a very cool, very old church and cemetery. Good thing we had her spotting skills and Eric’s driving skills!!!
- Said goodbye to Shray and dropped her at the airport. Sad to see her go but VERY thankful for the time we got to spend with her. She’s a great travel companion! Can’t wait for the next Red Deer Road Trip with the whole gang!
- Went to Glenn’s and hung out and then hit up a pub for dinner. Again it was supposedly famous and in all reality it was just ok.
- Went to bed.

Monday

- Headed out of town toward Kilkenny. Doug had told Eric there are castles everywhere there.
- Found a broken castle and took some pics.
- Continued to Kilkenny and found Kilkenny Castle. Bought tickets for the tour but it wasn’t until 1600hrs and so we headed out for another drive.
- Found a church and some great country side.
- Went back for the tour and thankfully Glenn had been before and apparently his tour guide was better so we got a secondary tour from him. Still one question unanswered...Why were the two girls in the paintings in the library topless?
- Headed out into the park around the castle to find some other old things we had seen but never found them and almost got locked out of the park.
- IMAGINARY (Then we had to make our way across a field being covered by snipers without getting shot in order to get to our car.) IMAGINARY
- Started home and stopped at a pub on the way home for dinner. It wasn’t great but at least the pub atmosphere was better than the Temple Bar.
- Went to bed.

Tuesday

- Got up early and finished packing and loading the car for the drive back to Belfast.
- Said goodbye to Glenn. Very Sad!
- Felt very proud of our friend and cousin for living halfway across the world by themselves. It’s not easy to be here when you have a travel companion let alone by yourself.
- Drove to Belfast without taking a wrong turn...a first for everything in Ireland!!!! It was very close though since Belfast has two airports and we almost headed to the wrong one.
- Experienced our first snow of the season on the way to Belfast. Nasty, blowing, wet stuff...gross. THAILAND WE MISS YOU!!!!!!!!!!!
- Made our flight with plenty of time but were reminded again of how unbelievably pricey everything is here.
- Arrived in LHR and we’re on our way to Vancouver!!!!

It seems really weird to be leaving a country already. We’re not used to this. On the other hand, home is very quietly calling and we hear that at least it’s warmer there for the time being.