September 4 and 5, 2016. Limerick, Ireland

Woke up in Limerick and decided to take a walk and find a breakfast place (it was Sunday), rather than eat at the hotel.  We strolled along the quay, and stumbled on a pub that serves breakfast – sounded like a plan. Cute pub, dark and very Irish. The menu was pretty limited – full Irish breakfast (which could feed about 6 people), or poached eggs, or fried eggs. I obviously made things complicated by asking for one egg scrambled. The waitress said she’d ask the cook, but that he was a “no-man”…always says “no” to special requests. Couldn’t really figure out why it would be hard to scramble an egg since there was a frying pan for the fried eggs. Well, I lucked out, apparently they were out of roasted potatoes so he said if I accepted potato pancakes instead of roasted potatoes, he’d make the egg scrambled.  Good.

Following breakfast we headed to the Milk Market – which was a few blocks away. Walked through some pretty depressed streets and arrived at the milk market which was now an upscale collection of shops and cafes, but many shops were closed so we just did a quick spin around and decided to head to Dublin. It was a grey day and over the course of the two+ hour drive we hit some rain, but nothing too overbearing. Drive to Dublin was uneventful, wide  roads and lanes (American style) and we could drive fast (their basic speed limit in Ireland is 75mph).

Got to the Schoolhouse Hotel in Dublin – a very sweet place, with a rich history as a school beginning in 1859. Each classroom has been restored with one now the restaurant and bar. Each room has a plaque dedicating the room to one of Ireland’s most influential people (all of whom appear to be men). Our room is dedicated to John Millington Synge (1871 –1909) was an Irish playwright, poet, travel writer who was a key figure in the Irish Literary Revival. He’s best known for his play The Playboy of the Western World. He came from a privileged background, but his writings are focused on Roman Catholic peasants in rural Ireland. He died at 38.

Dropped off our bags and went into the hotel bar to get some kind of lunch even though it was about 3:45 we hadn’t eaten anything since the pub breakfast. We had a pending dinner reservation at 8:00 pm but felt we couldn’t go that long without food. We shared a steak sandwich and beers, and then drove to the airport to return our rental car (don’t need a car in Dublin). Taxied back to the hotel – with a very very chatty driver who I believe took the longest possible route from the airport to the hotel. Also got stuck in big crowds because the hurling meet had just ended, and if I understood it correctly, the team from Tipperary won against Kilkenny.. and Kilkenny had been the winning team for more than 12 years, so this was a big upset. Streets were overflowing and pubs were filling up beyond their doors into the streets. Everyone seemed pretty excited.

At about 7 pm, when we were thinking we should get ready to head to dinner…. We both suddenly felt totally sick to our stomachs; I’ll spare you the details, but let’s just say that we spent the next 12 hours barfing… and by the time that was over it was morning and we were really weak. Went downstairs at about 11 am, told them we felt strongly that the steak (or maybe the mushrooms) gave us food poisoning.. Anyway, we had dry toast and water and then went back to bed. At 2:00, I decided to get some fresh air and take a walk, but Mike stayed in bed until about 4:30 pm.

My walk was interesting – across the quay, through parks, and into walking streets…. I was also on a mission – to find a wonderful Irish handmade infant sweater for upcoming baby shower in the states, which I found – big success. I stopped for a bowl of soup, but could only really eat about five tablespoons. Got back to the hotel in time to change for dinner (Richard and Elizabeth – Mike’s brother and sister in law who live in Geneva arrived at around 7 pm, in time for dinner – which was supposed to be at the hotel, but we opted to eat elsewhere given the situation. I would have walked to the restaurant which was close to where I had walked earlier – about a mile – but for the good of the group, we all decided to take a taxi. Ate at Fade Street Social which had a nice menu, but not a lot of options for Mike and me… Hopefully we’re on the mend and will be able to eat tomorrow.

Dublin seems to be a very livable city, easily navigable, easily walkable – with canals streaming through and lots of car and pedestrian bridges that make the city work well. There’s about 1.3 million in the city proper and about 1.9 million total in greater Dublin. Traditionally, we are told there was a north-south divide with the Liffey River being the dividing line. The neighborhood north of Liffey were working class and those on the south side were middle and upper-middle class – with lots of stereotypes building from these differences  — including  in accent and demeanor.

OK… hopefully on the mend.

And then we can really see Dublin beginning tomorrow.

Fern