Day 3 Dublin+

This morning was the day I turned the corner! Every time I travel to a new place I love the feeling of being completely lost and trusting in my charms and the goodness of strangers to lead me where I am meant to be! Although we generally travel with a plan, it is mostly suggestions, or at least not so firm that we can't rely on being open to serendipity to provide fabulous opportunities. I also love that moment in our travels to a new place when I realize 'I got this". That moment when I know I am oriented. I know where I am going. That's the point when I realize I understand the structure of a place and know I can truly begin to understand culture and appreciate the unique colour of where we are! Today I realized Dublin made sense to me!

It was a handy day to have that happen since today was the first time we had a timed ticket to be somewhere. We had agreed to be up and out by 8:45 this morning to give ourselves plenty of time to make our way to Dublin centre to honour our online tickets to visit the Book of Kells and Trinity College. We got to the proper bus stop without hesitation. I knew when to get off and the rest of our time today in Dublin I traveled with confidence!

I love a university campus at anytime. The energy and enthusiasm, the sense of history and pride, the promise of new beginnings and hope for the future, are all very exciting for me! Today visiting Trinity College, those were all magnified - especially the sense of history. Standing among the stacks it's hard not be be aware of the great minds that have interacted with these manuscripts. Of course I also expected Harry Potter to come around a corner at any moment! The Book of Kells, of course prominent among them, is mind bloggling when you consider the patience and dedication that went into its creation!

Following our visit we met Murphy's and set in to wander the city once again. After seeing the few things we wanted to checkout, we decided to try to sort out our transit cards. They aren't working the way we understood they should so we engaged in a bit of a chase to clear that up, without much success (so far!). The funny part of the whole thing was Margaret, the girl from Ireland, had to leave me to sort it out when we finally found someone to help. The guy spoke too fast and she she couldn't understand his accent!!!

By mid-day we were ready to head out of Dublin for a bit of a country wander! We came back to the house to deal with some laundry and decided it was time to try driving and head out of the city. We got a bit lost between round-abouts and driving on the opposite side of the road, but since our destination was really more of a suggestion we went with lost!

We ended up in Bray in County Wicklow, a little coastal community south of Dublin on the Irish Sea. We stopped at The Wild Goose, and were thrilled with our mistake. The sandwiches were huge, the fish and chips fresh and flakey and the seafood chowder thick and tasty! While we ate we had a text from Margaret and Pat's son. Peter suggested a hike at Bray's Head Coastal Walk if we had the energy.

We left our car parked at the restaurant on the waitress suggestion and walked through the town down to the bandshell where the hike begins. The seafront was a hive of activity! There was a midway all along the boardwalk, and though you couldn't have paid me to hop on the crazy rides, people watching was ideal! We slowly made our way along the promenade for about a mile before reaching the start of the Coastal Walk.

The coastal walk was fabulous! We made our way down to the sea where we watched the seals just off shore. We didn't hike all the way to Greystones because it was already late in the day and wanders here always include time built in to stop and chat with the folks you meet! It's on the 'let's go back and finish it list' if we can before we leave, but even the parts we did hike today were wonderful.

On our way back to the car I noticed Teddy's ice cream. Margaret has been singing Teddy's praises since we arrived but we didn't see one until now. She did not oversell this!

With a little more 'lost' we arrived back at the house to finish the laundry and head out to the local pub for a pint and a wander around the neighbourhood before calling it another day!

Dublins doors are great!
Heading into Trinity College.
Trinity College Library.

Smart guys hang out here!
Every age has it's uncomfortable fashion accessory!
Would you not expect Harry Potter to come through this door?

The columns at the GPO, the site where Pearse read the Proclamation of the Irish Republic. Notice the bullet holes in the columns!
The Spire of Dublin that replaced the fallen Nelson statue. Know here as the Stiletto in the Ghetto.
The colourful dress of the Roma women in Dublin.
A delicious Seafood Chowder
Ran into James Joyce on the street corner. Another famous Dublin boy!
The costal walk, looking back at Bray.
Teddy's ice cream
Was told to call this one My Happy Place!

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