Another travel day. First breakfast in the hotel (not included as this wasn't a B&B, but expected). Then we checked out, put everything and everyone in the van and I dropped them off at the train station. Then I drove to the car-rental-hole-in-the-wall-not-connected-to-the-auto-dealership place to meet Sheila and drop off the car. Low and behold, Rory wasn't there. No one could find him. Finally he sauntered up at 11:15 am and didn't do anything to officially return the car. I asked him why I was pre-charged for the gasoline (no one had told me I was going to be and at 87 euro this also pissed me off), and we had only used a half a tank of gas. He said he'd change the charge to reflect that I only used half, but I'll believe it when I see it on the charge card. He gave me no receipt different from what I had and I didn't have time to argue. We had an 11:30 train to catch.
Sheila saved the day by driving me to the train station. That also gave her the opportunity to say goodbye to everyone.The first train to Limerick Junction was pretty rickety in comparison to most of what we had ridden on this trip. The second train was much nice are rocked back and forth less.
We arrived in Dublin at 2:30 and walked to the taxi stop. Fortunately we were able to get just one cab to the dorms. Ruben worked his magic and got the driver to give us an impromptu "tour" of the city as he was driving by various points of interest.
The dorms at the Royal College of Surgeons are located on Lower Mercer Street, near Grafton street and St. Steven's Green. The college apparently rents out the rooms during the summers when the students aren't there. The prices are relatively cheap, but they're spartan - dorm rooms, but they gave us really nice sheets, pillows, duvet and towels. The bathrooms are tiny, but each room has one. We came up the stairs, opened a door to find two more doors, one on each side of the hall. The rooms are clustered in groups of 4 behind these locked doors. We were all on one floor, but the problem was that Elias and Matthew were in one set of 4 rooms and we were in the other. Plus there weren't any phones to call between. This is the one place I worried aobut the kids being "separated" - but in the end it was fine. Michelle was in the same group of 4 as the kids (in a single) so there was an adult available for them if there was a problem. Kate was in a single room in our group of 4.
After settling in we wandered Grafton Street. We found McDaids where Kate and Michelle were going to meet Kate's friend Laura. Our family was too hungry to wait long for dinner, so we went to a great place called Wagamama. This place was great, I wish they had them here. (Addendum! Apparently they are opening one in Boston in early 2007. We may be taking a trip there!) I tried a drink while I was there called Kombucha - I have to find that here as well.
We walked around a bit and found yet another internet cafe, hung out by St. Steven's Green (while Ruben took Elias to the park inside). Weirdness: The sign states you can't have playing balls in the park. Funny: Matthew decided he needed to bring a frisbee into the park. It's not against the rules! We had desert at Butlers Chocolates. Then we went back to the dorms for bed.
