Dublin

September second,

When our wake up call came we looked out of our stateroom window and there in all of its glory was a wonderful working lighthouse.

We ate breakfast in our room with the lighthouse in full view.

We are in Dublin today and the tour is with a company called Patty Wagon Tours.

Our driver is named Gary, he looks Irish to be sure. Red hair and a green shirt finish the appearance.

Our tour was a little disappointing in that we mostly did drive bys with few stops. The first castle was at the village of Howth and Malahide Castle. It was really nice and Gary said we did not have time to take a tour but we did get pictures.

Next we stopped for a coffee break in Howth. Here as soon as the bus stopped we spied a lighthouse off to the left. So away Ken and I went. We made it all of the way and got some pictures next to lighthouse number 308. YEAH!!

Gary took us into the city of Dublin and he parked in the area of Grafton Street. We were given three and one half hours to explore on our own. We would have preferred 2 hours and a chance to get a guided tour of either Saint Pats or Trinity College of a view of the Book of Kells  or Dublin Castle.

Anyway we had lunch, I found wonderful gifts for Noah and Leo and Emmie. We toured St Ann’s Angelian Church

 and spent time enjoying the street entertainers on Grafton Street. They had the live statues here. They were like the ones we saw in Columbia. Ken posed with them and of course they come to life when you drop a coin in their pot. Wonderful.

When everyone returned to the bus we convinced Gary to let us tour St. Patricks Cathedral. We only had 10 minutes to take pictures. L

Gary was very informative but we would have much preferred to spend our time differently. It seemed as if he thought our main interest was shopping and it was not. We wanted to see more of the local attractions.

This is another place we must return to.