Ireland - A Dream Come True!

Yesterday, we flew to Ireland!  Denise and Art (my sister and brother-in-law) and Caroline (our daughter whose flight benefits we are using) flew from Charlotte, Tim and I flew from Raleigh, and we all met in Philadelphia.  Tim didn't know that Caroline was joining us, so it was a quite a pleasant surprise for him.  We were able to leave our bags in the "crew room" and we boarded the train for downtown Philly with Caroline as our tour guide.

Caroline, me, Tim, Art, and Denise

At the fountain at Logan Square

  We walked...

  - to the Art Museum
  - to the Rocky Statue
  - down to the Schuylkill River
  - past Logan Square
  - past the Eastern State Penitentiary
  - to Sabrina's for a delicious lunch
  - to Rittenhouse Square
  - to Reading Terminal
  - 23,633 steps
  - until we were about to DROP!

                                   We walked a LOT!                                                                                      Rittenhouse Square

  

Philly - So beautiful this time of year!

We headed back to the airport, grabbed a slice of pizza, found our gate, and were all assigned seats.  WHEW!  It's always a relief to get seats assigned when you're flying stand-by.  We all slept a little (very little) on the plane and arrived safely in Dublin--with our luggage!  Thank you American Airlines!  (We don't usually check our bags when flying stand-by, but since we had a whole day to explore Philadelphia before our plane left, we decided it would be easiest to check our suitcases and store only our carry-on bags in Caroline's crew room.)

The River Liffey - What a beautiful introduction to the amazing city of Dublin!

We located the apartment we had rented (with the help of our taxi driver!), and found that it was less than one block from the river, and right on the edge of the city center!  We could not have asked for a more perfect location.  It was very plain and simple, and had everything we needed--two bedrooms, a sitting area with two comfortable sofas, a bath, and a small kitchen.  After settling in and taking a two hour nap, we headed out to explore Dublin.


First things first!  We were ready for a little refreshment, and found ourselves in The Dublin Bakehouse, right on the river.  It was our first taste of traditional Irish food, and we loved it.  And the coffee warmed us up for our walking adventure.  Since we wanted to get an overview of the territory, and learn where our apartment was located in relationship to everything else, we just walked.  And walked.  And walked!

Trinity College

St. Patrick's Cathedral

 

 St. Stephens Green

Dublin has five historic Georgian Squares.  St. Stephens Green is the largest of these squares.
 

We walked down Grafton Street, the shopping district, but the only thing we bought was Butler's Chocolate.  IT IS SO GOOD!  By this time, we were SO tired that we stopped for coffee, returned to our apartment, and ate chocolate and cupcakes for dinner!  So basically, we began AND ended our day with delicious food from The Dublin Bakehouse!  Which cupcake would you choose - chocolate, carrot cake, toffee caramel, or raspberry?