Day 118, 30 October 2012. Athlone to Dublin ... Halloween is coming!
We left Athlone in a very gentle fashion this morning. Had a great stay at The Arch House B&B. Officially first equal best brekkie with the Amber Heights in Galway. No rush. Only an hour or so on the motorway to Dublin. I think it actually took half as long again driving around inner-city Dublin's nefarious method of tourist torture known as the one-way street system. Eventually we made it to the digs for the next 3 nights. Which didn't have parking (it is the inner city!) So we hustled the luggages quickly into The Snug Guesthouse (truly, the most un-touristy of Irish pubs. Chock-full of actual Irish people and not a bit of stained glass to be seen). We had a choice of a poky room on the first floor or a room almost 3 times the size on the 4th floor... Went for the larger room of course. On the 1st floor it would have been a choice of either us or our bags in the room at any one time. In any event, managed to return the rental car (aargh... more bridge crossing, more one-ways) and then walked back to town. Loving Dublin already. Now anyone who reckons the Irish have a drinking problem has no idea. What they have is an eating problem... we went to two fabulous pubs for an early dinner (6.30 pm) and the food for the day finishes at 6 pm (presumably to allow for the drinking... no problem!) One kindly bartender took pity on us and directed us to the pub serving the 2nd best food in town (aside from his of course). The Bank on College Green. Wow. Originally the headquarters for the Belfast Bank, it was purchased in 1892 for £3,500. And over the following 2 years they spent the enormous sum (then and now) of £80,000 turning it into the most sumptuous example of opulent Victorian architecture in Dublin. It now has a liquor licence and all it's amazing features intact, along with a pianist on a baby grand and serving Irish pub food. So for an extra couple of euro we dined in splendour next to an open fire listening to "As Time goes by..." on the piano. And James had a Guinness and a Beef & Guinness pie for dinner. To be sure, we are definitely enjoying Dublin. Off for one of our favourite adventures tomorrow morning... a free walking tour of Dublin. Suspect we've covered a fair old bit of it already since we're staying just around the corner from Grafton Street and Temple Bar and the groovy Market Arcade. Time will tell. Bring on Halloween tomorrow. We may yet have to go to the Halloween Ball at one of our many local pubs. Will ensure we set an alarm to make sure we eat dinner by 6 pm!