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We're now back in the Clarence and in the Temple Bar area. The photo to the right is of the bar named the Temple Bar, at Christmas. A full version of it is linked here. Plaques of Lord and Lady Temple are posted on the Essex Street side.
We started with breakfast in Cleaver's East and ran into John & Joanne Ferraioli. We ate and chatted with them.
After that I came down with a bad case of green apple quickstep, perhaps known here as Brian Boru's Revenge. Immodium needed. So I'm stuck in the room while D goes out to do things. But I can use the time to put the finishing touches to the earlier pages of this tome.
So I did a lot of computer work and sat around.
Late in the day, we got hungry and I hadn't had an attack so we went to Quay's (just beyond Temple Bar bar) for dinner. D had a lamb shank & I had a bangers-n-mash that I thought would be neutral. The place was jammed to the rafters at 1830 with lots of locals, so i can't blame the crowds on tourists.
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We loafed in Room 306 over in-room coffee for a while. Then we stopped at the Queen of Tarts for scone and cinnamon bun and coffee. Sufficiently armed, we sallied forth to Dublinia where D had seen things she wanted for the grandsons. An officious guard at Christchurch wouldn't let us in to the gift shop the back way that we were shown, so we had to go around through the main entry and up in the elevator.
D found her things (and more). We paid for them, then walked out past His Officiousness into the street. Rain began, and the radar shows quite a lot of rain over the next few hours. So we walked down the Liffey to the hotel and the room. We passed several markers like the one at left, which commemorate the Vikings and early years here.
I went back down and worked with the concierge to get checked in with BA & AA for tomorrow. Also got the boarding passes printed so we shouldn't need to get there so early. Our flight is at 0950, so we arranged with the desk for a taxi at 0700. Since we're pretty much staying in the hotel or perhaps the area we asked for our room to be serviced early. Then we can haul everything out and re-pack if needed, and otherwise prepare for the trip.
We checked with the younger folk to see if anyone could meet us at JAX but they're working and/or busy. So I booked a Hertz car to get home from the airport. Cheaper than taxi. We're fortunate to have a small Hertz office 15 blocks from the condo. Just drive to the condo, unload, check in the car the next morning.
8/2/18 Thursday.
No Photos. The bridge al left is the Ha'Penney bridge over the Liffey in Dublin.
The beautiful thing about DUB is that you clear Immigration and Customs in Dublin. So when we land in Charlotte, we're a local flight and just walk down to our flight to JAX.
We got up early and took our taxi to the Dublin airport. But the plane coming in from the US was late, thus we were an hour late taking off. Then we lost more time crossing the Atlantic. Rather than arriving in Charlotte at 1315, we got to the gate at 1430. We raced from B9 to C7 and managed to get there as boarding was beginning for our connecting flight to Jacksonville.
The JAX flight was somewhat bumpy and landed just ahead of a thunderstorm. The pilot pulled up just short of the gate because there was no one to guide him.
It turns out that the ramp rats stay inside if lightning is detected within a three-mile radius.. They don't come out again unless eight minutes have passed without such a strike. This thunderstorm had plenty of lightning. We sat len yards from the gate for two hours and fifteen minutes.
We finally got off at 1845 vice 1630. As we walked out of the boarding tube, people cheered - the ones waiting for this plane to take them to Charlotte. They waiting just as long.
Another flight had arrived from Dallas just before us. Those people got off the plane but the ramp rats went inside before off-loading their luggage. So they waited in the baggage claim area for a similar period.
As you may have guessed by now, our bags did not make the quick connection. We told the luggage people to send the bags to our condo. The luggage person said it's been like this for several days; lots of rain & lightning. Then we took a Hertz buggy home.
Home, where the A/C was off. Must call in repair help; it seems to be the thermostat.
What next?
But thanks for coming along on the trip.
