Same, same, but different. Again, we’ve never sailed in to Dublin, so this is all new…and sadly not very smooth. We are tendering today – our first tender port. Thus, we weren’t away that this is one of those NCL ships that tenders tours first, then independent passengers only after all the tours have gone. (Each NCL vessel can make their own decision as to how to tender – we’ve been on another ship like this, and it isn’t pretty.) Today is no exception. We arrive at the docking station 7:45, so we are thinking we’ll be fine to get the tender to the pier, then take the train into town for a 10am tour at the Little Museum, which we have already booked. Oh, not so.

The entire tender process is just ugly. If you are an independent traveler, meaning no ship tour, you need to get a tender ticket. But since we are Diamond loyalty members, we have VIP privileges and can just go when we want. Except not when the tours are going. And it is a massive CF. We all end up massing in the mid-stairway vestibules, even though they keep telling us not to congregate. Um. Tough noogies. It is going on 9am and not a single independent passenger has been let off this ship yet. Corey, one of the fabulous entertainment staff, is the guard and he’s great, but we’re still getting pretty restless. We tell him we have priority tendering, so he lets us descend one level down, thinking we can just go. But no. There are more “guards” down there, including Rosie, the group sales manager who is a love. The bright side of being stuck on this damn ship is we strike up a conversation with her and she is great. Grace under pressure. Finally, at 9:45 we manage to get on a tender. Yeah, well, it’s not going to help us with our 10am tour since it is at least 15 minutes to the dock and then the train. Sigh. We’re hoping they will let us switch our tickets for the 11am. Fingers crossed.

Once off the stupid ship, everything goes smoothly. We’re right across the street from the station. The railway folks there are so helpful and sweet, and we’re on the train quickly. But of course it is way after 10. Initially planning to hop off the train at the main Tara street station, we figure out we can get off 1 stop earlier and be closer to the museum. That works well until I get turned around as we first exit the station. quickly righting my wrong, we eventually end up at the museum where the docents there very sweetly let us use the 10am tickets for 11am. Phew. At least that wasn’t a total waste!

So, how to explain the Little Museum? Well, it is one of the most eclectic strangely entertaining and education museums we’ve visited. Housed in an old I guess Georgian house on the corner of St. Stephen’s Green, the museum covers the history of modern day Dublin through donations from the people of Dublin. Everything here has been donated by individuals, and the tour guide does a fabulous job of weaving it all together. Quirky is the word!

We’re so glad we finally made it here – well worth the visit (and the angst of that stupid tendering process!). Seeing as it is so late, we are now off in search of lunch. We’re in the right area, everything from St. Stephen’s green up to the to Temple Bar is filled with restaurants, shops and cafes. We don’t get very far before we decide on the Cafe on the Seine. Yeah, we know, French? But the menu looks good, and oh my gosh! The interior is over the top! You walk through a very French restaurant looking area with plush leather booths and long bar, then out into a bright open atrium that is decorated like a street cafe in Paris! There are even upstairs rooms and more bars. It is fabulous, and while not very busy at this point in the day, we can imagine how it must be a hopping place at night! Settling into to our little cafe table, we tuck into a delicious Turkey Rueben and a Nashville Chicken sandwich. See? French menu this is not!

Backtracking toward the train station, we hit the National Museum of Ireland which is known as the ‘Dead Zoo’ for all the taxidermy and stuffed animals in here. There are definitely a lot – from a bird stuffed in 1904 to a full size display of Badgers – and Irelands oldest fossils. As they describe themselves – it is a museum within a museum since most of the displays are shown the same in the same way they were 100 years ago.

Done with our Dublin explorations, we hop the train back to Dun Laoghaire, which is a cool little town in and of itself. Nice to walk around with some great architecture and seemingly lots of pubs and restaurants. W head toward the National Maritime museum which is housed, oddly enough, in a church. I guess it isn’t so odd – it is the Mariner’s church, in operation from 1843 until 1972 and turned into a museum in 1974.

There are lots of cool displays in here. Lights from the Baily Lighthouse, lifeboats, interesting history on the role of U-boats in the sinking of the RMS Leicester, one of the last acts of the WWI, the original pulpit which Ed makes good use of and a model ship made out of bone – that the docent made sure to tell us to see!

Heading back to the ship, we stop in a little restaurant called “It’s a Bagel” which is locally owned and has this whole backstory which we thought was cool (way better than the jam packed Insomnia Company coffee shop a few doors down. While we didn’t splurge on any bagels, although we werr sorely tempted, we did have a wonderful cappuccino to warm us up for the cold walk and tender ride back to the ship.

Fortunately, going back to the ship is easier than getting off and we are safely aboard at sailaway, doing our normal routine. Tonight it is dinner once again with Kadek, and then the magician who is excellent. And since we now have figured out we can sit in the roped off seats at the very edge of the stage on the balcony of the theater we have a bird’s eye view of how he does his tricks. Have we figured it out? Nope. But we have 20 more days to do so…we are on a mission!