Dublin, Ireland. Friday/Sunday 10/12-November-2023.
A return visit to one of our favourite cities for the first time in a while. A weekend break ostensibly to buy a couple of wine glasses from Gibney's of Malahide. We have acquired several over the years and we like them because
- They have a 175ml line which makes equitable pouring easy
- If I use a plain glass we know which wine glass is Mary's
Over the years breakages meant we were down to our last one so off to Dublin to restock. Feeble excuse I know! We were joined by Sandra and George for a weekend of Guinness, parkrun, Guinness, fine dining and more Guinness. We stayed in the Grand Hotel in Malahide which is, in fact, the only hotel in Malahide.
Malahide 11/11/2023 28:49 [182 / 311]
I have done Malahide before - literally my second ever parkrun. Now Mary parkwalks we are playing catch up, ticking off locations that she had missed first time round and we were joined by Sandra. It was the 11th birthday of Malahide parkrun on the 11th of the 11th on a near perfect day. Complete with song led by Eric, RD from Belfast:
🎵You are my parkrun, my only parkrun
You make me happy when skies are grey
And when you're not on
You do my head in
Please don't take my parkrun away🎵
Sandra volunteered as parkwalker in the blue tabard.
Mary, as often, volunteered as tail walker.
After parkrun we had a brief stroll round the grounds of the castle which is the setting for the parkrun.
There were a number of tree-trunk carvings around the park including this impressive stag.
After parkrun it was back to the hotel for a shower then a trip to Gibney's to buy the wine glasses. Lunch was in a local cafe.
Saturday evening we went for a meal at Bloom, our favourite Dublin brasserie. Checking their records Padraig could confirm that we had been there seven times since Valentine's Day 2016.
As the Sunday forecast was for rain we decided to head into Dublin for a tour of the Guinness Storehouse which we last visited nearly 20 years ago. Lots had changed in that time so was well worth a second visit.
Every visit ends with a pint of Guiness in their top floor bar with 360° views over Dublin.
Sunday lunch was at the oldest pub in Dublin, The Brazen Head, where many years ago we were locked in for the holy hour and had to ask to be let out to catch our plane.
More Guinness with excellent beef stew and dumplings.
This year we had a later flight so it was a leisurely return back to Glasgow and an overnight stay with Sandra and George before driving home to Penrith.
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