5/16 – Afternoon in Dublin on our own

Heading out from Trinity College, we find ourselves in the same general area we were yesterday for lunch and the Rebellion tour. We wander about for a bit, perusing menus before finally settling on The Bailey Bar and Cafe for a delightful lunch of Goat Cheese and beet salad and a Ploughman’s Sandwich of baked ham, cheese and mustard. Plus we have the best time talking to our waitress who is from one of the Baltic States and is going to visit San Francisco with her mom – so we have tons to talk about!

Then, even though it is completely in the opposite direction, we decide to walk over to the Oscar Wilde memorial at the edge of Merrion Square park. We had driven past on our city tour, but wanted to see it up close for photos. So fun – and so totally like Oscar Wilde! That insouciant attitude, so laissez faire.

It is about a half an hour walk back to the hotel, but it is a nice cool day and we’re in no hurry, making the stroll very enjoyable. We hang out at the hotel for a bit before heading across the street to the Dublinia museum – completely dedicated to the Viking experience here in Ireland.

Sounded like a really fun place – guess we really didn’t think it through, because yes, it is fun, and it is Vikings and it is full of children of all ages, including a high school group. Argh. The museum is 4 floors and we scoot through the whole thing so fast trying to avoid the crowds, we barely see anything – so back on the ground floor we tell the very nice desk clerks there what happened and they just laughed and told us we were smart – now we can go back through BEHIND all the kids. Worked like a charm!

What ensued was a very pleasurable hour or so looking at Viking exhibits from a timeline of their conquests to lifelike looking representations of Vikings, their dogs (yes, and Sunny) and everything in between.

Aside from the very informational and education exhibits (they really did do a great job of recreating that era), we can climb up St. Michael’s Tower (which had been closed for 2 years and just reopened on St. Patrick’s Day) for fabulous views of the Cathedral (because we are right across the street) and other parts of the city.

Another bonus was that we could cross over to the Cathedral through this great Neo-gothic archway lined with beautiful stained glass windows.

The guide at the Cathedral this morning said we could come back later in the day at no charge, so we figured why the heck not? We can avoid the “tour” crowd that way and maybe get to see the original Foxy Friar tiles and not be so rushed through the crypt, etc.

This worked like a charm. There was hardly anyone there, so we had the place almost to ourselves and could linger everywhere we wanted. Finally got to see the original tiles, which were worth the return visit, along with more close up attention to Strongbow’s tomb and the Cathedr – which we learned was the Greek word for seat and was where the Archbishop sat. Once you had a Cathedr – you had a Cathedral.

Back to the hotel for a bit, then we were off in search of dinner. Again, headed toward the Trinity College area, near the Molly Malone statue, and found Salamanca, a tapas bar and restaurant. Looks good to us – plus they have a nice little outdoor patio where we can watch the hustle and bustle of the night time crowd (which is all the entertainment you would ever need!).

The service is slow, but as we have nothing else planned this evening, we don’t care. We get our drinks then hang out and wait for our sweet waiter (who really is quite sweet) to bring our croquetas de Jamon, Chorizo en Vino, side salad and monster Salamanca Burger made with beef, pork and chorizo. It’s a feast!