ABD Ireland-Leaving in a week but.....

[Tozzie]

I am leaving in exactly one week for my ABD Ireland tour. I am also sitting here a bit frazzled as I am a planner and and I realized I haven't planned a darned thing yet to do for the two pre days. I did get a little side tracked by my health issues but time seems to have still gotten away from me. Oh well I am still home sick from work so I think the next couple of days I will be doing a lot of reading and internet searching.

If anyone has any suggestions for Dublin let me know, I am thinking of taking a three hour train ride to the town where my Grandmother was born, other than that I am open to suggestions.

 

[sayhello]

Tozzie, I've never been to Dublin, so I have no suggestions. But I just wanted to say HAVE A FABULOUS TIME!!!!

Sayhello

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Dublin has great city bus tours that you can get on and off when you want (havent done one in a couple of years but we loved it)-they cover all the sights and are very good! Kilmainham jail is also worth a visit (covers the history of the Easter uprising etc). and we love the zoo there.

 

[jjb52]

I am leaving in exactly one week for my ABD Ireland tour. I am also sitting here a bit frazzled as I am a planner and and I realized I haven't planned a darned thing yet to do for the two pre days. I did get a little side tracked by my health issues but time seems to have still gotten away from me. Oh well I am still home sick from work so I think the next couple of days I will be doing a lot of reading and internet searching.

If anyone has any suggestions for Dublin let me know, I am thinking of taking a three hour train ride to the town where my Grandmother was born, other than that I am open to suggestions.

We did two predays (1 extra night) in Dublin last year on our trip. I know when we first arrived we took a 2 hour nap, then showered and had lunch at the hotel. We then did the hop on hop off bus that afternoon and did not get off as it is a 24 hour ticket and we planned on using it the next day too. For our first evening we arranged an Irish Folk Tour called "An Evening of Food, Folklore and Fairies" at the Brazen Head pub which is Dublin's oldest pub. It included a candlelit dinner with a storyteller who covered the lives of Irish people long ago. Music and stories and a nice meal from 7-10pm for 44 Euros. It was very good and I'm glad we chose it for our one evening in Dublin. The concierge at the hotel made the reservation for us. We did the hop on hop off bus our second days there. So many places to see and so little time so just get off if you think you might be interested. We spend a couple hours in the National Museum of Ireland-Archaeology-it is free. It was very interesting. There was a parade that afternoon in the Temple Bar area so our bus got stuck in traffic. We got off and window shopped our way back to the hotel and rested before the welcome dinner. We did a nice slow pace as it was my 82 year old Mom and my sister and me. You do quite a bit each day on this trip and we did not want to wear my Mom out right away. I do wish we would have stayed another day at the Castle-it was delightful there. You will have a great trip. We went the end of June into July last year and the weather was spectacular-I think we only had misty rain part of one day.

 

[WeLoveABD]

I echo the praise of the Hop On Hop Off bus--we used it over a two day period (24 hours) and it worked great. Be sure to get off and see the jail--nice tour (they sometimes stage plays there too). We loved a pub called "The Duke" in the downtown district (on a side street off of Gafton St). The parks are great for roaming and exercise...and do go see the Book of Kells at Trinity College.

 

[swandiverpatt]

We were in Dublin July of 2009 and took a small bus out to the burial mounds at Newgrange & Knowth in the Boyne River Valley. It was one of the highlights of our trip. We used Over the Top Tours and they picked us up at our hotel. It was around 17 Euro.

 

[Stringman]

Hi there, just felt i should warn you, that you'll be arriving into dublin in the middle of the first ever state visit of the queen of England, and as this is a historic and sensitive event, due to the history between britian and Ireland, the security round the city is gonna be big, so might disrupt some of your movements round the town, with road closures, and such. This added to the fact that obamas due in town, a couple of days later, and there's a big euro football final match at the end of the week, it means dublins not going to be its normal self next week. On the plus side, if you can live with the major security round the place, it could add some extra fun to your trip if the queen passes you by on the street. Hope you enjoy your trip, and you get to see all you want to.

 

[Tozzie]

Hi there, just felt i should warn you, that you'll be arriving into dublin in the middle of the first ever state visit of the queen of England, and as this is a historic and sensitive event, due to the history between britian and Ireland, the security round the city is gonna be big, so might disrupt some of your movements round the town, with road closures, and such. This added to the fact that obamas due in town, a couple of days later, and there's a big euro football final match at the end of the week, it means dublins not going to be its normal self next week. On the plus side, if you can live with the major security round the place, it could add some extra fun to your trip if the queen passes you by on the street. Hope you enjoy your trip, and you get to see all you want to.

Thanks for the info but I think I will be fine I live in NYC, so every major head of state has visited at one time or another and then we always have the pleasure of the week long UN General Assembly in Sept every year, where almost every head of state is in NY at the same time. I am used to that and I won't have a problem with it. I do appreciate the heads up.

 

[Tozzie]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, I think I will do the hop on and hop off bus I would definetly like to see the Jail and some of the other sights. I also want to do the Ghost Bus tour and I am going to make reservations for that.

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Hope you have a great time in Dublin. Make sure to try some Butlers chocolates and Thorntons Toffee!Irish specialities and very Yummy

 

[heartse]

I also recommend the hop on hop off tour. Don't forget to go to the Guiness brewery.

 

[Tozzie]

I do thank everyone for the responses and while I had decided on several things to do and visit, I now have to alter my plans due to the Visit of the Queen of England. What I have decided to do is to is make a list of things I want to do and when I get to the Hotel I will ask the staff the best course of action due to the closure. I had booked the Ghost Tour for Thursday night and recieved an email today that the tour is not operating on Tues and Wednesday due to the visit and now the company does not know if it will take place on Thursday either, They will let me know but will also be able to switch me to Friday if it doesn't operate on Thursday. If I weren't so used to this type of security precautions I might be a very frustrated traveler but I will just work around the issues.

 

[sayhello]

Hey, I just realized Tozzie must be in Ireland by now!!! I hope you're having a FANTASTIC trip, Tozzie!

Sayhello

 

[WeLoveABD]

And say hello to the Queen for us! (Or I should say, Say Hello says hello, along with the rest of us disboarders!)