You know, when you are preparing for a trip and expecting All the weather? Today we prep jackets and sweaters and hiking boots for the puddles...just in case, even though we are packed up and moving house from Portmagee. It's grey and misty, but the rain starts to fall in earnest the minute we exit the building with our bags. Because of course it does. We run to the car, slamming the doors behind us to shut out the water, and away we go!
We've planned another long day of driving, since we need to get back across the country to Dublin, and there's not much else to do in all of this rain, which seems to be following us. Being at the very end of the Ring of Skellig, we now are driving along skinny country roads, not wide enough for 2 cars to pass, onto the wider roads of the Ring of Kerry, and into Killarney again, where we begin to pass all of the morning's tour buses beginning their day. I scan the map as we go, looking for interesting stops where we can get out, pause a moment, stretch our legs. Mallow Castle seems like a good place, tucked away in the back of a medieval town, and we grab a snack for the walk, too. We get about five minutes from the car and realize, as the first drops fall, that we don't have our raincoats in tow. Mario runs back to the car.
We get to stretch our legs, admire the crumbling towers of the castle, even spot the white deer that populate the surrounding park, but there's no picnic to be had, unfortunately. The weather has decided otherwise, and we return to the car, dampened by the rain. We continue on.
The roadways continue to widen, from rural roads to national routes, passing through crossroads, then small villages with more pubs than there are houses. We travers towns with roundabouts, larger stores, big churches and schools, admiring the changes in scenery and architecture. National routes eventually make their way onto the motorway, like a meandering river finding its way into a delta that eventually drains into the sea. Berms line the road, sometimes even anti-sound walls, and then the only thing we are seeing besides asphalt are the big green signs indicating upcoming exits. Thank goodness we decided to drive the back roads around Ireland - if it had been all like this, the trip would have been very boring indeed.
We hit a couple more detours before the big city, since we've chosen to avoid toll highways as much as we can. This means we get to dip into one or two small villages again, catching sight of a gorgeous purple-striped church in Abbeyleix, and a chunky, squat obelisk in the middle of the town, though don't ask me what that was about - I am still searching for its meaning.
We also divert into the western suburbs of Dublin, right around 4 pm, and catch the action around a couple schools where parents are lined up on sidewalks, waiting for their children to come running out of the school yard. Cars are parked everywhere, making the navigating on already narrow roads even more of a challenge, but Mario handles it like a pro. Ten days of driving on the opposite side of the road have taken hold and it's become almost second nature to him now. The petite size of the KIA Picanto helps. Soon, we are rounding the final corner and driving into the rental car lot, and parking under the Thrifty sign, and wouldn't you believe it, the rain begins to fall hard at the very same time.
Insert here an easy bus transfer to the airport, a relaxing ride through traffic into the city and the bank of the Liffey river, and a straightforward 10 minute walk to our simple but super-functional apartment in the Liberties neighbourhood. I booked a room at a Staycity Aparthotel, a chain of short/long-term stay hotels in Dublin, so every room includes a functional and fully-equipped kitchen. And by fully-equipped, I'm talking fridge, convection oven/microwave, 2-burner hob, kettle, toaster, coffee machine, DISHWASHER, and all the dishes you could need to prepare much more than just basic meals. This room has a better set up than all of the campervans Mario and I have rented, COMBINED. It's perfect to spend a couple of nights, and well-situated right in between 2 of the biggest tourist attractions - but more on that tomorrow.
Tonight, we have no plans, so we head out and just wander around the city a bit, soaking in the hustle and bustle, the noise, the crowds, the dinginess that we so did not miss while we were gallivanting out in the country. We pass many a church, all closed this late in the day, but wander the grounds around Christ Church Cathedral, admiring the stonework, the sculptures in the garden, and the fact that even here, there is a Port-a-Joe parked on the church lawn.
The garden at Dublin Castle are also still open, as are the courtyards, so we take a walk through the beautiful interior, try to peek in windows, try to guess at the patterns cut into the grass circle of the garden. So far? Likely a Celtic knot, but we won't know for sure without an aerial view, I'm afraid. What we DO discover is the excellent Chester Beatty Museum behind the castle, and the fact that it is open LATE today, and is FREE TO VISIT. Why not, right? This way, we have absolutely zero guilt is we just run through all the exhibits and don't actually get anything out of the experience.
Turns out, the museum is a fantastic window onto all things books, and printing and calligraphy and illuminations, something that we will delve further into on our visit to the Book of Kells tomorrow. Here, we can get up close and admire many religious manuscripts, including old and new testaments, Qu'rans from all over the world and in all different sizes, religious texts from Asia... A second exhibit shows all different types of texts from around the world, comparing illustration styles, methods and inks used, binding techniques. Everything is very beautiful, and we feel we've gotten a great primer for our visit to Trinity College.
As the rain starts up again, we make our way back towards the hotel, stopping for some groceries to make a cozy dinner back in our room. All of this eating out has been nice, but so is a comforting bowl of pasta and tomato sauce, snuggled up in a GIANT bed, watching an ARTE special on Pink Floyd performing at Pompeii, subtitled in German.
This evening, our last in Dublin, and in Ireland, we head out to a pub on the outskirts of Temple Bar, the big touristy, bar district in the center of the city. Mario's hunted down a place that sounds good, with live music every night, great food reviews, and likely to have some space as they don't take reservations. So just before dark, we find ourselves pushing through the doors of Darkey Kelly's and hoping a table frees up so we can sit down and have a bite to eat. We grab a drink at the bar and, just like the night in Doolin, we barely have one sip and someone is coming to get us. He leads us to the table right next to the front door, but also right next to the live music! What luck! We toss comments back and forth with the Irish gentleman picking away at his guitar, Mario enjoying yet another Guinness, and I with my glass of Falling Apple Cider. I do so love that Ireland makes such great ciders, all crisp but not too dry, and that so many of them are avalable on tap, alongside the ales and stouts in the pubs. The musician plays Irish classics, and funnily enough, we recognize some of the music from the CDs we had playing on repeat in the Stonecutter's cottage in Doolin. 
