Still destroyed from Hogmanay night, we had to spend a few hours waiting in Dublin Airport for Tom, whose flight from Frankfurt was delayed and then he was stopped by immigration for an hour and questioned about his trip. Apparently it raised a flag since he had been in Zagreb the week before for Christmas, and had come from Germany before that, yet claimed (quite truthfully) to be an American citizen. What further worked against him was the fact that he didn’t know any of our travel arrangements, save that he was meeting me in the arrivals hall. Finally, though (and only after an early morning call, on New Year’s Day, to my house back in the states to verify Tom’s story), he made it through and we caught an AirLink into College Green, then hoofed it with all our luggage over to the hostel on Merchant’s Quay, which was slightly farther than I had expected it to be.
After a short nap and dropping off laundry, we tried to eat at the Boxty House in Temple Bar, but it was as popular/crowded as ever, so we headed to the nearby Bad Ass Café. Then, I took everyone but Jen on a walking tour of the city centre, hitting some of my old haunts like Hourican’s and the Temple Bar. The courtyard of the latter establishment was chock full of Scots in kilts, making us feel right at home after being at Hogmanay.
It was so nice, however briefly, to be back in Dublin, dirty oul’ town that it is.
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