Our first morning in Dublin was great — everyone slept pretty well and we were ready to rock this town. We had a food tour booked so all we needed to do was find some coffee and walk toward Trinity College to meet up with our guide. We discovered a small grocery market not even a block from the apartment and — even better— they make a great flat white at the little coffee nook inside it. Flat whites are a coffee we fell in love with in Australia. It’s reminiscent of a latte, but more coffee to milk. No, it is not a synonym for cappuccino.
Anyway, we set off walking with Sara, the human compass, leading the way. It was something like a 20 minute walk— this becomes important later. It was fun people watching since it was time for everyone to get to work so there was plenty of hustle and bustle. Lots of people ride bikes here and the city is full of bikes you can rent for a few hours or the day — super easy. In no time, we were in front of trinity and killed time waiting by popping into a few shops. Mom and I bought some cute hats to help keep us warm. There was a chilly breeze and the hats were perfect. We walked into the main courtyard area of Trinity and it was gorgeous. There were plenty of tour groups all around and we were happy to be going in a different direction from them!
We met up with our awesome guide, Noel, and 2 others who were on the tour with us — a couple from Florida! He was the perfect guide - upbeat, funny, positive and considerate. We went to five different places including a full Irish breakfast, a whiskey tasting (mom liked the Irishman whiskey!), a cheese tasting, a full lunch at the Hairy Lemon and finally out for ice cream. Everything was absolutely delicious and 100% made in Ireland. What a treat. We also tasted our first Guinness (well, in Ireland). It was so much fun and a really different way to see and hear about a city. Because of the food tour, we’d gone round and round the same couple of blocks a few times and ended up all kinds of backwards.
Sara and Ashley were going to go take a driving lesson so we split up and agreed to meet up later back at the apartment. Mom, Jason and I cruised back to the pub that Noel thought served the best Guinness in town to test that out. Jason and I had one and Mom tried out a wonderful Irish coffee. This pub, Grogan’s, was really interesting inside — totally packed with locals. Just an old bar man and a girl working the bar. We could see inside the men’s room the whole time, which was also interesting;)
After, we decided to walk on back. Somewhere along the way, there was a wrong turn. We thought we were still generally going in the right direction so we carried on. For 1.5 hours. Seriously. And we only stopped because my poor mom’s knees were hurting so badly that she was walking about as fast as a decrepit tortoise. We decided we better get a taxi and have him take us to our apartment. So, we walked into a Hilton we came across and I held out the map and asked the lady where we were on it. To my shock and horror, she drew a circle directly south. I thought we were directly east. We did in fact cross the canal. But not the right canal and not in the right part of town. Oh man. What a hoot. We learned when we ask locals where the river or canal is, we need to be much more specific. So, a very kind Hungarian taxi driver took us to our apartment. The ride was about 20 minutes and it only cost 16 euros — about 20 bucks. Awesome.
Thankfully, we got home before Ash and Sara so we Could tell them the story on our own terms and not because they saw us drag in after them. Jason and I went off in search of some cbd oil for mom to try on her knees. We found some not even a block away at a local pharmacy. No THC. Bam! Perfect. We took that back to her and then went back out to find some bottles of wine. We were long overdue a good glass of wine after all that walking. All said and done, we walked 10 miles. Pretty solid day.
Mom, Ash, Jason and I were still up for dinner but Sara was cool with skipping it and staying in so we trekked across the street to an Italian place — mostly because it was close. It wasn’t the best, but hey, who would think Italian in Ireland would be? But, it hit the spot and we were all ready for bed early!
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