It's 14C this morning, so it's cool.
We dressed in long sleeves and trousers, and off I went downstairs first thing, for our morning yoghurt, as I have done these previous mornings, and this time I had to buy a banana. We leave for home tomorrow, so we haven't bought any more fruit at the supermarket.
It was drizzling when I went outside, and of course we would need our raincoats and brollies today. With my head in the clouds, I was almost run over by a cyclist turning the corner into the small side road I was crossing, on the return journey. Of course I had forgotten in that moment that they drive on the NZ side of the road in Ireland...the left! I was lucky it was a cycle and not a truck!
What to do today? Not wanting to walk around the Botanical Gardens in the rain and under cover of a brolly, we decided to go out to Dalkey, the next point south from Dun Laoghaire. No buses would take us directly there but we could catch the DART. So, we caught the bus to Dun Laoghaire, getting off in the middle of town per usual. We do like this town.
Directly below where we alighted there is a large book shop with a Costa Coffee shop on the first floor. Perfect. We had time to kill, as it were, so went upstairs for this purpose. It was 10am.
We could sit at the window and watch the goings on below.
We sat down beside some folks with funny accents...oops! They must be Kiwis!! Yes, but they had jumped ship, most of them and were living in Aussie. They were 'doing' Ireland in a rental car. One bloke and three women, all related. How does that work, lol. We chatted for a while, then they left do travel across the Island to the west coast. We were jealous, but hadn't budgeted for a vehicle this time around.
The café was in receipt of a new under counter fridge for their milk. We watched as they took the old one out sideways because of the small space. The new fridge was installed, after tipping it on it's side, and immediately plugged in and turned on. WRONG! The man installing it was around our age or older. Strictly speaking, he should have known better. He did eventually read the instructions, and we understand they needed the fridge for the milk, BUT...A compressor is a motor. It contains a certain number of moving parts requiring oil as a lubricant. There is a reservoir of oil in the compressor and it is 'normal' when the fridge is turned any other way than upright (which is why you see the signs all over the boxes they come packaged in...THIS WAY UP), it is imperative to give the fridge 24-48 hrs for the oil to drain back into the reservoir. Oil is not compressable and if the oil is in places where it shouldn't be when the motor starts, it will try to compress the oil which isn't compressable and damage the compressor as a result. This information is actually in the instruction book.
Waz alerted the staff to this point beause if the fridge then has any problems in the short term, the warranty may be void. We hope this information was relayed to the owners.
A quick squizz in the book shop after finishing our lattes, and I found a couple of excellent school texts for French Language. It isnt like we dont already have a dozen (or more) texts on the subject, but I really liked these and I have to say they helped me out immediately on our return to France.
Onwards to the DART train station. Purchased our tickets from the man after trying in vain to use the machine, and descended to the platform, waiting only about 4 mins until the train turned up.
We laughed about the advertising that said it was a pleasant ride around the coast with lovely views. IF you could see over the walls on both sides of the track it might be, lol.
We hopped off at the 3rd stop and exited the station which looked like it was in the middle of a residential suburb. Well, it was. No indication of where the village itself is, but we thought it was probably downhill towards the sea. Correct!
We stopped off along the main street to enter a Castle. Just a small one, but they had a lovely craft shop at the entry, and it was pouring down outside, right now. I found a lovely waxed fabric rain hat with wide brim and a cute velvet rose on the crown. Loved it and bought it! It reminded me of the Oil Skin jackets we had as kids.
Goodness this photo makes me look short, lol. It's the hat you are supposed to be admiring!
We didnt pay for a tour of the castle and we spied another just down the road some way. Apparently these were used as storage for ill gotten goods. Because Dalkey has a nice deep harbor, this was the place in Viking times for the offloading of Slaves and the parking of 'stores' before they were either shipped out or sold locally .
Downwards now..
Pretty homes with gardens and nice lawns line the streets. We walked through the town/shops and out the other side, determined to find the ocean. Gated communities along the way with 6-8 lovely and large homes, probably with a view, which we couldn't see yet. Some modern or contemporary architecture, which was nice to see.
We stopped when we came to Bulloch Castle. Yet another one, this time with a lovely view of Bulloch Bay, the little walled bay at the bottom of the road, and where we were headed.
The sky was pregnant with dark grey clouds, but the rain held off for the most part.
We walked down to the sea wall, enjoying the smell of the salt laden air, and of course the boats in the small harbor.
Enough of that, and it was lunch time! A slightly shorter walk uphill all the way, admiring the lovely stone houses, the gorgeous large ones with their stunning views in enclosed gardens with lovely plants and trees. We imagined it was lovely on a fine day.
Finally back on the main road with all it's cafes. We returned to one we had seen on the way downhill. Their selection of food was wonderful. We lined up with the others in the small space and were promptly served. I chose a selection of salads...joy! and Waz chose the cream of mushroom soup with some of that wonderful grainy bread we were so enjoying, taking our food upstairs with us inside what was once a row house.We have generally enjoyed the choices of food here in France, which are more akin to the kinds of food you would find in NZ, perhaps with a bit more imagination in some places.
Country Bake. Check it out if you are in this neck of the woods!
Over lunch I think we just hit the wall. Truly more than time to return home.
We relaxed in the café read a newspaper and then slowly made our way back up the rest of the hill to the DART station. We had to get off in Dun Laoghaire again, and catch the bus home from there. We did think to see what movies were playing, so took off in the direction of the cinema. Nothing took our fancy so we walked further down the hill, deciding to catch the bus when we had had enough walking. This is a good time to shop at the sales, some of which are 70% off. Mothers with kids shopping for back to school clothes, everywhere.
Finally, and by now it was 4pm, we needed a drink and sit down. Finding a bread bakery type place with a voluminous seating area we ducked in there and ordered the necessary tea for two and a small pick-me-up. The breads on display were the kind you would want to pick the middle out of on the way home, leaving a hollowed out crust...we were never allowed to do that as kids, but it sure was tempting. The fluffy bit at the end where the two halves of the loaf were separated...know the kind?
We picked our way through another newspaper, enjoying just sitting quietly with our tea before heading back to the Hotel.
Waz needed a nap. I needed to hit the French Language books.
We couldn't even think about dinner we are so bored with eating out.
Home tomorrow morning.
On our return to the Hotel we walked down the road to the next gas station, not the next door one. This place had a large seating area and their yoghurt was half the price of our neighors! crikey! We were having a look-see for our last morning in Dublin. We decided this place would be good for breakfast, and indeed, having packed ourselves up, done a last minute check of our surroundings and handed our keys into reception, this is where we parked ourselves for our breakfast. Yoghurt and a banana and the last of the muesli I had brought with us, and we enjoyed 45 mins of rest before heading back to the bus stop outside the hotel.
Waz had done his homework online last night, and found that the Airport Bus runs every hour, on a Saturday and from this area. However, we were only at the bus stop for 5 mins before the airporter arrived 15 mins ahead of what we thought was our schedule. Good thing we walked back early!
We travelled light with carry-on luggage which was a blessing. Security did their usual thing and wanded me, and we almost had to strip everything off as we went though their procedure.
The bus trip through the Docks of Dublin was interesting and we saw one of the cruise ships in dock and a large square rigger up the river. Interesting bridges, lots of flowers still in full bloom and plenty of people out running, biking et al on this Saturday morning.
We arrived home in Bordeaux 1 hr and 40 mins after taking off from Dublin airport. 3pm, and we found our car in the long term parking, exited, were grateful for being back on the right side of the road and made our way out into the city traffic. IF ONLY WE HAD KNOWN!!!!
It took us an hour to negotiate the horrendous traffic on the ring road around the city of Bordeaux. We would normally have been home by now. Then it took us another hour of creeping along at no more than 20kphto get to Barbezieux where we needed to get some basic groceries to last us the rest of the weekend.
We arrived at the supermarket with half an hour to do our shopping before they closed at 7pm.
Exhausted when we arrived home, we ate a very basic meal before retiring early, having opened mail et al.
Lovely to be home, blue skies and no noise, crowds or trash everywhere.
Next time we will hire a car and visit the rest of Ireland. Yes, we will return. We will seek the wild coast line and the small villages in the off-season, however.
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