We started with a slow paced morning as we got ready to leave for Dublin. Unfortunately our experience of going to Cobh made us over confident about the speed with which we could get to the train station. There were no taxis outside and it took over 15 minutes for one to arrive.

Then traffic was busy and slow. (Below are some of the interesting looking houses across the street from the hotel.)

We thought we would arrive 20-25 minutes before the train departed. Instead we had 6 minutes to get through the gates and get to the platform and the train. It was getting tense but we made our train—just. We stored our luggage in the overhead rack and managed to sit down when the train pulled out of the station

The Cork Dublin trains are the only ones with food and drink trolleys and none of the trains permit you to consume alcohol. The woman next to me ordered some food. It did not look appetizing. We just sipped on water and in Scott’s case, tried to nap.

We stopped at Limerick where I thought I should come up with some rhyme but I did not have any inspiration.

When we arrived at Heuston station, it was pouring rain. It took a while to find the taxi stand since we did not want to wander outside.

The view from our room looked like more rain was likely. We managed to make a quick trip to a nearby grocery store without getting rained on.

Dinner was at a restaurant not far away. Two different weather apps said 0% chance of rain. We had not walked more than 10 metres from the hotel when it started raining. After walking with rain driving right into our faces, it eventually stopped and the sun even came out.

Dinner was at a small place called Note. It had a short menu but interesting.

Sausage starter

Beef tartare with horseradish sauce and shoe string fries

Lamb and fregole

Cavatelli pasta, mushrooms and comte sauce

A tasty Italian wine:

This was one of the walls of the bathroom:

Dessert of pannacotta with rhubarb compote. The rhubarb was still crunchy and barely sweet. I think I might try something similar when we get home and (I hope) have some spring rhubarb.

The views on the walk back to the hotel with no rain.

Samuel Beckett bridge

The Liffey River

View to the east

Modern looking building