Today we thought we'd head off to the harbor first thing this morning. We ate our traditional breakfast, and then walked.

We went down o'Connell Street, as we do every day, but headed east on Parnell Square instead of going into City Center. After that I kind of lost track of street names and stuff. But we walked along the Liffey and along the Grand Canal. We saw a lot of small neighborhoods and some really affluent ones. There were runners, joggers, jigglers walkers and waddlers. And in the end we did not find the harbor.

Who knew we should have used a map? I mean, it was a harbor, a place where Ireland starts to get really, really wet. I thought if we just headed off in the general direction of the Irish Sea we would eventually run out of land and, boom! That's the harbor.

Two hours later when we got back to the hotel Jon asked the young woman at the desk approximately how far Sandymount is from the hotel. "I'm not sure," she said, "but it's farther than I would walk."

We couldn't agree more. But checking with Google, our roundtrip was about 8.57 miles.

For the rest of the day we just explored. We saw the National Museum and learned the importance of checking the flash setting on the camera. We decided to go into the museum to see the archaeological finds. There were some beautiful and intricate gold torcs, ear spools, bronze shields and iron swords. We saw some bog mummies and samples of papal seals. Before going inside I checked with a docent about photography. He said it was allowed as long we didn't use a flash. "No problem," I said confidently. I turned on the camera and turned off the flash. To conserve the battery I turned the camera back off.

A few exhibits in there was an almost whole block wheel from a time before Christ. I flipped out the camera, powered it up, and snapped a shot.

*Flash*

In the same instant I was trying to will the light back into the tiny LED, a voice thundered from above, "Gentlemen, no flash photography please."

"I know," I called out, trying to plead my case before the lightning struck. "I thought I had it turned off."

We went through the rest of the museum, enjoying the exhibits and me afraid to even show my camera.

We had dinner at Gallagher's Boxty House again. Tonight we were joined by a family on their first day of their first visit to Ireland. They asked where were from, "Ohio, you? Wisconsin. That's nice." etc. They asked how long we had been in Dublin. "Since Wednesday, but it's our third time."

"That's great," the father said. "Maybe you can give us some advice on things to see while we're here."

If Jon were a dog his tail would have been thumping a hole in the wooden floor. I sat back and concentrated on my meal, knowing I wouldn't be required (nor have the opportunity) to speak for several minutes.

After dinner we strolled Grafton Street (of course -- I can't get enough of the street performances). We picked up some souvenirs for the grandchildren, and then stopped at Kylemore for some hot chocolate before bed.