Monday July 14th ~ Lazy day in Dublin

Garden view

Some times we need a day off from traveling.  Today was one of those days for me.

As I have mentioned before, we normally try to book a hotel that is located in the middle of the city, especially the old historic section if we can.  It did not work out that way here in Dublin.  Most of the hotels were full, and those that were available were VERY expensive or had really poor ratings.  We are now on our third hotel, and finally settled in.  It sure felt good to NOT have to pack everything up and move again this morning.

Tim likes to get out and walk around the neighborhoods to get a feel for what life is like in any area we stay in, so this afternoon we just went for on a little mission to find a place for lunch outside of the hotel and explore the area.

Here are a few pictures I snapped to give you an idea of what the Ballbridge area of Dublin looks like.

At the first corner we came to, a demonstration in front of the Israeli embassy looked to just be getting started.  Local Garda (Irish police) had the entrances to the property blocked and a large stack of riot blockades at the ready.

Fun fact:  Similar to the British bobbies, the Irish police do not carry guns.  Garda comes from the name “An Garda Síochána” which means “guardian of the peace”.

Demonstration just getting started

Continuing on down the street, within 1/2 a block we found another embassy and recognized the flag as being the same as the protestors.  It was the embassy of the United Arab Emirates.

United Arab Emirates Embassy

The brick buildings are in a long row, with brightly painted doors.  Mostly in primary colors.

Paired doors

Another block brought us to a commercial area with restaurants, markets, drug stores, nail salon, clothes store, a hospital and of course a few pubs.

Entrance to the local hospital.

Popping into a drug store, we picked up a couple of toiletry items that we are getting low on.  I’m finding that it is much easier to find products, clothes, shoes, and whatever else we need as we travel than I thought it might be.  I can’t always find a specific brand name that I am used to, but certainly can find something that will work.

Often the stores don’t have quite as many products to choose from, but sometimes the choices are even better.  It has been enlightening looking in the shops, markets, and pharmacy to compare what they offer for sale.

This business caught my eye.  Not one we see in the USA…

Anyone want to place a bet?  I image they have been pretty busy during the World Cup games.

By the time we finished our lunch (another pizza and salad from Miller’s Pizza Kitchen – quite good and Tim does not get an allergic reaction there – Yippee!) and pick up a few items to take back to the hotel for a snack and breakfast in the morning the demonstration had dissipated.  We are starting to think that demonstrations are either following us, or that they are a LOT more common that we realized.

Our hotel lobby:

Lobby of the Clyde Court Hotel

View from our hotel room:

The major sport arena is right next door to us.

So there you have it.  Even on a nonchalant day with nothing planned, we can still get out and experience something new.   This kind of a day is quite relaxing and sometimes among my favorites even though not particularly exciting.  No earth shattering scenery, not a single church, castle or museum got visited or photographed, but we got to have a somewhat “normal” day living in a foreign land.

Gratitude Moment:  Today I am grateful to the simple things in life.  How often I take for granted the everyday things that we see, do and experience.  The sights, places, events, plants, and people may look different, sound different, or act different than what I am accustomed to.  Yet, when we slow down, move away from the tourist attractions and start seeing things not through the eyes of an outsider, but as one that is simply making our way through a lovely day, our impressions change.  We see more commonality.  More similarities.