Vibrant City

 Breakfast this morning was enjoyed with Martina, a German couple and an English couple as stories were told of places visited or still to be.

The automatic coffee machine, as I don’t have a degree in making coffee (nor did the other guests) presented a stern challenge even though it’s operation seemed simple but our host, Jack, was all too ready to provide the solution.

Jack provides delicious homemade wheaten bread baked especially for Avoca (the name of the BnB) by his nephew who is a chef.

The BnB is named after Avoca a small town in Wicklow as Jack hails from that part of Ireland.

Taking our leave from the table we then strolled into the centre of Dublin, a walk of around 50 minutes and we were immediately struck by the style of housing in the area of the BnB

On our walk into the city we passed an adult store and we were taken with the sign on the door 

Only in Ireland!

We stopped for a coffee on the way and as we sat outside in the sun (yes, at around 22C for the early part of the day you could almost think it was summer) we had a conversation with a young man who was doing similar and he gave his opinion of things worth seeing and also reasonable eating places. As he used to work in hospitality he had a firm view that the pub meals needed to improve.

For the rest of the day we just wandered around the city enjoying the vibrancy of it due in no small part to the numerous pubs and bars all of which had frontages adorned in flowers

We had hoped to visit Dublin Castle but that has temporarily been closed as Ireland from 1 July until 31 December have assumed the Presidency of the Council of the EU and the castle is being used to host EU dignitaries- in fact President Zelenskyy is currently in the city.

We walked the main shopping boulevard, Grafton St, and were entertained by 2 of the 5 members of a band, Keywest, singing some of their original songs, all of which had very poignant lyrics.

Around 3pm, as we walked in the Temple Bar area, there was live music coming from 2 bars which attracted our attention. The first we stood for a while outside the door listening but at the second we ventured inside. The place was packed, the music was loud, the patrons were dancing and singing and quite a few ladies were sporting green 4 leaf glasses.

In a lull in the music Sherry approached one and the conversation went along these lines:

Excuse me, but can you tell me where you got those glasses from?

A moment of silence

Amazon!

Giggles all round but a minute or two later the lady came over and gave both Sherry and me a pair

After we left the pub, ears ringing, we continued on our amble down various streets (Sraid in Gaelic) for another few hours coming across the tallest sculpture in the world, the 120m Spire of Dublin

After dinner in a bar that Sherry had enjoyed when she was here briefly last year we made our way back to Avoca arriving back 9.5hrs after we left this morning.

It was an enjoyable day in a very vibrant city!