The Old Country: Dublin, Ireland

Last night, I made it to Dublin and my family which I don’t remember meeting, Seamus and his wife, Caroline, picked me up to the airport and brought me to their home about 25 kilometers outside Dublin. They have an eight year old son, James, and a five year old daughter, Richel.  Seamus cooked us spaghetti bolognese for dinner & I passed out shortly after that (I guess 3 hours sleep over 36 hours will do that to you).

This morning, Seamus took me to a mall to try to buy a cell phone for a sim card I bought in Heathrow Airport, but no luck.  Apparently, the cell phone company, Three, does not let you use their sim cards with phones purchased from the same company in another country as they were locked.  That explains why my phone from Italy wouldn’t work with the sim from the UK.  It’s kind of stupid if you ask me.  It is the same company after all.  That being said, I’ll need to buy a phone in the UK.

Then, Seamus took me to meet my 88 year old Great-Aunt Veronica (who is in a convent) and her friend, Sister Mary.  He dropped us off in the city center and the three of us took a hop on, hop off bus tour around Dublin and saw a few of the sites. We peeked our heads into Trinity College, one of the oldest and most famous colleges in the world.  We also tried to get into Dublin Castle, but it was closed for a government meeting. Then, we tried to go to Christ Church Cathedral, but that was closed too!

Trinity College

My Great Aunt Veronica, Sister Mary, a security guard & myself

We had lunch in a department store called Clerys.  Apparently, it is the same restaurant my Great Aunt takes all her guests!  We then hopped back on the bus and went to a Kilmainham Gaol (jail is spelled gaol), but could only take a guided tour of that after a 2 hour wait, so we headed back to the convent.

Great Aunt Veronica & I after lunch

Entrance to Kilmainham Gaol

The convent was brand new & I participated in their 6:00 PM prayer service which was very cool. After another hour or two, Seamus came to pick me up and take me back to his place.

It was very nice to meet my Great Aunt again as I haven’t seen her since I was little.

Tomorrow, I’m off to Dublin on my own so I can see a few things in a bit more detail, so I’m really looking forward to that.

Note: This post was originally published on May 11, 2012 in a blog entitled “Romeing Around Europe…Again” which chronicled my post-graduation trip across Europe.