She's in Ireland!

I have "dusted off" my old blog again. I am traveling and it is not always easy to get internet access. When I do have access to the internet, the blog allows me to report on my activities so more friends can keep up with me. My son, Jonathan, helped me iron out the snags in order to breathe new life into this old blog. 

Currently I am in Dublin, Ireland, with Jon and Beth. We've been here three days. The bus ride from the airport did not take long. After checking into the hotel, we did the Hop On- Hop Off bus tour, but mostly we walk. Tonight, in deference to my tired knee, we took a taxi to a very nice vegetarian restaurant for Jon's birthday dinner. The taxi driver inquired if we were Irish, admitted he certainly was and went on to entertain us with his remarks, especially commiserating with us about "Trumpie" and what kind of president he would make. He dropped us off at the restaurant, chuckling at his wit.

So far, most restaurants are a kind of cafeteria style. For lunch today, we stopped in at a department store and after shopping, we decided to have lunch in their restaurant on the second floor. With my tray in hand I watched the ladies ahead of me, then the wait-person behind the salad bar said "how many salads do you want?" Well, I had in mind only one but there were about eight large bowls of various salads in front of me and, having watched the women before me select servings from several, I said three. Then I had to choose the ones I wanted. I figured out that the number of salad servings one wanted determined the size and shape of the plate the salads were served on, for the benefit of the cashier.

Tonight's restaurant was similar, though this one, Cornucopia, had better signage, so it was easier to make our selections.  It was one of the best meals we've had here so far. Jon and Beth are dedicated vegetarians and that is no problem for me. I love all vegetables. I had a "mash pie" which was mashed potatoes with fennel and mushrooms and nicely flavored and browned from the oven, and two "salads" this time, one was greens with a garlic and oil dressing, the other was a beet salad, also very tasty, flavored well. We had left-overs to bring home. We wandered our way back to the hotel through the pub district near the college and stopped in to listen to some music and have a drink, watching a good soccer game on TV, getting back to the hotel about 8:30 and it was still light out.

The weather has been cool but it has only rained a little, just this morning. The sun comes out from the clouds for at least part of the day which is nice.

Tomorrow we will get a rented car and travel out of the big city. It will be nice to see the countryside.