Day 20 :

So, we wake up today, planning to go into Dublin and do some tourista stuff. I wake up to the weather report saying it will be a (high of) rousing 37 degrees, what the what? The always hot, in more ways than one (!), husband, declares, ahhhh, come on, lets give it a go, so the ever faithful and trusty wife (AKA The Lovely Mary B), bundles up in the warmest clothes, and said husband, ahh, maybe a flannel shirt for me………I look like nanook of the north, him not so much.

I agree to give it the old girl scout try and we take the hotel shuttle to the airport for a bus into town. OK, truth, I’m so cold, why not go into town…..The bus ride is lovely, and we’ve mentioned it before, but those bus drivers can turn those things on a dime, SO MUCH RESPECT. Got off in the neighborhood of the (in)famous Temple Bar, right across the street from Trinity College. To gather our wits we go (remember, this is tourist day) to a Starbucks for coffee. There we run into some Bostonians, and we talked about the 18 inning World Series game that ended as we were waking up….18 innings, longest in World Series history.

First stop was St Michans where one can tour impressive underground crypts; timely as we are in the days of Halloween. Should have checked the schedule as we just missed the last tour but still walked the grounds. With up to a thousand years of weathering, Brian commented someone should re engrave the older and almost illegible headstones.

After that, of to Christ Church Cathedral, founded 1030 AD (Yeah, not just old but truly old-old).

While wandering within we were delighted to be treated to a performance by a Czech Republic high school choir. Great acoustics and sweet voices made music from the heavens. (Here’s one, 1:45 long)

One of the last songs they did was the Leonard Cohen song  Hallelujah – always a treat and this was extra special. 

By then, I was a rigid popsicle. Mostly just my face, but we were up to roughly 8000 steps by then, and the tummy was rumbling. I’m (not, remember this is tourist day) ashamed to say, we got a sandwich at a Subway, flog us later. Took some time to find the bus back to the airport and back to the hotel. Time to pack and get ready for home.  

We are ready for home, it was another fantastic trip, filled with some of the best soups, BLT’s, and chowders. We traveled to some new places, hit some old favorites, were reminded why we don’t care for Northern Ireland, and why we love the small villages. We were remembered by a couple of gents, made some new friends, found some new villages that are just lovely, BUT still didn’t get Brian to the forests of Antrim. 

As the sun sets on our final day, we are in the hotel bar, blogging, and drinking Guinness, life is good.