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Monday,
Dec 2, 2002
Being our last day
in Ireland, we decided to take it easy and simply walk around
Dublin, catching sights we had wanted to see. The first stop
was Merrion Square, smack in the middle of Georgian Dublin.
The square is one huge park, and inside is the statue of Oscar
Wilde, one of our favorite writers. We sought it out, took a
few pictures and then walked around the park, just drinking in
the calm of the area. Along the edge we saw the Georgian house
where W. B. Yeats had lived while a member of parliament, as
well as Wilde's childhood home.
Danny
& Oscar at Merrion Square. While Wilde
may be looking a bit pale, his clothes are stylish as always.
Dec. 2, 2002
From Merrion Square
we embarked on a very long walk to go see the Irish Jewish
Museum, nestled in a southern residential area of Dublin, and
away from everything. The walk was great in that we got to see
working-day Dublin, but we were tired, and when we finally
found the place, we found out it was closed. The museum
changed its times of operations: it used to be closed on
Sundays and open on Mondays, but they had reversed that and we
were not aware of it. We took the photo below to prove we had
made it there, and hiked all the way back once more, grumbling
that the Irish were just making it so that we would have to
return at least once more! The gall!
Signpost
at the Irish Jewish Museum,
which we found out was closed only after we got there.
Dec. 2, 2002
We went next to St.
Stephen's Green, detouring to see the Bram Stoker house, and
going into St. Stephen's Green Shopping Centre for a duffel
bag to carry all the extra stuff we had bought. We were in
luck: we found a great bag for only €10! After we had lunch
at the Green, under the monument to Yeats (a weird figure in
bronze that as far as either of us could discern had no
association with Yeats or his work). The weather was super
windy and really cold, and even with the sun beating down, it
was almost impossible to eat as our hands were freezing. We
gave all our leftover pita bread to the ducks in the park, and
then made a beeline for Cornucopia for some hot soup. Did we
mention we liked Cornucopia?
Our afternoon was
completed with our favorite pastime: book shopping! We went
into used bookstores and new bookstores, only stopping because
we were really tired, though not before buying like 8 new
books! And for anyone who loves books, Dublin is a paradise,
especially Dowson Street. So many bookstores!!! After this we
went for our last meal in Dublin (guess where?) and then
headed back to Dun Laoghaire to pack. We later went out for a
pint, and ended up watching a football game on the TV (West
Ham 0-1Southampton), going back to finish packing and going to
bed at 1 am.
Tuesday,
Dec 3, 2002
We got up, ate
breakfast and bid our farewells to Mrs. Kane, who had been a
most wonderful host. She was even nice enough to give us a
little gift for our honeymoon. Then, packs on our backs and
hands and shoulders, we trekked to the rail station to begin
our journey towards the airport. Our flight was scheduled to
leave at noon, so we had plenty of time. Or so we thought...
Danny in
the bus on the way to the airport.
Dec. 3, 2002
A very
tired Yvette on our way to the airport.
Dec. 3, 2002
When we got to the
airport, at 10:30 am, and went to check-in, the lady at the
Aer Lingus counter told us our flight had already left. It
seems Aer Lingus had switched into their Winter schedule, and
Expedia.com, whom we bought our tickets from, never notified
us of the change. We were also careless to not have confirmed
our flight details the night before, but that did not excuse
Expedia.com's behavior. Aer Lingus was really nice to us,
though, and managed to get us into a flight that appeared to
be fully booked all the way to New York. From there we'd have
to arrange with American ourselves. Danny got on the phone
with Expedia.com and gave them a piece of his mind, though in
the end it was useless, as they proclaimed they had no
responsibility to update us of changes. Guess which travel
service we're never using again?
We got on the
flight, though, and that's what was important. After a short
stopover in Shannon Airport, we were New York bound. Luckily,
Yvette's sister had just moved to New York and we at least had
a place to stay for the night.
Addendum:
Overnight in New York
Tuesday, Dec 3, 2002
Danny at
JFK Airport in New York, still thinking of a few choice words
for the folks at Expedia.
Dec. 3, 2002
The night in New
York was okay, if long. It was cold as hell, and we were not
quite ready for it, not to mention we were tired and hungry.
After hours trying to figure out where to get something kosher
to eat (remember Yvette's sister has only been in NY for like
four days), we ended up finding a kosher restaurant on 2nd Ave
that was still open at 10:30 pm. After that we made it back to
the apartment in Brooklyn, going to sleep at 2 am only to have
to wake up at 5 am to catch a taxi to the airport to get on
the earliest flight possible back to Miami.
We made it back to
Miami at 4:30 pm, happy to be home, sad that Ireland was over,
and still amazed at the fact that we were now married.
The End
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