Dublin March 2012

Air Lingus were doing a special offer on flights to Dublin and it seemed churlish to refuse. Mary picked the Six Nations weekend when Ireland were playing Scotland. Unfortunately her membership of the Irish Supporters Club had expired so we missed out on the ticket release. But, what the heck, we would just go to a sports bar and watch the match from there so that is what we did.

Friday we took the afternoon off so we got to Dublin in plenty of time to have an early supper at The Farm - a free meal courtesy of our Top Table rewards. After supper it was time for our first Guinness of the weekend at Carr & O'Connell - another freebie thanks to the accommodation.



Saturday we took the open top bus for a tour of the city. We only did one "hop on, hop off" for lunch at Ryans of Parkgate Street. Apparently it has been visited by Bill Clinton and Julia Roberts. It has lots of original Victorian features including a snug - a small booth at the end of the bar with room for four people, six at a squeeze, with a door you could close and its own serving hatch from behind the bar.



Then it was back on the bus to central Dublin to find ourselves a match-watching venue. Mary rejected the first because it was full of Scotsmen so we repaired to Lott's Bar, claiming to contain the smallest bar in Dublin.



Unfortunately Scotland lost but that is the way it goes sometimes. So to console ourselves we went out for very nice meal at The Exchange Restaurant and Cocktail Bar.

Sunday morning we went to Bewley's Cafe for a latte with some amazing stained glass windows.



Then it was off to Trinity College to see The Book of Kells. The last time we went to see it the curators had sent it off for conservation and left a photocopy behind. This time we got to see the real thing - the almost microscopic, intricate art work is quite astonishing. We arrived just in time for the 11 o'clock tour followed by the book and exit through the long room which looks like something out of Harry Potter.

Then, alas, off to the airport for lunch and the flight home but we'll be back!