An Irish Holiday

Earlier this week Erin took a holiday with a couple other Ernst & Young expat wives to Dublin. Since it is now busy season for accountants, the three of them decided it would be a perfect time to go out of town since they wouldn't be seeing their husbands much anyway! Dublin was the chosen city mostly because it's not too far away, discount airlines fly there from the Netherlands, and plane tickets were cheap. The trip started with everyone meeting in Rotterdam, where one of the wives and her husband lives and where the flight was scheduled to depart on Monday. We ate dinner with a group of expats Sunday night in Rotterdam at a restaurant over-looking the water. Imagine that: a water-side view in Holland! We sometimes take for granted all the water we get to see around here. It is really pretty.

The trip started at the Rotterdam airport late Monday morning. This was everyone's first experience with the Rotterdam airport, which, by the way, is tiny. Unlike flying out of Amsterdam, there is absolutely no need to be there 2 hours before your flight. When the three wives arrived, about 1 1/2 hours before departure, they were the only people in the airport, checked in within 5 minutes, then sat around for what seemed like forever! Erin has to admit she did absolutely none of the planning for this trip; airline tickets, hotel room, travel guide, transport to and from airports, and the schedule were all taken care of by the other two wives. So the long wait in the airport gave Erin time to at least read a little bit about Dublin in the travel guide. The incoming plane arrived in Dublin around 1:30 Monday, and the outgoing plane departed Dublin on Wednesday afternoon.

The hotel room in Dublin was much larger than expected, complete with three twin-size beds! If the heater had only worked at night the hotel would have been perfect. As it was, Erin is used to sleeping without the heater on at night and a down comforter is plenty to keep her warm. The short time we were in Dublin, about two days altogether, was quite enough time to see all the important tourist attractions in the city. Erin got to see the Book of Kells, the oldest manuscript of the four gospels that has been found. She also saw Christ Church Cathedral, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Castle, Dublin Port, the River Liffey, a live Celtic band one night at a pub, several parks, and Dublinia - an exhibit featuring the history of Dublin City with sights, sounds, and smells of the different time periods. The problem with traveling in Europe, especially in the winter when tourism is not at it's peak and the sun goes down early, is that most things close by 5, so the only options left for the evening are eating and drinking. This is quite OK with Erin, but there are only so many hours of eating and drinking night after night that one can handle. After having your dinner with at least three different kinds of potatoes there's little room for continued eating after that! One night the evening was well-spent at the movie theater across from the hotel. Erin can now say she has seen a movie, Just Like Heaven to be exact, in Dublin, Ireland.

Though it was cold and cloudy the entire time Erin was in Dublin, it never rained on her and in this part of Europe one can count that as a blessing! The Irish people are so friendly, and one of the greatest joys for Erin was traveling in a country where everyone speaks English (although sometimes it takes a great deal of concentration to make out what an Irish person is saying)!

All in all it was a nice trip. We're glad to be back together once again and enjoyed our day today traveling together - by way of bike to the Maritime Museum in the Centrum - not quite as far as Ireland but fun, and free thanks to our Museumkart.