Dublin

Marian O'Dea, of Plurabelle Paddlers, with "A Dragon's Tale"

Plurabelle Paddlers – friendship across the seas: Plurabelle Paddlers are Dublin’s equivalent to Dragons Abreast in Australia.  Plurabelle are the only breast cancer dragon boat team in Ireland, and perhaps even the only dragonboat team in Ireland.  Dragons Abreast Australia kindly donated a copy of our book “A Dragon’s Tale”.  Dragons Abreast ACT donated a DAA cap and some other items.  Australian Dragon Boat Federation donated a cap for each member of the team.   Marian O’Dea, founding member of Plurabelle Paddlers, is seen here accepting the gifts on behalf of her team.   They paddle in the Grand Canal Basin, which is only a few hundred metres from where we are staying.

Grand Canal Basin, only 500 metres from our hotel

We’ve had a lot of trouble with the phone, so apologies to anyone who has tried to call or text us on the Brussels number.  We gave up in the end and bought a new SIM card, and thus have a new number – please email us if you’d like to know this number.

We’re staying at Pearse Hotel on Pearse Street, which I have to admit when I first saw the area I thought was a bit rough, but it has been upgraded considerably and is only 2 streets back from the River Liffey. 



Oliver St John Gogarty in Temple Bar (David, eat your heart out!)

Yesterday we walked into town from here along the Liffey, a lovely scenic walk, and also saw many of the sights of Dublin, including Molly Malone, also known by the locals as “The Tart with the Cart”.  There are also statues and monuments in Dublin known as “The Stiffy by the Liffey” and “The Floozie in the Jacuzzi” (Anna Livia).
We wandered the streets of the famous Temple Bar district, crossed the Halfpenny Bridge, visited O’Connell Street, Grafton Street, Trinity College and St Stephen’s Green.  The first time we came to Dublin we stayed a week in Shelbourne Hotel, across the road from St Stephen’s Green.

On our first full day in Dublin, we celebrated Orthodox Christmas, first to church and then lunch with friends.

Following this we had dinner with some old friends from the International Women’s Club.
Today we’ll be revisiting our old home in Stillorgan, and then on to Wexford.