Ireland – Dublin 1 July 2010
“Top of the morning to youse all!!!”
Well we arrived in Dublin on Air Lingus after fretting about how much luggage we had. We kept taking clothes from one bag and putting into another only to find our 3 bags went through without a murmur. We took a taxi to Gail and Sean’s house. The driver actually noted we were from NZ and not Aussie and then regaled us as to the Irish recession, the deregulation of the taxi industry and how jobs were being taken by EU immigrants. He didn’t like the government at all!! He was great in that he showed us all the highlights as we travelled to our new address. Apparently there are 2 streets similarly named in Dublin and in the same area so he took a punt as to the right one. We knew the house would be empty and where the key would be found so he said, “If someone comes out and says who the hell are you? You know you will be at the wrong address!” Anyway we did find the key, with his help, and we went inside. Gail and Sean have a couple of dogs, Mollie and Pippa, and were they pleased to see us, they tore around inside after we opened the door, pleased to see human company. We were to look after them for the couple of days we were in Dublin and then a friend was to come in and take over.
The next day Moya arranged a temporary sim card for her phone before Sue returned to NZ to organise us with roaming. The salesperson and another customer were most helpful in advising us how to get into Dublin city, “only a ten minute walk”, 30 minutes later we arrived at O’Connell Street. We caught the bus home. Mind you on the way we stopped at Temple Bar and had the obligatory Guinness, it was hot and we needed to slake our thirst!! So we spent a time looking at the shops and getting info from the Info Centre before returning home to our adoring dogs. Moya spent some time with them playing chasing the ball. She believes she communicated with them better than with Kevin.
The next day saw us off to the Hairdresser to get our locks seen to. This 10 minute walk was indeed 10 minutes. Then home again to organise our trip to Galway on Saturday. Gail and Sean have loaned us one of their cars which is a godsend. Also Ireland drives on the left side but even so we both have got into the wrong side of the car after our French experience. At this stage we do not have any photos of Dublin as we never took our camera on our walks. Never fear there will be photos posted on our return to Dublin in a week or so.