Day 8
Saturday, September 3
The next morning we walked to a restaurant a few blocks away, Expresso Bar Café, where we were able to get something other than a full Irish breakfast. (By the way, black pudding is like a sausage made with pig’s blood. Get away from me!) Expresso Bar had been mentioned in my everpresent guidebook, and was well worth the mention. We also ate dinner there on Saturday night. After breakfast, we took a cab to Kilmainham Gaol (jail). I’ve never been a big student of history, but this jail was sobering and interesting. I will be looking for books about the Easter Rising of 1916 to try to fully understand what happened there. After the jail tour, we decided to take the hop-on-hop-off bus tour of Dublin. After driving through Phoenix Park and learning the president of Ireland and the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland live across the street from one ‘nother, we hopped off the bus at Ryan’s of Parkgate Street, a pub known for its Victorian style and open since 1886. After lunch, we got back on the bus and hopped off around Henry Street and O’Connell Street, the main shopping district on the north side of the River Liffey. The street was packed with shoppers on a Saturday afternoon. Just a sea of people!
After searching in vain for suitable gifts for friends back home, we made our way back to the hotel, then back to Expresso Bar for dinner.