Greetings, gentle reader. I bring you news that I have survived another Moranfest. This season, 23 Morans descended upon the Emerald Isle. I almost did not make it on the trip. I’d contracted a lovely upper respiratory infection that was empirically not COVID, flu, or pneumonia, but I did have a fever with it for 5 days. The fever broke two days before departure, so at the last minute, I donned a mask (because: 8 hours on an airplane), popped some melatonin, and slept the whole way there.
As it was TG’s first trip to Ireland, we decided the three of us should spend a couple of days in Dublin before venturing across the land to the west coast, where we’d all stay at at a property in County Kerry.
We did mostly touristy things while in Dublin. Yes, we did seem to have a theme going that first day, and the theme was Guinness!
Having been on the go since landing, we headed back to Temple Bar, to our room at the Temple Bar Hotel. I’m very thankful to be in the habit of sleeping with earplugs, as we were on the 2nd story of a hotel in party central for Dublin. The bar and street below were hoppin’ until 2am, but between my melatonin and Loop earplugs, I got a decent night of sleep.
The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel. I was very happy to get oatmeal, which I garnished with fresh fruit and honey.
I was still pretty wiped out from being under the weather, so I let Hubs and TG explore in the morning, and I relaxed back at the hotel, did some writing, took a shower, and joined them a bit later. While TG availed themselves of the hotel shower, Hubs and I went out in search of a good cup of coffee for me and a pint for him.
We also did some shopping. I located the Dublin version of The Alley/Trash and Vaudeville, called Rebel Rebel. I took TG in there, plus we did some thrifting. There were lots of cool resale shops in Dublin.
We had a late lunch down the street from our hotel at a place called Toca Tapioca House. I had an amazing vegan dish called the “Amazonica Bowl.”
After lunch, we found ourselves at Jameson on Bow St. Because what else does one need in Dublin besides beer? Irish whiskey, of course!
After our drinkies, we did a bit more exploring and shopping. While TG and I thrifted some more, Hubs stopped into a pub for a pint. When we were finshed and went to find him, the bouncer looked at TG, looked at me, blocked the doorway and asked, “Coming in to get a pint?” I replied, “No just coming in to get my husband.” He said, “Oh, yeah? What does he need gettin’ fer?” I laughed, and said that he just needed to come with us. Big man stepped aside and we found Hubs by the bar. He had just ordered another pint, but told the bartender to cancel it. The bartender asked why and Hubs explained his family was here. The bartender quickly replied, “Want me to get rid of ’em?” These guys are funny!
After our wanderings, we were ready to find some dinner. We made our way to Sinnott’s, a nice enough sports bar where we watched some football.
Coming up next… road tripping to Westcove.