10 Questions About…

Our final days in Dublin were kind of a blur. The girls and I moved from Monkstown to Irish Grandma’s on Tuesday. Partially we moved because Kate had woken up with hives 2 days in a row and I thought the cats might be the culprits. Partially we moved because I wanted a full day to clean the sheets and make the beds before we left the house to the owners.

There were several nice things about moving back to Cabinteely – including the fact that Lily was able to invite her friends to meet her at the local park, which is a really great park. So one the of the last nights we played in the park and I got to talk to the moms.

The next day we moved into a hotel by the airport. Our flight was early and Cabinteely is really the other side of Dublin so since we were already packed up it was just easier to stay there.

It was a day where we could have used a car. The girls and I went to Monkstown to pick up Patrick and the luggage. Patrick realized he forgot out Minnesota keys in Minnesota. So we took all of our luggage to the airport hotel. Then he went back to Cabinteely to get the keys then we met him in town. That round around took 5 hours.

So while Patrick ran around – the girls and I went to the Horse Show. The Horse Show is kind of a big deal. It’ was fun – it’s like a mini-State Fair. We got to see horse jumping contests, a Punch & Judy puppet show (great for Aine, stinks for me) crafts, horse products, and food.

Then we went into town for our last day. We had a drink (hot chocolate/diet coke) at Bewley’s. We waited, waited for Patrick. But when we met him we took the girls to our favorite French restaurant. They all tried snails, terrine, pate and each liked at least one.

We took a bus to the airport hotel. Saw a big fire – finally got to sleep and left the next day.

Our last Sunday in Dublin we wanted to do something different so we headed to North Dublin – to the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin. First – they’re huge. It’s amazing to me that you find these great gems in the heart of Dublin – but you do.

First we had a nice lunch at a restaurant (the Washerwoman) in a building from the 1700’s. Clearly the host a lot of family events – but they had room for us (a sign of the economic times) and we had a nice lunch.

We were able to walk from there to the Gardens. So we were cheerfully walking, looking around. There was a derelict house on the road, boarded and broken windows. Otherwise the neighborhood seemed nice. So the girls and I were looking at it and we all spied an old woman looking out at us. Picture the old woman/witch who gave the apple to Snow White – that is exactly what this woman looked like. Super creepy – made even creepier by the fact that we were all busted looking at her!

Anyways, we had visited Belfast Botanic Gardens a few days before – but Dublin Garden could eat Belfast for lunch! There are some greenhouses – and we’ll be re-visiting them in the winter. Nothing better than a hot humid conservatory in January!

Oh quick fancy us story – the conservatory at the house where we stayed was built by the same person who designed the conservatory at Glasnevin.

We saw a huge heron in a tree. That was fun. The rose garden was beautiful. The girls got to run around, climb trees and take pictures.

So after our pleasant day Patrick had to creep it up with a visit to the Glasnevin Cemetery. Glasnevin is best known as the burial place of Daniel O’Connell – the Liberator, responsible for Catholic emancipation in 1829, which gave Catholics the right to vote, join the professions and own property. (Description as dictated by Patrick.)

His tomb is *huge*. You can see the big round tower in the picture. I wish I could have captured the whole picture better. The tomb consists of a big tomb topped off with the round tower and a moat-like walkway that leads to 42 crypts. You can walk down into the moat-type area to see into O’Connell’s tomb and the crypts. In fact one of the crypt doors was open. And we saw the same old lady looking out! Not really – but the crypt was open and we saw coffins. Cool but creepy.

Another fancy us story – the house where we stayed is owned by a decedent of Daniel O’Connell.

On our last Saturday in Dublin we went into town. We met Irish Grandma and did some shopping. She helped Patrick pick out a really nice jacket. I bought a ton of boots.

Then Irish Grandma went home and we went to see the Urban Circus. It was fun. There were several street performers, a nice crowd, and some treats. The weather was pretty good. Mt favorite act was the trapeze artists who performed together on one trapeze sort of thing. I was especially impressed with how well the show went in the wind.

Saturday night we had a nice bbq at Tony Roche’s house. Tony is Patrick’s advisor at school and he has been tremendously supportive of Patrick. They have 2 boys about the same age as Kate and Lily. The girls were happy to enjoy the boys, the kid family atmosphere and the brand new puppy. We stayed way to late – but had a fun night.

Not to be braggy but we got super special member-only tickets into the sneak preview of the latest exhibit at the Science Gallery: Bubble, Don’t Burst It.

So we headed into town in the afternoon. I had heard about some cool sand sculptures at the Dublin Castle so we started here. And they were cool. What I find amazing is how well they seemed to weather the weather.

Then we had dinner at a Japanese restaurant. I actually thought it was Chinese and I had heard that it was a good place for kids. Luckily our kids are pretty adventurous and everyone enjoyed it.

Finally it was time for the bubble show, which was great. Talking with one of the organizers, she said that this is the first time that they have really focused on an exhibit for kids. I didn’t have the heart o say that we always bring the kids – but once in I could see what she meant. The staff (who are students from Trinity) seemed pretty prepared for kid questions and kid activities.

We learned that you can predict when a bubble is going to burst by noticing when it starts to lose its color near the top. We learned that a laser can’t go through a bubble. (I don’t really remember that but Lily says it’s true.) The kids made some bubble art. They were incased in bubbles.

We enjoyed it so much we brought Ailbhe and Cait back the next day. Well we liked it so much and it was raining too hard to go swimming at Sea Point.

So did I mention that we went to U2? We got our tickets here. A bunch went on last minute sale. They weren’t on the pitch/floor but they were good. We were on the first tier (row 20 or so) on the side. The show was amazing!! They always do an amazing job of new and old songs. The stage and the lighting and everything was very cool.

As we approached the stadium we saw a rainbow. It had rained all day but not one drop during the show and we could see the sun set as we watched the show.

It seems as if everyone in Dublin is going to one of the three shows – but no one we knew was going to the first night with us. In fact the population of Dublin is about 500,000 (that’s just Dublin, not greater Dublin) and with 3 shows 240,000 people will see U2. That being said – much of the crowd is not from Dublin. Tons of people just flew in for the show. Funny enough we ran into Joe Dowling and his wife while we were there. So that was kind of fun.

I took some video and pictures. One thing I have to mention about Croke Park, where we saw them, it’s an outdoor sports arena. It holds 80,000 people. It’s plopped right in the middle of a neighborhood. So while the show ended at 11:00 – we couldn’t really get anywhere for a while. The streets were just wall to wall people.

(or you can see them all here: http://tinyurl.com/lq67ho)

We had Ailbhe and Cait for a sleepover this week. (Then their family had all 3 of our girls to stay, which is just one reason we love them.) Back to the sleepover. We walked to Blackrock to have a late dinner at Eddy Rockets. We walked most of the way by the sea. I have to admit it’s just beautiful. One of the best things is living so close now we get to track whether the tide is in or out. (We live about 5 minutes from the sea.) Being from the Great Plains we weren’t so up on what it meant for the tide to be in or out. It’s a huge difference. When the tide is out there can be hundreds of yards of beach. When the tide is in there’s none.

The morning of the sleepover we went swimming at Sea Point – which again is near to us, maybe a 10 minute walk. The water is cold and the tide was in – but the girls actually got into the water. Aine and I collected shells. There was a wave incident reminiscent of Grandpa at Lahinch last year – but not as good. I wasn’t paying attention and the waves kind of went from 0 to 60 in no time and I got pretty wet on a rebound off the walk.

I tend to walk near the sea most mornings. I walk from Monkstown down the West Pier of Dun Laoghaire. One morning I saw a dolphin – or maybe a porpoise, but definitely not a seal. It was pretty far out but I saw the dorsal fin. Another morning I saw a lobster boat pulling up lobster pots. I am a huge fan of Deadliest Catch so I’d like to pretend that this was a death defying view – but mostly it was a calm day and the guy was picking out as much trash as lobster (or maybe even crab) from the nets.

On Saturday we celebrated Rochelle’s (cousin from Florida) birthday. There were 15 people at Irish Grandma’s house since both sets of Rochelle’s grandparents live in Ireland.

We spent most of the day around the house. The Australian cousins went back home in the evening.

Saturday night Irish Grandma babysat and Patrick and I went to our favorite French restaurant ( L’Gueuleton) and had an amzing meal!

So starting about a week ago, we have been house sitting a beautiful house in Monkstown.

We’re still in South Dublin – but we’re much closer to town and very near the DART – and the coast. The DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) is a train that goes further south (to Bray and beyond), into the city center and north to Howth and Malahide. The station is less than a 10 minute walk from the house.

It’s a 10 minute walk to Dun Laoghaire and maybe 0 minute walk to Blackrock. Every morning I have been walking to Dun Laoghaire and down the West Pier. On the foggy days we can hear the fog horm from the house. There’s a beach (Sea Point) about 15 minutes away. I’m using the term beach loosely here – but you could definitely swim there.

There’s a castle in Monkstown. There are two big churches – across the street from each other. There are a few shops, restaurants and a pub in the area. (In fact we saw a band at the pub on Saturday night.)

The houses are very nice – including this one. It’s a pre-Victorian house; built around 1830.

There’s a beautiful back garden with flowers, vegetables and fruit, which we can pick and eat if we want. There are 3 floors. Mostly we stay on the ground floor. The house has about a billion books; Patrick has already found a few gems for his PhD. There’s a marble bust in the dining room of the owner’s ancestor.

If you have ever lived in or visited a bedsit, that is what our room is like. In fact the whole house is like a bedsit put back into its original form. I live in mortal fear that someone will break something big while we’re here.

On Wednesday we headed out to Malahide with Julie, Kilian and Aidan (from Australia). Malahide is on the DART. It’s sort of the opposite end of the DART from us. It’s not on the bay – but out north of the city.

Malahide has a castle – but more than that for most of our concern, Malahide has an amazing playground on the castle grounds. The girls thought it was better than the Cabinteely Park! The whole grounds around the castle are pretty amazing. And the weather was perfect – almost too hot and sunny.

We took a quick glance at the castle and even had lunch there. (I will admit that we miss places like Bruegger’s and Chipotle for lunch!)

We walked into Malahide a bit. It’s a suburban area (or urban village as Patrick likes to say). It seems very nice and pretty upper end.

After Malahide we stopped into town for a while – by then it was raining. Unfortunately it was almost 5:00 and most things were shutting up for the night – but we did get to walk around Dublin Castle.