Dublinia

I am in Dublin. There is free wi-fi in the room so I thought I would log on briefly to re-cap the goings on so far.

Suz and I had business class seats for the flight from LAX to Chicago. We were chatty with the ticket agent and we think she upgraded us. We got our American miles on that flight.

In Chicago, we went to the Aer Lingus counter and they confirmed that we had an aisle and a middle seat which wasn't too bad, and they gave us our United miles. Also very good! There's no food past security in that terminal so we went to the Food Court. I opted for Pizzeria Uno, Suz went to the Hot Dog place (but didn't get a dog) and the others visited the Golden Arches.

We landed 30 minutes early, met a nice woman in the line to go through Passport Control. The Immigration Officer was chatty and asked me if I was "here to do a bit o dancin' & drinkin' with the band". We met up with the guys in the arrivals hall.

We teased Rob that he was there to kiss all the girls "Hello"! But it was great to see all the old friends from the last trip and meet some new friends as well.

We are on Bus #1. Which I promptly dubbed the "Girls Gone Wild" bus. Terry liked that!

Democracy seems to be in action as we have voted on nearly everything that we have done so far. Bus #2 was doing their own thing as well. Our driver/guide is Keith (keet). He is nice, flirty, funny. Already started working for the end of trip tip!We voted to have a tour of the city and then go to the hotel. We voted to get off the bus twice. First stop was St. Patrick's Cathedral. I hadn't seen that last time so it was great to stop and walk around. Mass was going on so we didn't go in.

Our next stop was Trinity College. We walked through the college to O'Connell Street. Went to Eason stationers to use the loo and Suz & I bought Irish dictionaries. Our first souvenirs! Then to the GPO to see the site of the 1916 Easter Uprising. I mailed two letters and bought stamps for postcards. Walked back toward Grafton Street and stopped at a shop that sold postcards & other trinkets. then went to the bank, then headed up to the "Tart with the Cart" - otherwise known as Molly Malone.

Molly is at the foot of Grafton Street. We walked up a bit and saw a busker singing just like Glen Hansard in "Once", then it started to rain so we headed back to the bus, stopping briefly at the sweet shop for Cokes and Aeros.

Keith suggested that we might want to go to the cemetery where Michael Collins et al are buried tomorrow instead of going to Trim Castle. He is going to talk to the other driver and we will find out in the morning what we are doing. Maybe we will split up and do both. We had already decided not to go to Trim as the others really want to see Kilmanhaim Jail & Guinness. Keith said we would stop at Kilmanhaim on the way back from the cemetery.

Then we drove around Dublin a bit more and came to our hotel. Good news & bad news: only some of the rooms were ready. Margaret & Sally's was, but not ours. So we were sitting in the lobby and Terry was walking around passing out room keys as they came available. He came by and said he didn't have anything for us but a smile. We said that was okay. But he walked over to the desk and came right back and said "you are going to want to kiss me now" and handed us our key. Our luggage was not too buried in the pile so we claimed it and are now in the room.

We are freshening up, taking a short nap and then heading out later. I've texted Mark's friend Kate and I am planning to meet her tonight or possibly tomorrow.

This is going to be a GREAT vacation!