Dublin Day!
Trip Start
Jun 27, 2009
1
12
30
Trip End
Jul 26, 2009
Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
We all manage to sleep to nearly 7. Gill woke up still crook, Pat & Reilly itching to watch more TV even though most shows were speaking Irish/Gaelic. It's amazing how shows like Dora the Exlporer and SpongeBob can still hold their attention even when they can't understand a word!
No need to pack bags today, staying a second night at the hotel, so we headed down for breakfast at the restaurant. Pat tucked into his three bowls of cereal, Reilly grabbed an apple not interested in eating but playing , Gill was too sick to eat (I have a pretty awful head cold) and I grabbed some cereal and a cooked brekkie.
Back to the room, grabbed our day bags and headed into Dublin, via a Laundromat (week’s worth of washing)
Patrick, Reilly and friend
. Traffic not too bad and Lucy got us into the centre of Dublin. First stop was the Viking Splash Tour after a slight detour looking for a chemist to dose up Gill who was struggling big time. Waited for fifteen minutes before finding out we can’t get on the Viking splash until 2.30pm, booked our seats and jumped on a double decker open top bus for a sightseeing tour. Jumped off at Dublina Viking Exhibit. The boys got to run through exploring the displays and trying on some Viking helmets & clothes. At the end of the Viking display we climbed up the tower for a 360 view of the city. Seeing prominent landmarks such as St Patrick’s Cathedral, the Guinness distillery etc. Back through the gift shop and back onto the bus to see more sights of Dublin. Our driver was quite a character and needed no prompting to break into singing famous Irish songs or tell some jokes. Both Pat & Reilly quickly fell asleep in our laps.Dublin seemed to awaken from its morning sleep and became a bustling and lively city.
After the bus tour a quick bite to eat at McDonalds (no different from Aust.) and a quick dash back up Grafton street to jump on the 2.30pm viking splash tour.
After piling on the bus/boat (Thor) we each had a Viking helmet on our seat to wear. Pat & Reilly enjoying their new toy! One – arms raised with clenched fists, two – scary face and three – a loud roar was our weapon against unexpecting people and other tourists buses as we wandered through the streets of Dublin. Our driver was interesting and humourous in his delivery of commentary.
Viking Reilly - scary!
Patrick lost his second tooth of the trip!
After a brief stop to put on our lifejackets and extra buoyancy on the side of the bus we were ready to launch into the water. (The driver said our DUKW could be traced back to the D-day landings!)
Then back into Davy and we headed to the Guinness Storehouse. We all had a great time wandering through and learning how they make the black stuff and Mark even got a certificate for pouring a proper pint! And he had some fun in the gift shop too!
On the way back to the hotel we stopped off to pick up the laundry.
Quick stop off at the shopping centre to find a Boots and get some more tissues.
We weren’t going going to have dinner back in the hotel, so we found a place opposite the Arc Bar and it was excellent!
And for once Reilly went to sleep reasonably well!
