Ireland in Retrospect: Dublin Day One

Dublin Day One September 14th

This morning, after Rory dropped us off at Glencourt Apartments, we met and talked with the landlord, Liam, for a few minutes. He gave us some suggestions about what to do while in town, which turned out to be some of the ideas I'd already had!

The apartment itself is quite small. It's a studio, so there's a bed, couch, small table, and kitchenette in one room. The bathroom is tiny!

Not a leg shaving kind of shower.

But first, we needed to nap! Between the time change and the not sleeping, we were exhausted! We snoozed for a couple of hours, and then managed to drag ourselves out of bed. We knew that we didn't want to waste the day sleeping. Plus, that wouldn't help us adjust to the new time. We got dressed, and headed out in search of coffee and a bite to eat!

Tired yet excited.

Our very stop was just down the street at a little place called The Mad Hatter Café. We snagged a table, and ordered. I got a latte and a bowl of soup, while Justin got a flat white (I think) and a BLT. My soup was kinda meh to be honest. And there wasn't any salt or pepper in sight! But Justin loved his BLT. So that's good.

After that, we walked back towards the apartment, and crossed the street to get some euros from the ATM and do a little shopping at the Tesco, which is a supermarket. We got some snacks and a few toiletries, and made our way back to the apartment.

When we walked into the door, my phone dinged, indicating that I got a text. (I had to keep my phone on airplane mode, but I could connect to wifi and use it then) My mom had to regretfully let us know that our van had been stolen out of our driveway!!!

This was not how we expected our first day in Ireland to go. So, we spent some time gathering information and going back and forth my parents, the police, and the insurance. We dealt with what we could, and then tried to get back to enjoying our day.

We walked to one of the nearby bus stops, and as soon as we got on, we realized we didn't know the name of our stop. While we were hastily trying to figure out, someone who overheard the name of the pub we were going to, shouted out, "You want to go to Stoneybatter!" Wow! That was cool and helpful!

We went a couple of stops, got out at Stoneybatter, and then walked around the corner to a pub called The Cobblestone. I knew that they had traditional Irish music that started at 4:30, and that was definitely on my list of things to do in Ireland. So, we found a spot at the bar, ordered our first pints of Guinness and listened to a group of people playing some awesome Irish music!

When we'd finished our beers and felt that we got a good taste of music, we decided to go get some dinner. It was still early, not quite 5:30, but we were a bit surprised when we walked into Lavanda Restaurant to see it completely empty. My first impression was that it might not be a good place if there aren't other patrons there.

I ordered the beef stroganoff, and I was quickly proven wrong, because it was delicious! I was surprised at how good it tasted, partly because it looked different than any beef stroganoff I'd ever had. First of all, it was way brothier, it didn't have any noodles, and it was made with pieces of beef instead of ground beef. It was served on mashed potatoes, with brown bread on the side. It was perfectly seasoned, and very flavorful. Even the mushrooms, which I normally hate, were tolerable!Justin got a steak, which he said was wonderful.

Irish beef stroganoff= delish!

After dinner, we caught the bus and headed back to our apartment for an early night in. However, I had told my mom we would FaceTime the kids, so we ended up setting our alarm 10:30, which is 4:30 Milwaukee time, and sleeping for a few hours before calling them. They didn't seem to miss us too much yet.