Ireland - Dublin on Easter Sunday (Day 9)

Happy Easter! Well, here we are on our last day in Ireland. We woke this morning and had another delightful Irish Breakfast at Moat Lodge, packed everything up and drove to our favorite parking garage in Dublin. We then walked down to Temple Bar, nothing was open yet, so we walked up to Grafton Street and around Marion Park to do some shopping. We found some great swag today, and enjoyed an Irish Coffee at a pub by Trinity College. At noon we made our way back to Temple Bar and found a nice seat right by the stage in the bar “The Temple Bar” to watch and listen to some live Irish music. Are you confused about Temple Bar and “TheTemple Bar”? Well, there is an area in Dublin… a street of pubs and shops called Temple Bar. Much like a district (Temple Bar District) it is an area of pubs which play live Irish Music all the time and it’s highly touristy. In Temple Bar, there is a pub called “The Temple Bar” and this pub was once the house of Sir William Temple, the lord of Temple Barr back in the 1700’s. The area was called a Barr because of the Liffey River and the sand bar’s that surrounded the area. Sir William Temple owned these lands, hence, it is called Temple Barr which has during modern times has been shortened to Bar. His house was turned into a pub and now is THE major pub to visit when visiting Dublin. “TheTemple Bar” has live Irish music daily at various times throughout the day and we were lucking enough to see a two man group who were very good from about noon until 2:30pm. Afterward, we walked just up the street to Gogarty’s where we enjoyed a super delicious lunch of Seafood Soup followed by a heaping pot of mussels and Stanley had fresh oysters. The restaurant is on the third floor, and on the second floor they had live Irish music, so we stopped in for a bit to enjoy two guys who were playing the Irish Flute’s, Irish Whistles, and Ulliean Pipes. After we listened to them for a while, we walked back to our car and drove out of Dublin toward the airport where our B&B, “Rathview House” is located. It’s a very nice B&B, but sadly we’ll be leaving tomorrow morning early (5:30am) and wont be able to enjoy another Full Irish Breakfast. Nicely though, our B&B host made for us a continental breakfast of Biscuits, yogurts, grapes, and cereals for us to enjoy in our room before we check out. Tomorrow morning, to the airport by 6:00am to drop off our car, then through the Dublin Airport to our gate for our 8:00am flight back to New York where we’ll have a 3 hour layover and then catch our flight to SLC. It’s been an amazing adventure. Ireland is more beautiful than I expected, even in March when it is still very cold and the trees have not yet bloomed. The people here are super nice and I love the Celtic history, music, culture. Traveling around with Stanley has been so much fun. This is our third International trip together and I am looking forward to many more with him. We travel so well together and he makes all of our adventures feel safe, secure and comfortable. Thank you Stanley for being such a great and wonderful travel partner – for being the super driver and navigator, for indulging my love for castles and cathedrals and ancient ruins, for introducing me to the world of B&B’s… my new favorite way to travel, and for being my best friend always who always makes me smile, laugh, and enjoy. I love you a whole much!!! –Michele

This has been the best Spring Break since we went to Portugal a few years ago. I heartily recommend Ireland to any US Citizen who would like to travel abroad but is afraid of the ‘foreign-ness’ of the more exotic locales. It is eminently accessible due to language and cultural similarities (perhaps even more than England or Scotland). After all, more people of Irish ancestry live in the US than in Ireland itself- freaky no? Tis true, and the Irish love to visit “The States”, New York and Florida are particular favorites, based upon our informal research. Even though the dollar is sinking precipitously against the Euro, Ireland is still a reasonable value for the traveler.
Thanks to Michele for the fun times and hilarious moments in all our travels together, it wouldn’t be the same with you- I love you so much that even if I were suicidal, I would not jump off the Cliffs of Moher. ~SEA