Dublin - washed away

My gorgeous husband gave me the 'day off' yesterday. We all went into town to look for new sneakers for Neve, whose toes are almost poking out the end of her old pair - all that walking must be making her grow faster than usual. After lunch he took the kids to the playground and back home while I spent a few glorious (child-free) hours wandering the streets of Dublin.....the sun was shining and all was good with the world.

This morning, the plan was for me to take the kids out for the day while Shane caught up on some work.....




Eloise practising her 'pole dancing' on the dart...
















Of course it turns into 'hurricane Wednesday' with driving rain and howling winds!

We managed to get into town and remain relatively dry enough to get on board the double-decker tourist bus that I had been promising the girls we would go on since the moment they laid eyes on it. I will be honest and admit that I was pretty annoyed at my fellow passengers on the bus....sure it was wet and and crowded (since half of the seats upstairs were soaked from the rain) - but I would have thought that SOMEONE would give up a seat for a single woman (metaphorically) with 2 small kids.....but NO...NO ONE even looked like standing for us! TOURISTS....honestly people....just because you don't live in the city doesn't mean you aren't part of the community!!!!!!

OK - vent over.

So we stood on the bus until enough people had gotten off that we could get a seat - actually - one final vent here - we were standing inside the bus and a young couple got on at the next stop.....and then one stop later some people got off....so they actually PUSHED PAST US to get the seats!!!!!!

So - we eventually got seats. But after about 20 minutes on the bus the girls got bored, which is fair enough since they couldn't really understand the Irish-accented commentary and it was hard to see out the windows since they were fogged up. So off we got and switched over to the LUAS, which is the light rail/tram system that runs through Dublin. We caught the LUAS back into town (because by this stage we were way out of the city) and managed to find a shopping centre and a new pair of sneakers for Neve (which we didn't find yesterday)....

 Eloise contemplating the historical perspectives of Dublin (once she finally got a seat on the bus)

Waiting for the Luas (tram)....

Dry but dripping on the Luas - Eloise practising more pole dancing!























We got soaked on the walk back to the dart station...but made it home - soggy - but actually having had quite an adventure day!!!

Neve's new shoes (and ice cream  to fuel up for the run in the rain back to the station!)