The morning began in the morning. Kind of like usual. Dan actually woke before me and while I said I was really awake even though I didn’t say anything after my “good morning” he said I was making “sleeping noises” so I guess I dozed on and off. Since I would never snore I’m sure my sleeping noises were some sort of musical sounds or something.

When I finally did actually get out of bed, and made my coffee, I suggested a plan for today, which I had plotted out when I couldn’t sleep in the middle of the night. He said, “I see you have a plan,” or some such thing, but I said, “No. I have a plot.” Sometimes I can be comedically annoying. Go figure.

I also commented on meeting up with some dear people tomorrow and he and I both kind of marveled at the time passing. Stay tuned for who we meet! (Okay, probably half of my four or so readers already know. Heh.)

Finally ready to go, after showering and putting things away, out we went.

First we walked back up to the cathedral we saw from the outside yesterday. A young man working there gave us tons of information and, had we the time and energy, probably would have given us a full tour. He sure knew his stuff. Turns out the outside of the cathedral is quite grand, but the inside never did get fully completed. It was, he said, all built due to the architect’s ego. Also it was to show the Catholics just how grand the Anglicans were. Ah, the lovely conflicts. It was interesting to see so many organ pipes right on the main floor. (I know he was telling someone else about just why and I heard, “It’s embarrassing…”. No clue why, but I guess they had to put them there.)

Again, just as we did yesterday, we went to Elizabeth Fort. We didn’t spend a ton of time there (it seems more geared toward kids), and I was NOT at all fooled by the men I saw. Not one real guy there, although the one being punished in the stocks looked life-like. The views of the city were nice to see.

We walked some more …

… and passed by the Counting House as we went further. So I said, “The king is in the counting house, counting out his money.” For the life of me I couldn’t remember the whole thing, though. (And yes, I had to look it up when we got back to our room. It quickly came back, tune and all.) They are working on the place, so we couldn’t get all that close.

Then, finally, we went to the English market. Full of booths, a few with knick-knacks and such, but more of meats, fish, cheeses, fruits and veggies, and more. We walked through nearly all of it.

Eventually we stopped at a sandwich and salad spot to buy what turned out to be lunch, even while we had planned on late breakfast. And gee, we remembered this time to share a sandwich. Miracles do happen! (This photo makes the sandwich look so small. It really wasn’t this tiny!)

From there we headed to the Church of St. Anne. We had a bit of a walk, including a spot where we had to quickly cross a street to avoid a man who was clearly out of it. Mostly I was thankful his pants, which were falling down, had yet to expose anything I’d not want to see, but I suspect that happened shortly after.

That brings me to a bit about the problems in each of the places we’ve been here. Yes, there are homeless. In some areas quite a few. In Dublin we walked by a woman with a number of scabs on her face, and I saw that she was shooting up, and groups of men who looked pretty bad. When stores close some homeless will take up a spot where they can sleep. It’s so sad to see, and I don’t like to write much about this darker side, but it’s there. Poverty is here. But then walking around San Francisco we see much the same. It’s everywhere.

Okay … back to the church. We walked further and we had a good climb up some stairs. As we climbed we’d walk past houses. The people who live in those places surely must be in very good physical condition!

But St. Anne’s … well … we walked by it, but it just didn’t look like a place we wanted to bother with. We’ve already been in a number of churches, so we passed it by.

Next on the “plot” of the day was the Fitzgerald park. It was a bit over a mile away. So off we went in that direction. What did I know about the park? Really nothing. I’d just read it was a place to visit.

When we arrived we heard and finally saw that a cricket game was happening. A very nice young man explained a bit of the game to us. I managed to comprehend some of it, but I sure couldn’t explain it well if you asked me!

We walked only a short while in the park. At the start of our walk we heard a woman on a loudspeaker of some sort nearby. We finally heard more clearly and there was a school by the park. The children were having races. Cute. Too bad we could only hear but not see them. We continued our walk in the park for a bit. I shot photos of the bird because I’d not seen one like that before. Looks rather crow-like, but the gray made me assume it was something else …?

We realized perhaps today would be a good day to head back to the hotel, take a rest, catch up on writing and downloading photos (the latter for Dan: I always wait until I get home), and just relax. I also started planning just how to pack things up: it has now gotten quite warm, and the remainder of our trip will probably continue with that trend. I have to figure out how to squeeze my warm “shacket” and sweater into the suitcase, along with my warmer pants. It’ll be a challenge, but I have no choice but to make it all work.

After that bit of time in our room I, as usual, became restless. I’m not very good at sitting around. Dan asked if I wanted to get out and walk a bit and of course he already knew my answer, I’m sure. While we had been relaxing I had also looked up pubs that have the “trad” Irish music sessions (trad for “traditional). I found a few and entered them on to my Google map.

Side note: Ah, Google Maps. Sigh. I plot things out, they work. But suddenly they disappear. I’m not sure why. I guess I’m probably doing something wrong, but ugh. We tried Apple Maps on our phones but haven’t managed to get more than one destination on them. I’m sure there’s a way, but so far we’ve not managed to figure it out!

So out we went, across the river once more (it’s the only way to go anywhere from our hotel. The first place we saw was a no-go. Just wasn’t right. The second place we passed wasn’t on my list and I saw no reviews, but at least we knew we would hear Irish music and they had food. Still, I’d rather go to some place that was recommended. We passed some interesting places, though.

Shortly after that we went to the The Oval pub. Such a cool place. They have several “snugs” — little rooms like the two we found in Dublin (at least I think it was Dublin — everything seems to run together after a while). Those little rooms are perfect for those of us who can’t hear well. I had a little beer and Dan had a larger one. As I told him, “Those bubbles fill me up!”

Then more pub hunting. While at The Oval we saw a pamphlet that listed other pubs that had music and one was a place I had already put on my list, so off we went, to “Sin é”. Now about that name. I read that it means “That’s it” and it’s so named because right next door is a funeral parlor. Hah! Well, it looked fine, but had no food and the music didn’t begin for a while. So on we wandered.

Then we found a restaurant. Not Irish. The man we spoke with (the owner perhaps?) was so friendly, and explained that they served tapas in a Latin American style. (Later we learned he was born in Algeria but grew up in France. Just the friendliest man.) We looked over the menu, and said we’d like to eat there. We ordered some mini ceviche tostadas, some guacamole, and a chicken and rice dish. Absolutely delicious. For desert we opted for a bit of decadence. (Who … US??) That was fabulous as well.

After dining there we headed back to Sin é. Some musicians were in the back playing. I couldn’t see them, but could hear them. We squeezed in and Dan ordered our zero zero beers (we are so well behaved sometimes) and we sat down at the first free table. The place was crazy! Things all over the walls and ceiling. It was fun to hear the musicians — it seemed that they frequently took turns doing whatever they wanted to do. There was a fiddle player (at least one), guitar (he sang as well), some sort of squeezebox, and I’m not sure what else. I did some recordings. Of course people talk throughout, but so it goes. It was interesting with the final recording, though: people suddenly got very quiet.

Well, that’s a wrap for now. I’m beat! Tomorrow is another moving day, and we have one flight and two trains to take.

Goodnight!

Stats
17,251 steps, 7.02 miles, 6 flights climbed