Aug 9 Dublin Zoo

Today the plan was to get up at 8 and get on the 9 am bus to Dublin. As usual the girls were a little slow getting up so we managed to rush to the 9:55 bus. It also happened to be the milk run, so we didn't get into Dublin until about 11:20. The bus driver was kind enough to tell us how to get to the zoo, which turned out to be on the trolley, with a reasonably short walk to the park.  

So as we walked along the road to the zoo we asked a couple nice Irish folk if we were headed in the right direction, which we were. On the walk through the park to the zoo we saw the Wellington Monument and it was so huge we had to go over there and take a look at it. It turned out to be even bigger than we thought as we got close to it. It was absolutely massive. The photo here shows the monument with people like ants at the bottom of it.  

From there we went to the zoo, which is a very big attraction in Dublin. There were an awful lot of little screaming kids there too. Kind of annoying actually. And the kids yelling and banging on the glass, right below the sign that says “don't bang on the glass”, and the parents doing absolutely nothing about it. Now that was really annoying. I actually told one of the kids to stop in my ever so kind and gentle usual way. Ha! He stopped alright.  

Anyway, we saw lots of the usual animals you would expect to see at the zoo, including tigers, lions, elephants, giraffes and such, and lots of primates. Some really cute little ones too. Shannon's says her favourite was the hippos, no wait, hippos and giraffes, and tigers, and zebras, etc. Etc. We also all took plenty of photos of course. Just a couple to share here. It was a real scorcher for Ireland too, so we had to stop for an ice cream near the end. Then we made our way to the obligatory gift shop to pick up a couple souvenirs.  

When we left the zoo we headed back down to the trolley station and were asked by some foreigners where the zoo was, after seeing our zoo shopping bags of course. They could barely speak english. I could understand “excuse me” and “zoo”. It seemed a bit strange being a foreigner giving directions to other foreigners, especially when there are so many helpful Irish around.  

On the trolley at the second stop there was a child who got onto the car but for some reason the mother didn't make it on before the door closed. Then panic ensued as the mother chased the trolley screaming and the kid started crying. They stopped the trolley a couple hundred meters later and got everything sorted out.  

We got off the trolley a stop before the bus station so that we could see some more sights down the main street of Dublin. In particular I wanted a better picture of the spire. Then we walked down the street for a couple blocks with the intention of shopping along the way to the bus station but didn't come across a store we felt compelled to go into.  

We got our tickets for the bus back to Drogheda and when we went outside the bus was just pulling away. It probably worked out better that way because 20 minutes later the express bus was headed to Drogheda which we caught instead. It got us to Drogheda a few minutes before the milk run pulled in.  

Kevin picked us up at the bus depot in Drogheda and we were back at his house only shortly before heading out to Kevin and Ann's favourite restaurant “La Pizzeria”. It was very good.  

After dinner we dropped Ann and the girls back at the house so that Kevin and I could go back out to Uncle John's for a visit. David also came by for a visit and of course Annette lives there so she showed up soon after we got there too. Unfortunately Barry couldn't make it, but then again Kevin said the 4 siblings and John haven't been all together for a number of years so it wasn't unusual for somebody not to be able to make it. It was a good visit with Uncle John. He was quite talkative and related several stories from the past. We kept him up a little late too but he seemed ok with that. I had my first taste of Jameson whisky out of Annette's private stash. By the time we left it was getting late so straight to bed back at home.