Irish Firemen
I thought my previous post would be the last, but a few more stories came my way.
Sunday afternoon we (Carolyn, the 3 kids, Carolyn's cousin, her daughter) went to Kilmokea Gardens, a lovely home and gardens in nearby County Wexford. Chapter House Theatre Company was performing Midsummer Night's Dream. They're a really interesting company who perform multiple shows in repertory in the gardens of fancy homes around the UK and Ireland. It was a decent production, not the greatest Shakespeare I'd ever seen, and the location was lovely. Of course, between the sunny weather during the show and the lovely weather of the day before, I may be the only person in the world who gets a sunburn in Ireland. Hooray for my Irish/English/Ukrainian Jewish/ghostly pale skin!
Monday was my return to Dublin and was in general an uneventful day. I mostly wandered, shopped a little, sat in the park, took my time. In my wandering I scouted restaurants for my final Irish dinner and found one just of Grafton Street (the main shopping street) that had a really appealing menu.
After doing some packing I returned to the restaurant, Kitchen, for dinner. I ordered my meal and they delivered my wine and a very tasty appetizer of spinach and basil soup. I had brought a book with me to dinner and was fairly engrossed. I had noticed some sounds in the kitchen, but wasn't really paying attention until one of the staff tapped me on the shoulder and informed me that there was a small fire in the kitchen and they'd called the fire department and needed to evacuate the restaurant.
I stepped outside the restaurant and noticed that I'd forgotten something important that everyone else seemed to remember from inside--my wineglass. Though the fire was supposedly small the Dublin FD sent 3 trucks to the scene. Apparently they don't have much to do on a regular basis. It took quite a while and they decided to close the restaurant for the night, but at least they comped my food and wine. Unfortunately, I had to make do with some inferior pizza to fill out my meal.
I went back to the pub where I'd first listened to music in Dublin. After my time in Dingle, it just felt vastly inferior. It was packed with tourists and the music just wasn't as good. They also played a lot more American music, instead of just traditional Irish music.
On my way back to the States, I learned how to check two bags for free. Internationally, you're allowed to check one for free. I had a small duffel that I always bring folded up in my suitcase for if I need more space, and that was my second bag (with my backpack). Just before loading my second flight (Chicago to Dallas) they were asking people to gate-check bags because the plane was so full. So I gate-checked. For free. Yay, less to carry.
Glad to be home, though my A/C was on the fritz for the past few days (fixed as of about a half hour ago).
Total photo count: over 1000. I'll be going through them this weekend and will let you all know when they're posted online.
Love to all.
Sunday afternoon we (Carolyn, the 3 kids, Carolyn's cousin, her daughter) went to Kilmokea Gardens, a lovely home and gardens in nearby County Wexford. Chapter House Theatre Company was performing Midsummer Night's Dream. They're a really interesting company who perform multiple shows in repertory in the gardens of fancy homes around the UK and Ireland. It was a decent production, not the greatest Shakespeare I'd ever seen, and the location was lovely. Of course, between the sunny weather during the show and the lovely weather of the day before, I may be the only person in the world who gets a sunburn in Ireland. Hooray for my Irish/English/Ukrainian Jewish/ghostly pale skin!
Monday was my return to Dublin and was in general an uneventful day. I mostly wandered, shopped a little, sat in the park, took my time. In my wandering I scouted restaurants for my final Irish dinner and found one just of Grafton Street (the main shopping street) that had a really appealing menu.
After doing some packing I returned to the restaurant, Kitchen, for dinner. I ordered my meal and they delivered my wine and a very tasty appetizer of spinach and basil soup. I had brought a book with me to dinner and was fairly engrossed. I had noticed some sounds in the kitchen, but wasn't really paying attention until one of the staff tapped me on the shoulder and informed me that there was a small fire in the kitchen and they'd called the fire department and needed to evacuate the restaurant.
I stepped outside the restaurant and noticed that I'd forgotten something important that everyone else seemed to remember from inside--my wineglass. Though the fire was supposedly small the Dublin FD sent 3 trucks to the scene. Apparently they don't have much to do on a regular basis. It took quite a while and they decided to close the restaurant for the night, but at least they comped my food and wine. Unfortunately, I had to make do with some inferior pizza to fill out my meal.
I went back to the pub where I'd first listened to music in Dublin. After my time in Dingle, it just felt vastly inferior. It was packed with tourists and the music just wasn't as good. They also played a lot more American music, instead of just traditional Irish music.
On my way back to the States, I learned how to check two bags for free. Internationally, you're allowed to check one for free. I had a small duffel that I always bring folded up in my suitcase for if I need more space, and that was my second bag (with my backpack). Just before loading my second flight (Chicago to Dallas) they were asking people to gate-check bags because the plane was so full. So I gate-checked. For free. Yay, less to carry.
Glad to be home, though my A/C was on the fritz for the past few days (fixed as of about a half hour ago).
Total photo count: over 1000. I'll be going through them this weekend and will let you all know when they're posted online.
Love to all.