You thought we have already had adventures? Wait’ll you read these!
Tuesday, Day 9
We were thrilled to learn that the pretty little church in
the village has adoration all day on Tuesday, so we started out the day
there. We have gone to adoration of the
Blessed Sacrament every Thursday for a couple of years, so it really felt like
home and was a comfort to sit there in the presence of Jesus for a while. There were several people in the church, so
this seems like a pretty active parish.
Before we went into the church I decided to find “Pat,” the man that I
was told worked at the church whose wife homeschools. He was very nice. We had a long pleasant conversation, and he
shared with me that there actually is a fairly large Catholic homeschool group
that his wife, Paula, belongs to. He
said they get together about once a week to do things together. To add to that, most of the families live
closer to where our house (in Dalkey) is.
To add to THAT, there is a woman in the group that is from Texas! He said she is really a character. So I am excited to be in touch with her.
After adoration we walked across for lunch in “Ground”
coffee shop and café – fresh, hot soup and sandwiches while it rained gently
outside. The rain stopped just in time
for us to head onward for our 15 min drive to our next destination….the Patrick
Pearse Museum and Gardens. Pearse was
one of the leaders of the Easter Rising of 1916. This was my first time to truly venture out
beyond the scope of our little area, and because I have no GPS and no internet
on my phone without WiFi, I carefully wrote down every direction that Google
Maps delivered, but I forgot to remind the internet site that THIS IS IRELAND
WE ARE TALKING ABOUT! Googlemaps failed
to take into account that the Irish never talk about highway numbers (nor do
their signs), and the crazy roundabouts that rarely label roads (unless they
are a motorway), but only towns that one might EVENTUALLY want to go to, but
not the town I want to go to. After getting
famously lost but seeing signs pointing toward home, I made my way home and,
forgetting my key card in the car which I left downstairs (6 flights), I sat
outside our apartment door to log into the internet on my phone and try again
with Mapquest. Mapquest did better, but
it failed to recognize that that signs might be on either side of the road or
even on the OTHER side of the road, to where you have to turn you head to see
it, OR that some signs get turned about by the wind and face the wrong way, so
we found the sign for the museum, but it was pointing the opposite
direction. FINALLY made it to the
museum, got out of the car and got blown around by some seriously frigid winds,
and the sky looked ominous, so we turned around to get scarves, hats, and
umbrellas for the long trek down a beautiful tree-lined trail toward the period
home…..only to find that the museum is “now closed on Tuesdays.” Hahahaha!!
The joke was on US! Just then it
started to rain, and after we made it as quickly as possible to the car, it
started to hail/sleet. Upon recounting
this story to Thomas’s admin, he said to her, “To know where anything is here,
you pretty much have to just memorize the whole city.” She laughed and replied, “Yes! It is SO TRUE!”
Wednesday Day 10
Homeschooling is so wonderful because it allows you the
opportunity to do things like take your children to see Shakespeare in the
middle of the day on a Wednesday, and that is just what we did. Lucy is studying Shakespeare, so we were
excited to learn that the famous “Abbey Theatre” was presenting a modern day
setting of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Knowing it would apply well to Lucy’s
studies, I ordered tickets, albeit hesitantly, as my record for actually
finding places and being there one time was not good thus far. And would it be over the kid’s heads? Ah well, I thought, at least we can all have
ourselves a good nap if we can make it there.
But first, that day, we were to meet my furniture lady and an agent at
our house in Dalkey to see it for the first time in person and to decide on the
purpose of each room for furniture placement.
Had to make our way there at 1130, then eat lunch, then park the car at
the train station, and then take the train into City Centre and find the
theatre. It was a challenge, but we
decided we were up for it. I stayed up
late the night before studying the maps, going over with Thomas how to park and
get train tickets, etc. We talked about how
the train depot may not accept my credit card, so I gathered as many coins as I
could find (coins include 1 and 2 Euro coins so they actually have good monetary
value), but then Thomas decided to just give me a 20 and he took the change for
his light rail fare the next morning. Next
morning I thought I was smooth sailing, and then, once again, the weird signage
and round-abouts and one way streets that change names had their way, and
laughed at me the whole time as I panicked, realizing I had no internet, and
still had not figured out how to make a local call from my phone, and I couldn’t
find the business card for the furniture lady in my purse anyway, despite
beings sure I put it there. So I was
texting Thomas in board meetings begging him to please email these people and
tell them I was lost. Meanwhile, I was
pulling over every chance I got to consult my good old fashioned map book. The kicker came when I came to a sign that
pointed left saying there was a stop light.
I thought, Okay…so be on alert for a stop light. I didn’t realize that at that turn I was
actually supposed to look SIDEWAYS and see that there was a RED light, and
perpendicular to me that was there to prevent me from hit cars head on coming
the opposite direction off an old stone one way bridge. After a few honks, I managed over the bridge
to see the train station I would come to later.
Eventually made it to the house 30 minutes late, and they had been so
kind and patient to wait for me. They
just couldn’t understand how I could get lost since it is such a small
village. Haha. Right.
Give me an interstate or state highway and I’ll find my way around any
day. I feel like I am in the movie, “European
Vacation.” Anyhoo, we finished up the
house tour, which was hurried but fun, ate in the car, then headed to the train
station with “plenty of time.”
Discovered that payment for parking is by COIN ONLY…..or you can text it
in (but I can’t text for this type of thing with the service I have), and
remember Thomas traded me the coins for the bill? About that time, the train left. After asking people in the car park, leaving,
trying another spot to park that excepted credit cards, and finding out it didn’t
allow us to park long enough, I walked down to a pub and got coins. Took care of the parking. Then off to get train tickets….accepted
credit cards, but mine wouldn’t work.
About this time another train passed.
Dug around for the cash, held all sorts of things in my hands, including
two different credit cards, backpack, purse that was falling apart and things were
falling out of, and wadded up money, tried to straighten out the money and feed
it in. Messed that up. Tried card again and it worked. Through the turnstile, over the bridge, and
waited. From the time we got to the car
park till the time we actually got on the train was 45 minutes with all that hubbub! Lucy had the forethought to bring a book of
the stories of Shakespeare (the one I held in my hand earlier), so we read part
of the story on the train. Made it,
huffing and puffing, to the theatre 30 minutes late, but they were SO NICE to
seat us during the show in some great open seats! NO judgment or scolding…just got us in. I find here that in general people are pretty
punctual, but they are relaxed about it and do not seem to scold others who are
running late, but are gracious and understanding. IT turns out that the show was EXACTLY at the
point we had left off in the book, so it was like we hadn’t missed
anything! And it….was…HILARIOUS!!! We were ROLLING with laughter and tears down
our cheeks! How FUN! I was so impressed with how well Lucy and Sam
followed the show and how much they go the humor. No naps here!
The time flew by!
Afterward I got to chatting with an older woman named Pamela
Murphy. They kicked us out of the
theatre because we were the last ones there.
They kicked us out of the upstairs lobby because we talked too long, and
finally we ended up downstairs. She was
a regular attended of the Wednesday matinee, and gave me her critique of the show. Then she proceeded to tell me everything I
could possibly want to know about what to see and do on the north side of the
city. Great stuff. Finally she wrapped it up with some very
entertaining and personal information about her health. We took some pictures of downtown
and then
hopped back on the train to head back to Dalkey to get our car and then drive
back to our apartment in Sandyford. It
was about 530 pm.
Dalkey is 30 min by train.
Then it should take 20 min to get to Sandyford if I don’t get lost. It had grown cold and damp when we got off
the train. We were looking forward to sitting
in a warm Italian restaurant by our apartment and having a nice meal (Thomas
had a work dinner.) Headed out down the
narrow windy streets to make our way, and bump….in my effort to avoid an
oncoming car I bumped the high curb on the left hand side (Dad, you know what I
am talking about!). Then….bump, again
with another car coming. And then thud
thud thud. What?! I pulled over into a convenient store lot and
discovered I had a flat tyre. NOW was
the time to figure out how to make a LOCAL CALL….to Double AA road side
assistance. Told us someone would be
there within an hour. It was an hour and
20 min. Meanwhile, we got snacks and cash
in the store and waited, as the frigid rain dotted our windshield. The big man in the big tow truck was nice
(How’s that for a Kindergarten sentence?).
We found out after much searching because there was no owner’s manual in
the car, that I was one of the lucky ones who has a pump and patch kit in my rental
car, but no spare tyre, and this tyre happened to be irreparable. JC Tyres to the rescue…a local business in
Dalkey…..would actually come out at 9:15 at night, in the cold rain, and
replace my tire….but I had to pay for it since it was my fault. WE were starved, so rather than wait an hour
fo him to arrive, we went back into the store for more cash (180 Euro!, left it
in the console, and left the keys with the store manager. Then our Double AA guy squeezed us in the
front of his tow truck which really only fit 3, but we had 4 (told us it never
happened), and dropped us off in town for Italian food in Dalkey. I was so grateful to be sitting in that nice
dry warm restaurant while Jimmy changed our tire for us. Then it occurred to me….I never did leave my
keys wit the store manager but they were attached to my purse! Fortunately I had requested Jimmy’s number
from the two truck guy just in case, so I called Jimmy and could not understand
a WORD he said except, “Where’s the money?” Figured out I had actually left the car
unlocked, and he couldn’t find the money!
Oh no! Someone had seen me put it
in there and had taken it! Wait…..no…..he
found it. Whew! Enjoyed our meal. Called a taxi and rode with the sweetest Irishman
that called me “Dear Heart” in every sentence.
He said he uses Jimmy for tyres all the time…..He said if you can just
make it over to Jimmy’s house he’ll change your tyre anytime. Otherwise, keep his number cause he can
eventually come to yiz. Guess what…..LOST
AGAIN on the way home. Went the wrong way on a road and had to back up. Ended up on a dark country road in the rain at
the National Ski and Snowboarding School,
here I asked the uard at the guard gate how to get to our bloody
apartment, for goodness sake!!! All in
all that 20 minute drive took us 4 ½ hours.
Finally made it home at 11 pm.
Whew!!!
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