Ireland - the next day

Day 2 was a Sunday - and it started off relatively early considering the night I had before (out 'till 3am). My co-worker Brian was traveling into town this day and sent me a text message on the mobile phone when he arrived at 9am ... and being me the guy that can't go back to sleep ... I was up for the day. I took my time getting dressed/showered and then went down to the hotel's restaurant for a full irish breakfast. For those that are not acquainted with the dish - it's a heart attack on a plate ... a fried egg, 2 pieces of rashers (bacon), 2 sausages, 1 black and 1 white pudding, half of a tomato, and some DRY white toast. Very, very hearty breakfast. After brekkie I checked out of the hotel, put my bags in the car, and was off for the day.

Now it was on to the roads in my car to practice driving ... I was looking for the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre but wound up exiting the motorway too early and found myself in a Superquinn supermarket. The market was very much like our supermarkets with aisles and aisles of food stuffs, fresh meats, and other various sundries. As I was leaving the market and heading on to the shopping centre, I got a text message that Caoimhe was heading to the hotel I had just checked out from ... so I went back there (great practice in driving on narrow winding roads!). I met her back there and I was off to follow her on over to Brian's hotel so we could head into town (read: Dublin), get me checked into my new hotel, and have a bite to eat.

We found Brian's hotel, the Glenroyal, in short order, and it's not far from the Intel campus, which means a nice short drive for him in the mornings. Once we collected Brian, we caravan'ed over to my hotel, the Westin Dublin, located in the middle of town. It was a gorgeous place with lovely dark wood throughout, very classic look. I parked in the taxi area out front while I went to check in. After giving the front desk my "surname" and having them print out a piece of paper that showed the name "Foley" on it ... I started to sense that I was in for some real fun. It turns out that the hotel did not have ANY reservation for "Leff". I provided them a confirmation number that was seemingly missing 3 numbers, and hotel manager came out to meet me, took my documents (emails & notes) and attempted to resolve the case of the missing reservation. They could not contact my travel agency nor could they find the reservation, so they put me up in the hotel for one night pending the resolution of the reservation fiasco. In the mean time, the hotel has asked us to move the car so a large bus could pull in ... thankfully Brian grabbed the keys, pulled across 4 lanes of one-way traffic, and found a "car park" (read: parking lot) to leave the car in. After sorting out that mess, it was on to lunch/dinner ... and a mental note to follow up with the Intel Ireland travel agency on Monday.

Brian, Caoimhe, and I wandered around in the Temple Bar area looking for a nice place to eat and watch the All-Ireland football finals. We decided to eat at the Auld Dubliner and instead of sitting downstairs, we climbed a flight of stairs and found a nice quiet table in front of a lovely flat-panel TV. The game was between teams from the county Tyrone and the favored county Kerry. Admittedly I don't know much about the game, but it didn't take long to catch on, and by the end we were actively rooting for both teams and it was very exciting. A lovely family sat beside us just before half time and we wound up chatting with them a bit about the game. Tyrone were the winner in a HUGE upset ... and their supporters rushed the field and celebrated in grand fashion. The dinner I ate was a lamb roast with carrots, broccoli, cabbage, and - of course - potatoes. It was a lovely dinner - a bit bland - but to be expected as the Irish cuisine does not seem to include much in the way of spices. After dinner we said goodbye to Caoimhe ... then Brian and I were off to wander around town.

We ventured across the O'Connell bridge and onto O'Connell street walking through the throngs of Gaelic football supporters as they were leaving the match that had just finished. There is a large spire/spike/radio tower in the middle of O'Connell street that serves as a land mark in the city. Since it was Sunday evening at this point (around 6pm) most of the stores were closed or closing ... however we did find Carroll's Irish Gift Stores open ... and they seem to be the national Irish trinket store. I'm sure by the end of my trip, I'll have been there a few times to get this, that, and the other. After the jog around O'Connell street, it was time for me to drive Brian back to his hotel (and get one more practice drive on the way to Intel).

On the way to his hotel, we stopped at a supermarket called Tesco, and filled up the car with petrol (read: gas). Dinner was next on the docket, and we wound up in a small Chinese restaurant (can't remember the name), but the food was just ok. I dropped Brian at his hotel, and jumped back on the motorway on my way back into town.

The drive along the motorway was uneventful and nothing really happened until I was driving along the Liffey River. A little set up is warranted for this next bit ... the roads in Ireland are fairly well marked ... however ... lanes disappear and re-appear like magic. As I was heading back to the hotel along the quays (pronounced "keys"), which line the Liffey River, I noticed a van driving a bit fast, and coming up on my right side in a lane that was about to disappear into a right turn only lane. I didn't think anything of it ... until moments later when that van decided to make contact with the back of my car! DOH! Well ... I was stunned ... in Ireland less than 48 hours and I've been rear-ended. Ugh. Well ... I got out of the car to survey the damage ... and luckily there was NO sign of damage, so I waived the foolio that ran into me on, and proceeded on to my hotel for a night of rest.