Fun, Food & Foreign Lands!

 

On Sunday we left Armagh and the family early afternoon and drove to Dublin (and miracle of miracles we didn't get lost).  Our accommodation was The Westbury Hotel (http://www.doylecollection.com/locations/dublin_hotels/the_westbury_hotel.aspx) and we treated ourselves to separate rooms.  Hotel was very, very nice and in the perfect location as close to all the action i.e. pubs, shops, cafes, etc.   Anne and I went for a look around the Temple Bar area (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Bar,_Dublin) had a drink at the Temple Bar pub (http://www.thetemplebarpub.com/) before dining at a Thai retaurant.  Anne and I just wanted to have something different rather than potatoes, pasta, bread and our Thai meal fitted the bill perfectly.

 

Monday was sightseeing day and we went to Trinity College (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College,_Dublin) in the morning and did a tour with one of the graduates (Henry) who was charming, good looking and quite funny so we enjoyed the tour immensely.  We then headed to the Guinness factory (http://www.guinness-storehouse.com/en/History.aspx) and also did tour there.  Huge complex and Guinness family and Guinness tradition have very interesting history.  We then headed back to Trinity College as knew the queue for the Book of Kells (http://www.tcd.ie/Library/bookofkells/) and the Trinity College Library should be better than what it was in the morning.  The library is absolutely wonderful, felt like it was from Harry Potter movie.  Trinity College has many wonderful and eccentric traditions which only add to its charm.

 

That night we met up with Jean's (Anne's sister-in-law) brothers and their wife's for drinks.  We had French champagne at The  Westbury, followed by drinks at Irish pub close to the hotel and then finished the evening with delicious Italian at restaurant also near our hotel.  Very, very funny night and was great to meet them and no doubt will catch up with them on their next visit to 

Australia.  They were very happy, as the Irish up north were too, to hear I had Irish blood in me!

 

Loved Dublin and would definitely like to visit again and would make sure I  stayed in the same area as perfect location.

 

On to New York City tomorrow....