From SFO to Dublin

We flew Aer Lingus from SFO to Dublin, non stop. The plane ride was actually not bad.. around 9 hours (give or take), and we arrived at 9:15 am local time. It would have been an easier flight if some 2 year old brat didn’t cry her lungs out 90% of the trip. Sigh!!!!

What took the longest was getting our bag from baggage claim, something we rarely do. Normally we travel light, so we don’t have to check in. Aer Lingus said we were limited to one carry on at 13 pounds… which basically meant checking in the bag. We were the second party to check in our luggage, which meant we were the 2nd to last group to claim the suitcase in Dublin. You know.. first one in, last one out?? That really sucked.

The ride from the airport to our hotel (Maldron Hotel Cardiff Lane) was not bad… probably because it is a Saturday. When we got to our hotel around 11-ish, the room was not ready, so we decided to find the Gallagher’s Boxty House for some lunch. The place was in Temple Bar (no its not the name of the bar, but the name of the area it is in) and was about a 15 min walk from the hotel. To know what we had, you have to check out what a Boxty is.

Martin ordered the Corned Beef and Cabbage Boxty, and I ordered the recommended Bacon, Cabbage, and Champs (creamy mashed potatoes with chives mixed in). Bacon is not what we eat at home… it was a freaking huge leg of ham. I guess a ham hock? It was soooo good, and I was stuffed!

Dispite the yumminess of the meal, it wasn’t cheap. The meal plus 2 diet cokes (remember small size, no refill) and a banana boxty dessert was 50 euros (so x 1.40 for the US rate).

After our meal, we wandered around Dublin. Being that its summer, the sun goes down late, almost 11:00 pm. These photos were taken around 7:00, as we were heading to attend Mass at a church.

The ‘ha penny bridge

The church we attended was very small, and I assume that there’s not many parishoners on a Saturday. The priest asked Martin to do a reading, which he obliged.

Following Mass, we went to the city centre and found a place near the Spire to have dinner. We walked around until the sunset, which was nearly 10:30 pm.