We arrived in Dublin at 6am. We got to the Westin. Predictably, our room was not ready, so we headed to three different Starbucks, to find all of them closed. At the third one, a little blonde employee opened the locked door and asked "I think we'll open in about a half our, is that ok?"As if we had a choice. Our choice, blondie, is for you to give us coffee in exchange for cash. C'est la vie. We went back to the Westin. I had a 15 EUR breakfast buffet from which I took a box of Special K and a banana. That's pure value.
Mom and I headed to Easter Sunday mass at St. Theresa's, a lovely little church on Clarendon Street. We walked a long a most empty Grafton Street on our way back to the hotel. The joys of arriving in a Catholic country on Easter Sunday.
After a very long nap, we walked down Fleet Street in the Temple Bar district of Dublin and came across the first of my mom's "this has been my favorite part!" moments during our week. Just past the Hard Rock Cafe was a little fish and tackle shop named.... Rory's. My mom has a certain affinity for the names Rory and Kieran. She reminds me each day that she'd like grandchildren named Rory and Kieran. I suppose that means I have to have two boys. I keep reminding her that she has two sons who can also give her a Rory and/or Kieran....... At any rate, one of the stated objectives of my mom's trip to Ireland was meeting Rorys and Kierans... easy to please, much? Anyways, the owner of the fish and tackle shop, Rory, came out and took a picture with my mom and gave her a little fish bumper sticker to take with her. I think my mom could have left Ireland that moment and have been happy. I will repeat that phrase several times in this recap.
We next went to Temple Bar and enjoyed a couple of pints while my mom danced to Irish folk music. My mom and Kate remembered the words to some of the songs the band sung and sang along with the rest of the crowd.
Afterwards, we walked along Fleet Street, finally settling on Quay's Restaurant, whose menu Kate and I judged satisfactory for my mom, despite her pleadings that she "could have found something to eat" at the first couple restaurants we passed. Mom had a terrific beef stew, Kate a salmon and myself a fantastic vegetable soup. All of us savored the excellent brown bread, the first of many pieces we each had over the course of the trip.
After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to rest up for the long day ahead. My mom snores, so she had purchased Kate and I ear plugs, as we were all in the same room. Those ear plugs would turn out to be a life saver.
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