Dublin

Sadly bade cousin John farewell this morning and set off toward Dublin. Had a bit of country to cover and the rental to be returned by noon, so no mucking around. Stopped for a quick bite at Ardee then pushed on towards our destination.

Arrived at the outskirts of Dublin at 11.00 am but it took another half hour to reach Hertz. Returned the rental on time and called a taxi to take us to our hotel. We hadn't gone far when the taxi driver received a message asking if his fare had left a colorful jacket behind!!! We explained the origins of The Jacket so a quick U-turn and back to the Hertz office.

The taxi driver began to have a field day at our expense. Honestly, he should be on stage. We were in stitches all the way to our hotel, don't think I've ever had such great value for money.

Settled in to our digs and off to discover this throbbing city. An amazing mix of ancient and modern, colourful and dynamic.

In our short 24 hours in this city we only just scratched the surface. This is a city that needs a lot more time to explore. Perhaps another time.

There is a wonderful pedestrianised shopping precinct which happily, was just a couple of minutes from our hotel. I had not planned on being drawn into shops but there were a few windows which I found impossible to walk past.

Just take at look at the photos below. And this was just one shop. Fabulous but expensive. We were quite surprised generally at the high prices in Dublin. Everywhere else we have stayed we have been pleased to discover that we weren't going to blow the budget. However, in Dublin everything I looked at was approximately twice the price of anything similar in Brisbane.