The Anna and Jim Show

Anna and Jim arrived safely on Friday. We took them to Queen of Tarts for a first-day-in-Dublin lunch. Right across the street was Dublin Castle, so we took an afternoon tour. There were some beautiful details from the tour:
Anna and Peter mugging in the hallway.
The super fancy corridor.
The parlor where rich and royal guests were entertained.
This was the undercroft - the slightly smelly and eerie underground, medieval portion of the Castle.

Then we shipped them off on a bus to go to Guinness Storehouse, while Peter and I rested for a bit. Friday evening was another Dublin Musical Pub Crawl, which was not quite as cool the second time around, sadly.

On Saturday morning we got up very, very early to get to the Paddy's Palace hostel, where we were picked up for our Cliffs of Moher tour. It's difficult to express exactly how nutty our bus driver was. We drove to Limerick, where we had a brief break and then were herded onto another larger bus. I took the opportunity to run and get a snack from Tesco, where I was delighted to find gingerbread mean, which got me in a Christmasy mood. I caused a whole mess of problems at the self-checkout line though. So I took out my frustration on the gingerbread man.
This bus took us to The Burren. It was rainy and quite cold and windy, but we got a few good pictures! This is on the western coast, where the old sea floor is exposed, leaving a rocky and unusual landscape.


After The Burren the bus took us to Doolin for lunch, where I bought seafood chowder. To my dismay, I realized that the seafood in the chowder was still in its shells, so I didn't eat any of it. Luckily I had packed a PB&J for backup.

Our bus pushed forward through the miserable weather to the Cliffs of Moher, where the weather was so bad I almost didn't get off the bus. I did, and I'm glad, because I got to see funny signs like this:

We spent most of the time in the visitor center trying to dry off, but the clouds cleared for just a few minutes, allowing me to take some ok but misty pictures.


That's Anna and Jim unsuccessfully attempting to stay warm and dry at the cliffs. I would really like to go back on a sunny day. Did you know that The Princess Bride scenes with Inigo Montoya fighting The Dread Pirate Roberts on the cliffs were filmed at The Cliffs of Moher? Now you do!

On Sunday we took Anna and Jim shopping for souvenirs, and we braved the rain and cold to see the lighting of the Grafton Street Christmas display. It was pretty neat!
The minister of something-or-other came out on the mezzanine of Bewley's to welcome Christmas officially to Grafton Street, and an old man band wearing Santa hats sang Christmas carols.


The minister of something-or-other switched on the lights, everybody ooed and ahhed, and it was pretty. The light display was designed by the same company that lights the Eiffel Tower. So, now Dublin looks like Paris, but not quite as chic.
Then Pete and I got romantic and everybody said "Ew!"
And that's the end of our weekend story. I had a rough end to the weekend when I received news about the death of the son of someone I respect and admire very much, and I was very sad for his family and the tough times they have ahead. Peter and I have been struggling with this news a little so it was hard to get through classes today. I am trying to cheer up and look forward to Thanksgiving, but I will be thinking a lot about that family.

Get ready for Thanksgiving!