(Well dear reader, as you've come this far with me, I have a confession to make before you continue reading. Almost four years have passed since this wonderful trip and I'm only now putting fingers to keyboard to complete the tales of my adventure. "How did that happen?" I hear you ask. I'm not sure, our days just became so full and there weren't enough hours at night to blog and upload photos…that and painfully slow internet connections which didn't help. Although I always intended to finish it when I returned home, I didn't. The catalyst for my starting to finish my blogging?…I'm planning another trip next year, to Eastern Europe this time, and I can't start another blog without finishing this one can I, so I'll do my best now to recall the last two weeks of this wonderful holiday.)

A must for us today, was Trinity College, the college under which Hayley sat her violin exams many years ago (how strange to say that when referring to my child…could she be that old…could I be that old?). Her violin teacher had spoken of it reverently, in hushed tones, so off we headed off to find this wondrous place. The college was indeed very grand, with lots of old buildings and the greenest grass I've ever seen. We wandered around in awe that we were actually in the grounds of this historic university. Hayley happily posed for a photo in front of the huge wooden doors to one of the buildings.

On the way to Trinity College we spotted a building with a verdigris copper roof that reminded me of Customs House in Brisbane…I wonder if it was designed by the same architect.

Next stop was to find a Thrifty Rent-a-car to organise our vehicle for our road trip along the west coast. After much sightseeing (read "getting lost") we found the office only to discover it was closed (today was Monday?). There appeared to be a marathon on (must be the season for them…remember, we'd left one in Venice the day before) so there was an abundance of policemen directing pedestrians and cars. We asked one why so many of the shops were closed and found out that it was the October Bank Holiday. We got into conversation about where we were from and he was amused their bank holiday had inconvenienced us…we all laughed and after thanking him for his help we headed for Saint Stephens Green Park.

Saint Stephen's Green Park is a beautiful park to sit and read a book, wander aimlessly, chat with family and friends or just sit in silence and ponder the meaning of life. There were lots of trees with leaves turning into the colour of autumn and a lovely pond in the middle. As we wandered along we came upon a tree which I'm sure must have been a holly tree…it was exciting to see one for real having only seen the plastic twigs at Christmas time in Australia.

On our way to find the oldest building in Dublin, we came across a very quaint and peaceful looking Huguenot cemetery. The Huguenots were a group of French Protestants who were driven from France during a series of religious persecutions…and they chose to come to Ireland…which is well known for its religious calm!! Check out the photo of the very clever optometrist sign beside the cemetery.

We thought we found the oldest building in Dublin but weren't sure as there wasn't any signage to indicate this important fact. Whilst we were pondering this, a lady came out of the Church of Ireland church behind us and obviously realised we were tourists…maybe the map and cameras gave us away. She stopped to talk but wasn't able to confirm whether the building across the road was in fact the oldest one in Dublin. After chatting with us and learning that we were from Australia she invited us into her place of worship where she showed us around, eagerly told us all about Saint Ann, whom the church was named after, displaying great pride in her religion. How lovely of her to not just walk past but to stop and share part of her life with us. I felt a kinship with this friendly lady, she seemed very Australian (or maybe we're very Irish); only too happy to stop for a chat with someone from another country and help them discover their country.

We wandered around Dublin Castle and through the Temple Bar, the cultural quarter of Dublin which is the location of many Irish cultural institutions, before heading back to the hostel for the night…and to try to hire a car to begin our road trip to Derry tomorrow.