A cruisey day hanging out and doing some shopping

 Today we chilled out for most of the morning and then decided to walk into town to have some lunch and do some shopping.......on the way we stopped to read about and think about the Famine and the memorial on the River Liffey -
 the very graphic & sad statues which represent the starving, & dying population of Ireland, as they try to reach Dublin Port on foot, to escape from Ireland, and avoid certain death in Ireland by starvation. The gaunt statues represent the starving & dying population of this terrible time of The Potato Famine, which lasted from 1845 – 1848.  The work is entitled “Famine”. It was presented to the People of Ireland by Norma Smurfit on 29th May 1997.  The memorial remembers both the victims of the Irish Potato Famine, and especially mentions their descendants who are noted on the monument as having worked so hard overseas, across the Atlantic Ocean, in the building of Canada.

We then headed off for a very yummy pub lunch before we hit the shops - fab bar, fab meals and great company.

Exploring Dublin and Dublinia

Today we woke to rain. but not to worry, we were heading out anyway getting amongst it.  It stopped to a drizzle ad we went the caught the hop-on, hop-off bus to the Gaiety Theatre to get mine and mums tickets to the musical RIVERDANCE for Thursday night - yay, mum went to this show years ago and I have never been - it seems appropriate to see Riverdance here in Ireland - and I can't wait.  

We then headed to Trinity College for a little explore and saw the big cue to see the Book of Kells - we did not plan on going to see the book and so headed out to the fields to let the boys run around and let off some steam while the rain had stopped for a bit...........when it started to spit again we headed off to do some shopping and have some lunch.

After lunch we headed off to Dublinia - a place where we learnt about medieval and viking history of Dublin.  This place was great - we did a tour of the Viking floor with a guide dressed as a viking.  He was great and taught us about what life was like on viking warships, their voyages, weaponry, skills and living arrangements.  The tour went for about 45 minutes and was awesome.  

We also spent time exploring the medieval floor and one of the staff members up there saw that the boys were keen to explore and so went off and got a laser pointer so he could talk with us all about the medieval history of Dublin. He told us about how Dublin has changed over the centuries and who the key players were during this time.  He talked about where and how people lived and the boys were paritcularly interested in the wall of the city and the that the the cooks had to cook outside the city due to houses being made of wood in the city..........if a fire was caused by anyone of any age then they were thrown into the fire............Connor had some questions about this ......... We also learnt of warfare, crime and punishment, death and disease and even toothache remedies of 700 years ago. We saw the city as it would have looked then, played some medieval games and got dressed up!  Very cool.

FROM LACHLAN: Things I learnt about Vikings.

I learnt that Vikings were normally farmers but in summer when there was not much to do on the farm they went raiding instead. 

I also learnt that the Vikings that settled in Ireland were Norse Vikings.

Another fact I learnt was that the weapons they used where normally things on the farm that could be used as a weapon such as sickles and hatchets and wheat swords.

As we headed up to the top floor we managed to lose Connor............he often races ahead so we were not too worried and usually I just walk ahead a bit and can find him - not this time! I then went back downstairs and then upstairs again and could not find him.  Eventually a staff member asked if we had lost someone as Connor had approached a staff member saying he had lost his family.  We said we had and so went to meet him in the gift shop where he was sitting up on a chair on the lookout for his family! He burst into tear when he say us - the staff said he was fine until then....................good learning for him hopefully that he needs to stay with us! Unfortunately this appears to be his main memory of his time at Dublinia! Anyway - great place.........................we then explored Christ Church Cathedral 

and began our walk home via O'Connell Street and a bit of shopping.  Below is a photo of Connor's purchase...........

Here are some pictures of our walk home............................

 Famous pedestrian bridge - known as the half penny bridge as there used to be a toll to walk across it

 Walking along the River Liffey

 A cool building above and some sculptures below

Great day - lots of walking and an early night needed for all!

A day at the best zoo

We caught the hop-on, hop-off bus right near our apartment today and headed toward town, we swapped lines from the blue line to the red line and were headed to the zoo! Perfect and easy way to travel. Karl’s conference started today and so he was off to work - 

Us on the bus

Here is the conference centre where Karl was off to today - apparently this is designed to be the correct angle for holding a glass while pouring a Guinness into it.........or so they say!

A cool bridge by our apartment in the shape of a harp........

Today is meant to be the only fine day for the week and so we went to the Dublin Zoo.  It was a great zoo and the kids saw some animals for the first time.  We saw hippopotamus’ and gorillas - they had never seen these animals in real life before and were very excited.  The whole zoo itself was according to Connor “very, very cool, I couldn’t believe it” and Lachlan said “what an amazing zoo - orangutans were climbing right above you - best zoo I have been too”.  Me and mum also thought it was awesome and one of the best we have been too - it was really well set out; really clear where things were and great viewing points for seeing the animals.    

The Sulawesi crested macaques were so cute - their babies - we wanted one!

Great family group with lots of playing................

The orangutans so cool and their enclosure - the best -

The new orangutan forest was amazing.  They had ropes going between trees and over the walkway - two or three swung above us, so cool and they didn’t throw anything at us or wee on us which can apparently be a bit of a problem.  In NZ health and safety laws probably would not allow this!!! 

The wires right above the path - freaky!

There were also three or four different playgrounds located around the zoo which the kids loved and reasonably priced cafes- it really was fab!  We had lunch at the meerkat restaurant where the meerkats sat watching and playing while you ate - again, very cool!

We had great views of the lions and the pink flamingos were so brightly pink and there were loads of them - they must breed well! . 

The pink flamingos - the photo does not do their colour justice..................

Hippos are so cool and so big - love them even if they are just a wee bit scary..........this hippo was doing circles and you could not see it once under the water, can see how they could sneak up on people and are one of the biggest killers in Africa.

The gorillas were also in a very large area outside and also had an inside area.  It must have been close to lunch time as the outside ones were hanging around the gate and the inside ones were racing around - very cool!  Unfortunately we read that the old silverback and "dad" Harry died at the end of May this year..................there were lots of cards to the zoo in sympathy.

 Finally got some carrots to eat.................so human like - crazy

It also had all the other traditional zoo animals and one very weird mixed breed looking thing- it looked like a horse, had striped back legs and butt and a weird looking face - it was called a Okapi.

And such a cute wee baby elephant - aw......

 And mama elephant close bye!

 The shops were also reasonable priced, we brought some masks for 2 euro - very cool - check out Connor!  The kids brought some and so did I - thought they would be quite cool for work - not sure whether for clients or staff!

 Anyway as you can tell we had a great time at the zoo.  We then caught the bus from the zoo back to base and just managed to catch the last hop-on bus home with the same driver we started with - fantastic!  Arrived home and caught Karl who had popped home during the hour long break - had a quick chat, I could hardly get a word in as the boys were full of excitement and stories about their day at the zoo, and then he was off for the rest of the day and no doubt half of the night!

City Bus Tours and Ireland out of Euro 2016

City bus tours and Ireland out of Euro 2016

Today we woke up to grey skies and light rain - oh well!  We got ourselves ready and were about to walk out the door when the rain got heavier.  We decided to wait abit and once it lessened we were off - raincoats on and umbrellas up.  We were walking to O’Connell Street, the main street of Dublin to catch the City Sightseeing Dublin hop-on, hop-off bus. 

We found the bus and breakfast on our way and we were off.  What we have noticed is that the Irish are very friendly and welcoming and the bus drivers were no different.  We did the whole tour which took just over one hour so we could get our bearings and work out where we wanted to head back to.  The bus, in the drizzly weather was also a nice place to be.  We passed great sights such as Trinity College; Dublin Castle, the two cathedrals, St Patricks and Christchurch; the Dulinda, Abbey Street, saw the National Art Gallery,  St Sephens and College Green, the Guinness Storehouse once again, Kilmainham Gaol and the Dublin Zoo in Phoenix Park.  We could not drive into the park today on the bus as apparently the Vice President of the US was there and so no-one else was allowed in.  Funny - we saw him and his possey as we were heading into Dublin from the airport yesterday and spotted his big place at the airport - Airforce 2.

We hopped off the bus and headed to Henry Street, the main shopping street, and went to Arnotts and Debenhams’ department stores and a couple of toy stores.  Connor was the only one to purchase spending his birthday money!  The Avengers franchise is doing well off Connor!  

We also listened to a great Irish busker.................

As we continued down the street mum and I found a wee Irish souvenir shop and the boys found a great wee Irish pub that served meals and was playing sport - perfect! We headed in here for a pint of Guinness (or two) and lunch.  We knew that Ireland was playing in the knock-out stages of Euro 2016 against Ireland today, but did not know what time - turns out it was 2pm and it was 12.30pm.  By the time we had a drink, lunch and played a few hands of cards that pub was packed out with Irish football supporters and we were ready for the game! Ireland scored in the first 5 minutes and the atmosphere was fantastic.  Check out the wee video I took as Ireland scored their penalty goal - mum is hilarious, Connor has his ears blocked and Karl is answering another one of Loki's questions.......

The Irish celebrate some more and start singing.....................

 We are loving it - great atmosphere, great food and great Guinness - what more could we want...........

We stayed to half time soaking up the “craic” but it was then time for us to head off to catch the hop-on bus back to the main street and then home.  

We found out when we were on the bus that France were now 2-1 up and Ireland lost the game.  I was happy as we are currently living in France and wanted them to win particularly as they are hosting the whole show - but we are in Ireland and they wear their passion on their sleeves! 

We headed back to the apartment and then Karl, Lachlan and I headed to the mini supermarket to get some groceries for our stay - tomorrow - weather permitting we are heading to the zoo as Karl heads to his conference.   

Guinness factory here we come!

We then headed off to catch the bus to find some lunch and the Guinness factory!  We found the bus stop and waited, and waited and then thought that the bus probably was not coming due to the “Pride Parade” being on today.  We then decided on plan B, to catch another bus about 20 minutes walk away - so we headed off there, and caught our bus to the Guinness factory for our tour.  The bus driver was fab, only charged us three adults and said he would tell us when we arrived at our stop and give us the information we needed to get there - perfect!  We went past Trinity College, the Temple area, Dublina and some other sites - was very cool.

We then saw the Guinness Storehouse and the location for our tour.  There was a big line outside, but we had gotten our tickets already on line and so we skipped this cue and headed inside.  Once inside there was an even bigger cue snaking its way around the partitions and we thought “holy cow” - but a lady came up to us, said I see you have an e-ticket, pop over to the machine - put in your reference number and your tickets will come out and go straight in - wahoo - perfect! This was super easy and we were in - looking around the shop for the few minutes before our tour instruction.

Mum checking out the hops

We were then off looking around, reading and gaining some knowledge about how Guinness is made.  We took some cool photos and it took us about an hour to go through before we got to have our drink in the “Gravity Bar” which was on the 7^th floor with 360 degree views of Dublin - mind you there were so many people there that the view was pretty hard to get around and see - still, we had Guinness.   Karl has not liked Guinness in New Zealand on the times he had tried it - I had said to him it tastes different in Ireland - and sure enough - he agreed - much nicer in Ireland! We enjoyed the tour and drink and then we headed down to the shop to buy a couple of things! This really is a money-maker tourist attraction - there must have been thousands of people there!!!! Great start to Ireland! 

 Me and the hubby standing in front of the very cool waterfall -

 The boys in the same spot..................

 The boys really enjoyed the Guinness factory and all the fun things to do.............................................

My first Guinness in Ireland for over 20 years - still tastes damn good! The tour was certainly different this time around, not personalised like last time, and I remember that a few people on our tour last time did not want their free Guinness so my friend Jo and I helped them out! We were a bit toasted by the time we left - great memories.........just one pint this time however............

 The views from the Gravity Bar on the 7th floor are pretty cool.  The bar was super busy but Connor found a window spot...................

We then caught the bus back to where we caught it, found a great Irish pub called the river bar where we stopped for another drink and a great dinner - we were all pretty starving!  Menus in English and food more like New Zealand - the kids were excited.  Connor ordered a kids meal “three little piggies going to the market” which ended up being three big sausages, chips and baked beans - perfect - and he ate the lot.  Mum was excited to see steak on the menu, so that was her sorted.  Lachlan ordered nachos, Karl a burger and I ordered Irish cottage pie and veges - and we ordered an entrée of bbq chicken wings to share…….yummo and not a morsel left on our plates when we had finished - superb! We then walked home along the river to our apartment and it was an early bed time for all.

Bring on tomorrow and the hop-on, hop-off bus tour!