Today is Thursday the 17 and our last day in Dublin. We left our luggage in the hostel and walked to Dublin Castle to start our walking tour. Our guide was a lovely Irish lady named Lisa. She walked us to some famous places in the city such as St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Dublin Castle, and told us a lot of interesting things about them. My favourite story was when the Irish rebellion were fighting the British in St. Stephen’s Green, they would call a cease-fire at noon so that the ducks in the pond could be fed!
After the tour was over, we took a bus from the hostel to the Dublin Airport to pick up our rental car. Then we drove the car for 2 hours through the beautiful Irish country side to the house that we will be “house-sitting” just a few minutes outside the city of Limerick.
The people who live here, named Alix, Michael, Max, and Hannah, are very kind and welcomed us warmly to their home. Behind and around the house is a big space with lots of beautiful flowers and different types of berries.
There are also 4 pets here, 3 cats named Jack, Sam, and Kitty, and a dog named Timmy. Our family will be taking care of the cats for the 2 weeks that we are staying in and the dog is being taken with the family on their vacation. On the first night we were there, Max, Zoe, and I showed our flute playing skills, while Hannah showed us a few Irish dances. After this, Zoe and I slept in Hannah’s room (I was really excited when the duvet that I’m using is decorated with unicorns!), while our parents slept in the spare room. We had a lovely day and can’t wait for tomorrow!
Friday
Today is Friday the 18 and our fourth day in Ireland. We woke up at around 10 o’clock. We had a lovely breakfast, then went outside where Max and Hannah taught us how to hurl! It’s a sport that is only played in Ireland, and is sort of like baseball. We learned how to pass the ball by hitting it to each other. Whenever the ball went far away, Timmy the dog would bring it to us.
After about an hour of hurling, we found out that we needed some food for the week, so we went to a local grocery store, kind of like Nofrills. It carried a lot of the same foods, but they were all different European brands. For more information about hurling, click here.
All of us kids decided that we wanted to play our instruments, so while Alix and my dad were away, we put together a few songs that we all could play. We called our “band” “3 Flutes and a Fiddle”, since Max, Zoe and I play the flute and Hannah plays the violin. We presented to the adults after dinner, and I think that they were very impressed.
A bit before, Hannah and Zoe claimed to have gone to Narnia, which quickly evolved into a game of Max and I trying to find Narnia and trying to catch the girls, while they tried to plan how to get away from us. It was a lot of fun! After a fun-filled day, we went to sleep, excited for the next day to come.
Comments
5 responses to “Dublin Tour and off to County Clare”
There is a park in Dublin, to commemorate the people who left to North America during the Great Famine. The parallel park (same sculptor) is here at the foot of Bathurst in Toronto – the park here just re-opened.
Hi Terry! Thank you for commenting on my post. We saw the statue in the park. Unfortunately, a lady was sitting on the base of the statue while we were there on our tour, so I wasn’t able to get a picture so here’s a link to one!
http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g186605-d189054-i47972427-St_Stephen_s_Green-Dublin_County_Dublin.html
Thanks again and I hope you have a great summer!
From,
Mikhaila
Today is a wonderful day,
starting with church where to pray.
After being at home
start computer to roam,
found stories from you far away.
Your trip starts out great
I am eager and wait
to see and to view
the things you guys do
on all the excursions you made.
Not in Ireland, but limericking ! Love Tante Erni
Opa and I enjoyed your reporting very much and inspired me to look up any recommended books. Loved the photos and all the special things you do and see.
We haven’t made it to Ireland yet but it sounds amazing! How lucky are the kids to experience Irish culture first hand. The education they are receiving can’t be learnt at school!