Today was just a brilliant day. Gorgeous weather and lovely sights. Possibly the only thing that could’ve made it better was having my husband or other family here to share it with me.

The flight from Boston to Dublin was fine. We departed Boston early, and arrived in Dublin early (8 am local time.) I had a lovely seatmate, M., returning home to Ireland for a visit. She had moved to Boston in the late 1980s, right around the time I graduated college. We had fun comparing notes about how much Cambridge and Boston have changed and how different Ireland is now. Because my seatmate was a woman, I was less worried about sleeping. (My female friends know what I’m talking about.) I got perhaps 3.5 hours of sleep on the 6 hour flight.

Upon landing, I quickly got my luggage and easily made my way through passport control. I then figured out how to walk over to the hotel on the airport grounds. Lucky for me, my early check-in room was available! I freshened up and charged my watch for a bit. Had a lovely almost full Irish breakfast (I’ve tried blood pudding and don’t have to have it again), went back to the room to charge my watch some more, and then headed out to Dublin for the day.

There is a great express bus that goes between the airport and Dublin, and cost €16 round-trip. I had told the ticket seller that I wanted to get off near St. Stephen’s Green. I discovered a lovely park, Iveagh Garden, right next to the bus stop. Definitely a hidden gem in Dublin. I was too early for the rose garden, but lots of interesting things to see. There was a very sobering memorial dedicated to defenders of human rights, an important  reminder of how critical it is to take a stand.

Next, I found a small takeout place for my lunch. I made my way to St. Stephen’s Green with the intention of finding a spot to eat, however, today was apparently the first very nice spring day and the park was very crowded with both locals and tourists. Also, a lot of birds who looked like they’d be happy to take my lunch from me. So I kept walking and found Trinity College Dublin. Made my way around to the athletic fields and watched a little bit of cricket. don’t know the rules of cricket, so I had no idea what was going on, but it was fun to just hang out and watch.

My new friend from the plane ride had recommended the National Gallery of Ireland, so that became my museum stop. It was definitely worth the visit. I saw a Caravaggio (which had been “missing” and was found in 1990) and a Vermeer. If you read the notes with each of the paintings, you will see there are at least two artists with a weird fascination with bodily fluid fluids.

I walked back to the bus stop and made it back to the hotel by 4:15. I am going to have an early dinner and early bedtime. Looking forward to meeting up with the tour group tomorrow!