We tried to sleep in a bit this morning, but we were still up by 6:30 AM. Howie went for a run while the rest of us cleaned up and made coffee. We discovered that a fledgling (huge) seagull had managed to trap itself at the bottom of our steps into the BnB and was unable to escape. After searching for the Ireland SPCA and other ideas to rescue (remove, relocate) the avian intruder, Deb, the bird whisperer, finally stumbled on the solution. She stepped out the front door and began laying bits of torn bread bits, up the steps and out into the street. Lo and behold, the intruder got the hint and hopped up the steps, out onto the sidewalk. It stopped, looked both ways as taught and then hopped down the street. Crisis solved.
Deb & Mark were scheduled to meet Zoe and the children, along with Zoe’s mother Bernadette Cleary at the National Gallery at 10:50. As this was also a destination for the Needelmans, we all left the premises together and proceeded in the light rain to the Gallery entrance across from the Merrion Park. First we stopped at the statue of Oscar Wilde and listened to the Statue Speaks bit on the iPhone app. An illuminating bit of history and a truly remarkable statue, by Sculptor Danny Greene. According to Wikipedia, “since marble alone was deemed inadequate, the statue was formed from different coloured stones from three continents. The torso is of green nephrite jade from British Columbia, Canada, and pink thulite from Norway. The legs are of Norwegian Blue Pearl granite with the shoes being black Indian charnockite and finished with bronze shoelace tips. The statue also wears a Trinity College tie made from glazed porcelain, and three rings – Wilde's wedding ring and two scarabs, one for good luck, the other for bad luck.”
At the appointed hour we crossed the street to the National gallery entrance, Howie and Lee split off to spend the rest of the day viewing the galleries, and Deb and Mark to meet their friends. After hugs and kisses all around, adults and children repaired to the coffee shop for a chat. The girls were satisfied with some Danish pastries while the adults had coffee, a ham and cheese breakfast sandwich and coffee. We caught up on each other’s travels to the Emerald Isle and the Highlands’ plans for their move. After the girls became restless and Arthur had been fed and tucked into his stroller in the hopes of a nap, we headed to the children’s active art section where they were able to ”create” their own art while the adults chatted.
After bathroom breaks, we left the Gallery and crossed back to Merrion Park and the children’s playground. We spent a good hour at the playground visiting, while the girls climbed the paraphernalia and demanded pushes on the swings. Eventually, we departed the playground and walked over to Grafton Street, the pedestrian shopping area that runs through the center of the district. Our goal was the McDonald’s restaurant, where we found a large table and ordered Kid’s Meals, McFlurries, french fries and coffees. After this break we steered off onto Grafton Street for a walk and eventually parted company, a marvellous four and one-half hour visit with a sad departure but a promise to see them all again next year as we now have a regular reason to visit Ireland.
Deb & Mark stopped at a Zoe recommended pub, Neary’s, for a beer and Aperol Spritz before catching a cab with their recovered extra suitcase and back to the BnB.
Needelmans had returned some 45 minutes earlier. We had a glass of wine and planned our evening meal. We settled on walking to a nearby pub, McGratton’s and dined on Guinness, Smithwick’s Ale, bangors & mash, and shephard’s pie. We walked back to the BnB, stopping at the Tesco for milk and butter for tomorrow’s breakfast and coffee. We settled in to watch the final 2 hour episode of Stranger Things and then retired for the evening, watching as the Irish Sunshine (rain) drifted down from the skies onto the green of this island nation.
