In Dublin at last....

I have finally arrived in Dublin.  I did write that last post sitting on the plane, but it took off before I could load it.  You'll notice an odd time stamp...not sure how that happened.  Getting to my home in Dublin was a bit of an experience.  Our (Tanya is with me for this first leg of the trip) flight to Dublin from Boston was cancelled.  The nice folks at Aer Lingus got us on a flight to Shannon instead, and arranged bus transport for us from there to Dublin.  The flight was leaving Boston right away, so they held it and ran us through the Boston airport, taking us to the front of the long security line (sorry to all those we bypassed) and got us on the plane.  We arrived in Shannon around 7:30am (Ireland time) and on this end the Aer Lingus staff ushered us through customs and to a waiting bus.  It was a 2 1/2 hour trip across the Irish countryside, but hey, that's why I'm traveling...to see other places.

Flying into Ireland is much as you would expect: very, very green.  The rolling hillsides are like a patchwork quilt made from every shade of green imaginable.  Cultivated farm lands are separated by straight lines of trees.  It's lovely.  Driving in from Shannon, I was amazed at how much the landscape is similar to that of the upstate area of SC that you see from the interstates.  Lots of fields, cows, horses, etc.  The difference is that here, there may by an ancient castle thrown in along the way or perhaps just a turret left from a castle.  I saw three of those disembodied turrets in the first hour of the drive.  It makes one wonder what happened to the rest of the fortress.

I am now writing from the balcony of my apartment in the cathedral district.  We are about to go out and wander a bit in search of some Irish grub.  The view from my balcony is below.  That's St. Patrick's Cathedral just across the street. 

More later!