Farewell Scotland and Hello Ireland

Okay ... so ... it was our last half day in Glasgow and it was the first time it was dark, dreary and wet from the rain. On the way to the airport, our cabby stated this was typical of the weather all winter in Glasgow. An so, we were reminded just how grateful we were to have enjoyed all the sights and events with such fine weather over our time here. We dont think we would have been so eager to participate in the outdoor activities if the weather had been dark, cold and dreary.

GRINS: We started the day off with a lovely breakfast at our very favorite restaurant in Scotland! Moyra Janes! LOVED it there so much that we went back 3 or 4 times over our 5 days there! john ordered his favorite Eggs Benny Royale ... smoked salmon on a croissant with poached to perfection eggs and hollandaise sauce!

We arrived early to the airport and were alerted, at the last minute, that our flight was delayed by an hour. So .. what's a traveler to do in such circumstances? Order a drink and some "Topped skinny fries." They come with cheese, maple-cured bacon, sour cream or British beef chili and sourcream. Well ... you can't fool me! How could any or all of those be "skinny"? 🤔 There were tasty but the menu indicated that they were 1300 calories per order! We finally departed about 5:00pm instead of 3:25pm ... but ... we weren't comlaining ... yet!

GAHS: We arrived into Dublin ... and you know how taxi cabs are lined up waiiting for people at the airport. Well ... not so in Ireland. We were in a line lup that rivaled some of the rides at Disneyland! No word of a lie! When we finally got into the taxi, our driver laughed when we gave him our address.

"No way ... can't get you there. Not today! Not a hope in hell." 

GASP: He called out to one of the airport security guys. They both shook their heads in agreement. "We'll get you as close as we can ... but ... you are probably going to have to walk for a ways." Huh??

GROANS: It turns out that the Pope was in town and had just given mass in the park nearby our AirBnB. And, therefore all the streets were blocked off in a gigantic radius ... enought to accomodate the 200,000 people trying to get out. They were expecting 500,000. The cabby talked about the poor turnout! Less than half of what they thought would arriveactually showed up. he had some thoughts about it.

Despite the poor turnout 😉 ... the roads were indeeed all blocked off within a 20 to 30 minute walk of our AirBnB! The cabby tried his very best to get us as close as possible ... but ... we got dropped off in the middle of who knows where and we had to hike in!!!

GRIPES: It sounds hilarious in retrospect ... but ... it cost us $60CAD to not get taken where we wanted to go!!!

GRATITUDES: We dropped our bags into our room and then, of course, went for refreshments! Unfortunately, the only thing appealing to me on the menu was the soup! And, it did NOT disappoint! John ordered the lamb kidneys with mushrooms ... AND ... had his very first official GUINNESS! He is a happy boy!

And ... we are glad to be here ... but .. one more gripe. We are back in our room and the music from the pub next door is so loud that we can hear it clearly enough to sing along. Hopefully this will be funny in retrospect too! BUT, was tempted to audio record it so you could hear just how loud it really is!!! The walls must be paper thin!

Tomorrow we are hoping to get on the Hop On Hop Off bus (just outside our door - stop 28) to acquaint ourselves with the community! I look forward to reconnecting with you again after our first day here! Here's hopiing we enjoy the luck of the Irish from now on ...Read more