Welllll. It finally happened - started with a light rain as we were boarding the bus this AM for our final tour day. Continued all day with a cold rain, fog over Galway Bay and rain walking on Shop St in Galway while we walked to lunch at a local Pub and back to the bus. Contined again as we drove towards Dublin with our driver, Martin, saying it was likely to stop by the time we got to our hotel. Rained during a mid-afternoon comfort break, poured when we got off of the bus at our hotel...you get the picture.
We were STRONG and got directions to Pubs with great fish and chips from the Concierge. I actually gave in and wore the ugly 'green' plastic poncho that CIE provided us in our backpacks. It kept me reasonably dry but didn't do anything for the cold that began to permeate all of us. Of course, the boys thought it was funny, Carson's hoodie was soaked, Art didn't wear his hat for the first time this trip and Aaron's windbreaker did little to repel the rain. But....we trudged along to Temple Bar and Gogarty's Pub. What fun! It was warm and damp due to the crowds of wet folks having fun. A good Irish band was playing as we made our way upstairs to the 2nd level where we got a booth, a cute Irish waitress and ordered 3 Guinesses. The response was 'how old is he?" pointing to Aaron. Good grandparents that we are, we said "18". She said that the age in Dublin was 21! But since we were with him, he could have ONE but that's all. So....we had 3 Guinesses and 1 diet Coke! She did ask Carson where he was going when he graduated. We actually had 3 new high school graduates on our tour...all celebrating graduation!
After a fun dinner with a shared Guiness Black Bread Ice Cream dessert, we geared up for the cold, wet walk back to the hotel. We have a very early wake-up call and a 6:45 AM continental breakfast before our shuttle back to the airport and our return trip home.
The Internet connection is cutting on and off at this hotel, so I'll add the rest of the picture and, hopefully, tales of a pleasant, on time trip home when I get there! It's been a wonderful week!
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