Friday. We left Galway around 9:00 a.m. to drive due east, back to the Royal Marine Hotel in Dublin. I dropped the wonderful wife off at the hotel and then returned our car to the rental agency. I expected the agent to say something like “This dent under the front bumper wasn't there when you took the car so you owe us 76,000 euros,” but he didn't say a thing, so maybe it really was there when I picked the car up! I took a cab back to the hotel, and . . . and . . . and. . . I don't have any idea what we did the rest of the day.
Saturday. We left the Royal Marine on a shuttle bus to the airport around 10 a.m. and switched to a cab at the airport to take us the rest of the way to Airport Orchard B&B. The bus cost us less than 20 euros, and the cab about the same. A cab all the way from Royal Marine would have cost us at least twice as much.
When we arrived at the airport, the German (Austrian?) bus driver was gruff, and he declined the tip I offered when he dug out luggage out of the baggage compartment. He then climbed back into the bus, but came right back out to suggest which cab stand to go to ("You might save a little money.") When we arrived at Airport Orchard, we were way to early to check in, of course, but we were able to leave our bags, and our host, John, drove us to a nearby city bus stop where we were able to catch a bus into town.
Our bus dropped us off at the O'Connell Street bus headquarters, and we decided to walk to Kilmainham Gaol, thinking it might take 30 or 40 minutes. 75 minutes later, however, we still hadn't reached it, and I was ready for a drink. Actually, I was long past the point where I was ready for a drink, so we stopped in a pub. Guinness never tasted so good. A few guys at the bar were watching The World Cup of 9 Ball. They didn't really understand the rules of 9 ball, and they asked me to explain the game to them. I pretended I knew what I was talking about.
Once we finally reached the jail, we waited in line for 20 minutes or so, then wandered through the museum for another 15 minutes while waiting for our 2:30 tour to begin. It lasted an hour and was very interesting; our guide Kevin gave us a lot of late 19th and early 20th century Irish history. Not wanting to try to walk all the way back to where we started, we caught a city bus back up to O'Connell St. (20 minutes, as opposed to an hour and a half walking) and wandered around that area's busy pedestrian shopping mall. Another city bus, with a most helpful driver, took us to the Coachman's Inn near the airport that our host, John, had recommended for supper. A wonderful "early bird" 3 course meal with coffee for 19.95 -- me, two big potato/salmon croquettes with tomato sauce, a big rib eye steak, and apple pie; the wonderful wife, Caesar salad, sole, ice cream. When we finished, the manager phoned “John,” who came, picked us up, and took us back to the B&B, where we spent a frustrating evening in which we couldn't get access to the internet. 6:30 next morning, John drove us to the airport.
And so endeth our Irish adventure.
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