Dublin!

I feel like it's been a week since I last blogged, I've packed so much into the past 24 hours! As you can see, I made it to Dublin, where one of the first sights I came across is "Europe's No. 1 Discount Superstore," above. Quite a grandiose claim! And yet, it does seem they sell a little bit of everything. I wonder what "fancy goods" are?

I was up and out of the house just after 5 a.m. yesterday. Olga got very excited, thinking we were all going somewhere, but she didn't seem too disappointed when she realized Dave was staying behind with her. I caught the tube out to the airport for a flight that was pretty much up and then down again. I think it took about an hour.

I met up with my stepsister and her husband at the airport -- their flight from the states arrived about the same time as mine did. They're traveling with two friends, and the five of us all rode into town together and dropped our bags at their hotel. We then took an exploratory walk around St. Stephen's Square (Dublin's biggest downtown park) and the Grafton Street shopping area.

I checked out a handy little Dublin guidebook from the library before I left London, and an earlier reader had left a sticky note inside the front cover mentioning a "BEAUTIFUL Victorian pub" called the Stag's Head. "Good food?" the note said, uncertainly. So we rolled the dice and headed for the Stag's Head for lunch. The place was pretty packed but we ate and the food was indeed yummy. Thanks for the tip, mystery traveler!

We then headed to the Guinness Storehouse, a gigantic brewery-turned-museum full of Guinness history and memorabilia.

Here was the best part -- at the end of the tour you get a pint of Guinness WITH YOUR PICTURE IN THE FOAM ON TOP! How they do this I have no idea. My shoulders look funny because I was bending down and slightly hunched forward when they took the photo.

The others decided to go back to their rooms for a nap, and I still had to go find my hotel, which is outside the city center in a suburb called Rathgar (which sounds like the name of a cruel interplanetary dictator). I decided to walk the two miles to the hotel, which led me through interesting business and residential districts with lots of fun street art like this beautiful portrait of two magpies.

My hotel is the very definition of no-frills. My room is clean but there's not so much as a picture on the wall, and it's on the ground floor with windows looking out at concrete. Fortunately I am here only to sleep.

I had intended to take a bus back into town for dinner, but I discovered that in Dublin you need not only cash but EXACT CHANGE to pay the fare. Buses do not take a debit card, and if you want to buy a bus pass you have to do it at the bus station in town. I started walking back figuring I'd pass an ATM and get some money, but there was no working ATM along my route that would give me any less than €50 and I don't want THAT much. So I  just stayed on foot.

We had drinks at the bar in my stepsister's hotel (my hotel, needless to say, has no bar unless you count the Nescafe and kettle in my room). We were served by an adorable Argentinian waiter named Franco. Then we had dinner at a pub called the Landmark, where an over-amplified singer delivered ear-splitting renditions of Tom Petty songs. We got out of there quickly.

And then I walked back to my hotel. I bet I walked ten miles yesterday -- 28,315 steps, according to my iPhone.

Today there's a parade and some other craziness downtown, and I hope I can get out of here and to the airport without too much trouble. I should be back in West Hampstead around 9 p.m. Whew!