A true Irish breakfast is to remember a life time. It has tomatoes, mushrooms, beans, fruit, wonderful Canadian type bacon, sausages, tasty eggs and hot buns with room temperature butter, real Irish butter. This morning’s breakfast at the hotel was not that way. It was a buffet Irish breakfast with a large tour group whose members were pushy. The eggs were cold, the bacon overcooked, the fruit warm and the potatoes under seasoned and cold. I was soooo looking forward to it. And seeing that I will not be eating this way most of the time, I blew my one good time to have a great Irish breakfast….sigh, maybe another one at the end of the trip, but not at this hotel. I was so disappointed and left half of the food on my plate.
Regrouping, I got directions on taking the bus into the center of Dublin. I crossed the proper crosswalks at the proper times and missed 2 buses. I missed a third because I was at where I thought the bus stop was…but it was not. These things happen when you travel. I got into the center of town and had to walk but saw shops and pubs and museums, oh my, in my route to the tourist information office. In all towns big and small, Ireland provides a great service through their tourism office. I once made my way from an overnight ferry (beginning in Swansea, Wales…that’s where I stumbled over into Mumbles, Wales and found the best lunch sandwich located in a yarn shop). I had not planned anything on that trip many years ago, so I just stopped in tourist information bureaus and found places for the night (inns, B&Bs, hotels). It was a wonderful trip, so free.
Today I made my way to the tourist information shop and picked up tons of literature and asked all my questions in preparation for the month long stay. I learned there is a LEAP card the tourists can buy at the tourist information shop for 7 days, but there is also a LEAP card only bought at newsstands for 5 Euros and then you can add money to use on buses and rails. Who would have known the difference. I stopped in O’Neil’s and had a Guinness (said I would Ed and Peggy) and poured over the literature I had amassed. The huge pub was full of cubby holes to sit and eat and drink. It was dark and if you could actually see, it probably was dirty as well. One had to order and pay for drinks at one bar and then could order food at two other stations. I chose to order a beer and wait to see how and if I wanted to eat anything. Two women joined me at the squished pub tables in this really old (they know the years, I don’t) pub. Though I had planned on eating, I chose to only have the beer when I saw the food portions on their plates. The fish and chips could have fed a room full of rowdy fifth graders. The chicken was a whole chicken. Maybe when I have a kitchen at the university and can take back leftovers, but that is for another day.
Two hours later after wandering around the Trinity Square area, I had to figure out how to get the bus back to the hotel. Along the journey I saw two men in black with masks and a dalmatian stuffed dog sitting in mime, a dashing older man in top hat and formals at a store front for Browns, many street musicians including a harpist, solo drum and guitar player (yes one person playing both), an accordion player, 2 guitar singers, and a gang of older motorcycle riders with their decked out bikes downtown on the sidewalk socializing and having a good time on a Sunday afternoon.
There are a lot of one-way streets and construction so some routes have been reconfigured plus there does not seem to be a comprehensive map of the bus system. I stopped a young Indian man who whipped out his cell phone and through his app located exactly where the closest bus stop was from where we were. He even offered to walk with me to the corner to make sure I got there fine. I laughed and told him that the directions he gave were clear and should I get confused, which could very likely happen, I would ask someone else, making sure they had his app. We shook hands and parted.
My first day in Dublin and it did not rain on me. Tomorrow I go to the University College Dublin and settle in for the month.
Leara Rhodes 