Day 10 – Dublin arrival

Today we head to Dublin by train to finish off our trip. We’ll be in Dublin for Bloomsday as well as Aimee’s birthday. First I drop off the car at the Galway airport. I get there before 9 am and the Avis desk isn’t open yet. So I leave the keys in the drop box and catch a cab. It’s an interesting cab ride. The driver is this nice Romanian man who’s lived in Galway for 7 years. He’s seen it explode in population. It is rush hour so he takes some back roads and avoids the main highways (I’m amazed that he doesn’t get lost). We make a stop at his house to pick up his 3 children for school! I move to the front seat. His wife ushers the children out of the house and they pile in the back. The school is close by and we’re back on track to Corrib Village. We chat about more things. His children know 4 languages – Hungarian, English, Romanian, and Irish. It was quite a fun ride.

Back at Corrib Village we packed to catch the train at 1:30 PM. We catch a cab (no extra stops) and get to the train station by 1:10 — we have time to spare. Unfortunately I misread the schedule and the train is leaving in 2 minutes! Luckily the ticket transaction is fast and we’re on board and off to Dublin! The train ride is great. The countryside is beautiful.

We arrive at Heuston station and take a cab to the Harding Hotel. The room is simple and the bathroom has the same plastic walls and floor as Corrib Village! We have a window that overlooks the front of the hotel. This room would just be for 2 nights though (more on that later). The Harding is right across the street from Christ Church and near the trendy Temple Bar area. It’s a great location to explore Dublin’s center. Dublin’s city centre is split by the river Liffey into a north and south part. Christ Church is number 3 on this map (right in the middle). That’s basically where we were. The Harding has an old alley, Copper Alley from the 13th century, running through its lobby! That groove is common on many Dublin streets for routing water from downspouts.

Tomorrow is Bloomsday and we need to figure out what’s going on. Aimee calls the James Joyce Centre and they are doing some walks around Dublin to sites from Ulysses. We also decide to stop by the Tourist Information center (they are found throughout Ireland, very helpful) to see what else we can find out.

Dublin observations

• Dublin is clearly an international city. On the streets we hear many languages and see people from so many countries. It’s very fast-paced and fast-moving.
• We really enjoyed the crossing signals that had an audible change when it was safe to cross (note the change near the end of the clip). This seemed like a brilliant idea for the blind. Upon returning to the US we’ve read that they’ve been switched off!
• I also enjoyed the standard exit sign in Ireland — green with a running man.
• The sidewalks are rather narrow and difficult for a couple walking side-by-side to navigate together. Holding hands seems to help. I guess you must appear a single entity so people will move out of your way.
• The city wakes up late, especially on the weekends. I’d go out every morning between 8 am and 9 am to get some breakfast items and soda from a 24-hour convenience store. The streets were almost devoid of people and the streets nearly empty of cars (most businesses weren’t open). During the peak of the day the streets are very busy.