Luglio: July 2018

Because we have the world's best travel agent, we got to switch a ten hour layover into an overnight in Dublin. In stark contrast to the last four weeks of our lives, the weather was cold and rainy. Normally, I'd kill for a day like this, but it wasn't ideal to for it to be this particular day, given that we had four hours of waking hours in the city!

Our hotel was right next to Croke Park where there was a HUGE couple of hurling games happening over the course of the next two days. It was so much like the atmosphere around Fenway or Gillette before a game. Crowds making their way down the surrounding streets, vendors selling foam fingers and flags. This particular game was county Clare vs. Galway. We walked for a bit with a couple of old guys, one of whom said, If you go to church today, say a pray for Galway! :) Turns out the game was called and has to be replayed due to fighting or some damn thing.

We arrived from Lisbon at 2 am and got a cab after a bit of a wait (naturally, since it was quite late). The hotel was near (thanks to the Travel Goddess who is my travel agent) so we were in bed by 2:30. Up at 8 for continental breakfast in the executive lounge because, yes, she upgraded us to a suite and access to this lounge.

We then ventured out to find the perfect place for lunch --- fish stew and Guiness. The walk was pretty nasty.. cold and rainy and it's hard for two people who are almost a foot apart in height to share an umbrella comfortably. If I hold it, he gets poked in the eye; if he holds it, I get soaked in that foot area of difference.

Now for the pics:

Tidy little yards.

The value of this reminder cannot be underestimated!

That's Croke Park looming above the row houses.

This guy was giving a sports report outside the stadium -- in Gaelic :)

This was the sweetest café with an even sweeter clientele. Two mothers and their chubby Irish babies having tea on a rainy Saturday morning.

A happy camper :)

I can never understand how lush the flowers are in Italy --- it being so very dry. But in Ireland, it's not surprise. Just as breathtaking, nonetheless.

And that's all I've got for now. Thanks for following!

I guess this second and last Lisbon post will be photos and captions. We've had a nice week here. Very different from what we usually do because we aren't used to traveling or being tourists. We usually just go to Italy and stay put. And work. So it's tiring and trying. I'm not usually ready to come home after a week in Italy, but after three weeks in Italy and one week in Portugal being a tourist, I'm ready.

As I mentioned at some point, we've been walking a TON... and never without the camera.

When I load these pics in, they come out in any old order, which is totally annoying...

Cool restaurant signage.

Love locks like in Paris.

The streets are cobblestones of white and black, REALLY SHINY! And slippery!

These trams are nuts. We were in this little entryway and one went by. We didn't go on one. I don't image it was any kind of unique must-do experience. Plus we didn't know where we'd end up or how to get back.

One night at dinner there was this commotion. We never did find out what the deal was.

Darn, the photo doesn't capture what I'd intended it to. This kid's hair was the same color as those geraniums.

A brilliant splash of color.

That's a fish in a pond in a weird park we found.

And these guys -- at one point there were three turtles on top of each other (I think there are FOUR here). I said, a menage a trois, not realizing I was standing next to a bunch of French people. They got a good laugh!

One sweet rose.

There was this dig going on that Fred found perplexing because it attracted so many onlookers. He took me to it... and I figured out why...

BONES!

This is my idea of a beer and a wine :)

Candles in a church. Fred goes into all of them...

Playing with focus, and lack thereof.

More focus play.

A man and woman of the cloth.

This tile business is over the top.

This guy's sticker was on a bus stop shelter. Must look him up, this Bobby Dazzler! OH, for God's sake. It's two young illlustration students who went into business designing and producing silly stuffed creatures (think Ugly Doll). Not the flamboyant gay performer I had envisioned to be Bobby Dazzler...

Just a shot.

Just another shot.

Lisbon roofs.

Okay, this is the type of cast I'm talking about... the count DOUBLED in Lisbon! Up to about ten now... which blows up my theory about the connection between reckless Vespa driving and casts. There are no Vespas here to speak of... So, the new theory is that we in the US use different methods of setting bones in place now. We have moved on from the big white plaster casts.

This cute couple danced to the buskers playing Bob Marley -- "Everything's Gonna Be Alright."
They made everyone watching smile. It was sweet.

Lisbon is hilly.

Shepard Fairey strikes again.

This was in a huge market with fresh fruit, vegetables, fish, meats, nuts, and an eating section. AKA Quincy Market.

Same place.

Very cute little trams!

We had a drink on a rooftop bar -- one of many! Rooftop bars, that is... not drinks ;)

Freddie!

Cairns extraordinaire!

Created by this guy.. on the coast of Lisbon, along the banks of the Tagus River.

This is that market.

Funny, these two little tiny fish were next to a big case of really big ones.

So two peacocks walk in to a bar....
Fred's caption was funny --- "Table for two?"

I posted this already, but it was interesting. It was wire letters, some kind of public art, that said "Don't be mean." But the last two letters of the word "mean" were all distorted, seemingly vandalized. The question is, was this the artist's statement? Did the artist mangle those letters? Or did a passerby?

Me shooting Fred shooting a tiled building.

Haven't mentioned this yet. Canned fish is HUGE in Lisbon. This store is devoted to about 15 different types of canned fish. All with exquisite packaging. Photo below, credit to https://www.mundofantasticodasardinha.pt/