My last real day. Slept in a little then had my eggs. Then off right away. The No. 3 was waiting so I hopped on. Off at Ann's Bakery and went to Design Ireland Plus, but they seemed to be closed until tomorrow.
Waited over at the Virgin Music Store without success, so I walked up to the GPO - also closed.
Into Eamon's to buy paperbacks. (A bit of Maeve Binchy, little did I know I would become such a fan, and a set of Roddy Doyle's) They have a great Irish selection just as at Hodges Figgis, but over-staffed. (People kept trying to wait on me every few minutes which is well-intentioned but makes me edgy.)
I went up the street to the little indoor "market" with the fortune teller, but the luggage seemed shoddy and had noticeable broken parts.
I crossed the street to the island, wanting a restroom. When all of the sudden, right in front of me were steps leading into the ground and men coming up them. Right there on the island in the middle of O'Connell Street. "That looks like a public toilet-type situation," I thought. And so it was, and the Ladies' was a few paces on. I guess I never went north of the Anna Livia in the center strip before. She was looking as lovely as always, by the way. Dublin really does have the most interesting statues.
A Last Show Around
After this I noticed the Dublin City Bus "hop on-hop off" tour, and I thought what the heck, it was almost 11 am and I could spare an hour and maybe get some photos.
I sat on the exposed upper level, using the paper towels the driver indicated to wipe off the seat still wet with morning drizzle and dew. Dublin sure was misty. When on the No. 3 I couldn't even see Howth from the Strand.
A young German woman with great English and her mother joined me. We all giggled as we stood and tried to unabashedly be tourists and get our photos. This was a great bus tour and especially good for photos, but what looked great was the fact that it was foggy and structures such as Saint Patrick's appeared to be rising from cinema-worthy mists. I also got to see a few landmarks I had not troubled myself with before, such as the Writer's Museum and the Rotunda Maternity Hospital.
The driver was amusing and pointed out what to see and why to see it. At one point we heard him say: "People come here and see we have our signs in two languages. They often ask 'What is that other language?' We tell them, 'Why, that's English.'" haha... OK, so I am an Irish-language snob. Or wish I knew enough to be.
Errands Once More
After the bus came back to O'Connell I walked across and into Clery's department store and immediately I saw what I wanted, but wasn't sure how many pounds to change. This being the last day, I didn't want to change too much money. I crossed the Liffey again to think over how many more things I would buy and went into Virgin Music which was now open and bought a few CDs but couldn't get The Chieftains' "Long Black Veil" because the clerk could not get the case off, try as they might, and it was the last one. Not meant to be. Anyway, no alarms is time.
Abrakebabra wasn't open, so I stopped in to Burger King for a sackful of Veggie Whoppers so I would be set for whatever happened. This time without pickles and ketchup. Also fries.
Went to the Bureau de Change and took care of that. Back into Clery's and down the right side escalator and carefully around the souvenir crystal to get a neck purse, which I had not been able to find at all back home, and a big deep blue cloth suitcase with dark green trim. The man who rang me up was a bit dazed and I thought to myself that I would have to be more like him, so to speak, before I could ever live somewhere as laid back as Ireland.
Right outside of Clery's there was an inlet by a security guard so I stopped there to put all of my purchases in the suitcase. Although looking back it seems a bit conspicuous I did not give a second thought to pulling the suitcase up the street to John Brereton's to buy a Claddagh bracelet that had caught my eye before. (Well, in the end I couldn't leave without some kind of claddagh trinket and the bracelet really was pretty.) I casually asked what the tax was and somehow was misunderstood and was handed a tax-back form and cheerful instructions on how to fill it out when I came home. I didn't mess with this - VAT always has made me wrinkle my brow and chew my lip.
I thought my trusty No. 3 bus stopped in front of the Savoy movie theatre, but nay, so I went back south to catch one in front of Clery's. I easily lifted my suitcase into the storage bin which is a sort of pen at the front of the bus where many others had suitcases, probably returning from somewhere. At one point some girls even came on with kittens in cages and because I was sitting directly behind the bin I wiggled my fingers at the tiny orange and brown tabbies and cooed along with the other cat-lovers.
Good Night
Upon entering the Aberdeen Lodge I arranged for a wake-up call at 4:45 am and a taxi at 5:30 am. I had no desire to leave but not once during my stay did I think to play the lottery. Oops. I rested a bit then packed, began and finished "The Commitments", set my alarm for 4:30 am and convinced myself not to worry about how the trip home would play out.
And here I ended my journal with these words:
What worries me the most is how to tell them about what Ireland is like.
I can't say I have solved this, but I've now told more than I could by staying silent.
Related Irish Vocabulary
- closed - dúnta
- luggage - bagáiste
- statue - dealbh
- tour - turas
- sack - sac
- bracelet - bráisléad
- tax - cáin
- lottery - crannchur
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