Trip Across the Pond: July 28

Sunday, July 28

We were all up early and on the road to the Cardiff airport by 5:45.  We made it to Ireland and met up with a very tired Micah and a sick and tired Adam.  The taxi driver that took us to the hotel, was like a tour guide/Dublin historian all in one.  We are staying at the Maldron Hotel in Tallaght.  It is quite a ways from Town Centre in Dublin- 19 tram stops to be exact. In other words we are at the end of the line.

Once we were settled, we took off for Tesco’s, a few blocks down the street, to get supplies.  There is always so much to figure out when traveling in a foreign country and a large city.  Where is the tram and how do you use it to get from place to the other.  Where do we eat in Dublin?  Luke has been to Dublin before, so was able to steer us in the right direction to walk over the beautiful bridges to the Temple Bar neighborhood, which is filled with cafes, pubs, and shops. We found a great pub, Merchant Arch, with live music and excellent fish ‘n chips, my favorite.  There was plenty of room for Gruffy to exercise his legs up and down stairs.

Micah, Mark, Adam, and I walked around the city a bit, after Luke and Em took Gruffy back to the hotel.  Micah did some major souvenir shopping. 

The tram ride back was interesting and a bit scary.  A drunk woman got on that was screaming a stream of cuss words, the driver stopped and talked to her, she still wouldn’t settle down.  About two stops down, he stopped again and 2 security guards got on and took her off.  Unfortunately, by the time we were nearing our stop, there were only the 3 of us and two drunken guys (around 30, I’d say), and a lady left.  They kept eyeing us and moved to the seats behind us. I was sure their intent was to rob us.  When we got off the tram, Micah looked back and they were being rather lewd to the lady before running off.  No more after dark trips on the tram.