Cross Country!

Wednesday we awoke to another stunning blue sky day.  We were up early (Frank had to get the car from the car park by 8:30) and down to Coco's for breakfast. I enjoyed a bowl of Irish oats- i love this stuff.  Then we were off in search of the N2/M2 across the country towards Dublin.  The signage once again was so easy to follow and we were on the highway in no time.  The main motorways have speed limits of 100-120 Km/hr so we were making good time on our eastward journey.  We had debated making a sided trip to Newgrange and were not sure if we could squeeze it in?  But we were at Trim (the turn off point) by noon and figured it was worth the side trip.  We turned and were once again on all the small side roads that are hair raising to navigate.  We stopped for gas (diesel) too at this point- we had travelled about 900km's using about 3/4 of a tank- pretty impressive.
WE meandered through the small towns towards Newgrange- wishing we had time to stop at them- Trim castle looks gorgeous! We found ourselves at the parking lot and took the long walk down to the visitor centre- when we arrive we were informed that the next tour left at 1:45pm ( you have to catch a bus there).  Well it was a little later than we had hoped but we had come this far.  We had a snack and then browsed the display talking about Newgrange. This stone mound- is built with such precision that on the Winter Solstice a bean of light enters the long tunnel and then lights up an interior cavern about 50 m down- but only on the solstice. Wow.
We made our way to the bus for our 5 minute ride and arrived at this site in the middle of the fields.  This site was built 500 years BEFORE the great pyramids. Our tour guide- frank- was awesome- cut, dried and to the point.  We walked the outside of this mound and saw the stone engravings that they have no idea what they mean.  Then we got to enter the tunnel and down to the cavern.  All built with stacked stone and huge pieces that had apparently come for the Wicklow Mountains 600km's away!  The small round cavern was cold and just amazing to see.  We all crowded round as Frank simulated what the winter solstice would look like- pretty incredible.  After an hour at this site we were back on the bus- parking lot bound and Dublin after that.
Back on the road and we were at the car drop off by 4pm.  We had decided we didn't need a car in Dublin.  We caught a cab and were at the North Star Hotel by 4:30.  WE deposited our bags, freshened up and hit the streets.  Our hotel was north of the Liffey- we walked down O'Connell street and were at the Liffey and bridges in 10 minutes, we crossed and were in Temple Bar district. A great vibrant area- we found the famous Temple Bar and then we were in search of dinner.  We saw the Norseman pub and restaurant, love music and all and headed up stairs. The beef stew was so good and the girls had some good burgers too.  After dinner we took a stroll up to the main street- the girls found a candy store and i saw a horse and buggy go by - flagging him down he promised to be back in 5 minutes.  We climbed aboard and had a lovely night tour of the city- the Guinness store, castle, churches and back to our hotel for a curbside drop off.  Then it was up to bed for the girls - Frank and I had a drink in the bar and then we were all out for the night- before our heads hit the pillow.