Top o' the... evening to ye?
Hate to break it to some of you, but it turns out we DO have minimal Internet access in Dublin here, from the hotel across the street. The very kind Secretary has let us use her lobby so my mom can send out her Oxford papers (Hi Diane! Hi Pam!), so I thought I'd use this opportunity to tell you all that we have indeed arrived on the Emerald Isle and are gratefully settled into our hotel- but not after at least a Little Adventure! (Come now, did you all really think I could simply sit on a train/ferry for 6 hours and NOT come up with at least a Little Adventure? It seems you have misunderestimated me. Hehe).
Well, for the most part, all we did WAS sit on a train/ferry for several hours, but we still had a good time of things and very much enjoyed watching the beautiful countryside zip by. Ooh! And we can officially say we saw whales! Oh, wait, allow me to correct my spelling... Wales, but either way, it was beautiful and rocky and green- and I'm sure there ARE some whales in the ocean which DO fit that description.
Anyway, the ferry was probably the best part of our trip. It was absolutely massive and fitted out with the complete works- including a Burger King (Hi Kara!) and a Casino (Hi Wane Newton!) I can't explain to you the wonder of watching the Island approach- I just kept thinking of all of the Immigrants and Emigrants, et cetera, who, over the years, have crossed the Irish Sea on their way to the corners of the Earth and watched those same Islands pass by. I couldn't help also recalling them and the fact that they could manage to pack all their life belongings in less weight than we had packed for this one trip as we lugged our suitcases out onto the sweaty pavement. Oh, and by the strange way, there are palm trees in Ireland. Don't ask... I didn't.
Our only actual adventure of the day was hauling our bags four blocks past St. Stephen's Green to the wrong building... the Leeson Inn. Turns out we were staying to doors down at the Leeson Hotel. You should have seen the look on my Dad's face when the Secretary (who's lobby I am currently typing from) told us they didn't have us booked! Yikes! I think that would have been even too much of an adventure for us to handle in one day. Or rather... in one night of sleeping ON St. Stephen's Green. No offense to St. Stephen, of course. Fortunately, the Leeson Hotel DID have our rooms- though no Internet service- and we've since been camping out, enjoying the view of the streets.
Tomorrow we're set for a hop-on hop-off day tour of the city, and the day after, we head up to the Hill of Tara, the old seat of power, and Newgrange, which is a monument older than even Stone Henge.
Alright, I'd better let you all go now. Again, take care, much love, miss you all dearly!
Hugs and Leprechauns to all of you,
-Sara
P.S. Oh! And Amanda? We spent a good four minutes of our Ferry Ride looking for you- it seems the People-to-People groups are stalking US now!
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