Immediately following our return from Belgium to Manchester Airport, Darren & I then headed to Dublin to spend Xmas Eve, Xmas Day & Boxing Day. We found Dublin quite dead actually, we were surprised that the pubs shut fairly early on Xmas Eve, as we thought we had come to the one place in the world where the pubs were bound to be open all night ! Turns out that religion takes precedence at this time of year, so we went back to the hotel and drank in the residents bar instead. We had a lovely Xmas Day lunch at a different hotel, we were part of an organised group that went there and it was pretty good. One more day in Dublin, before heading over to Wales to show Darren around, before it was time for him to go back home to Australia.