Ireland day 1148. Tuesday 19 November 2024- Christmas Shopping!

Ireland day 1148. Tuesday 19 November 2024- Christmas Shopping
Today’s summary After a relaxing morning sleeping off a hangover(!) we took the train into Dublin to do some early Christmas shopping.   Not usually my favourite pastime, but I enjoyed it.   Lunch at Bewleys then back to the flat and out to Portmarnock in the evening for night-classes
Today’s weather Heavy rain first thing but dry with some brightness later.   Light northerly wind.   Appx 5c
Today’s overview location
(The blue mark shows the location of our route)
Close-up location
(The red mark shows where we walked)
(No GPX today)
Commentary

Last night we discovered we had an unopened bottle of wine left over from our friends’ recent visit so we decided to treat ourselves to a glass.   Suddenly we seemed to have finished off the whole bottle so although I slept well afterwards, I think in punishment we both had a bit of a hangover this morning.   Probably because we don’t normally drink very much so last night’s indulgence came as a bit of a shock to unaccustomed metabolisms.

So that meant a slow morning was in order, dissipating the toxic by-products over a cup of tea.   Anyway, eventually we were feeling somewhat better so decided to use the opportunity of a mostly-free day to head off into Dublin on the train to do some early Christmas shopping.

Shopping of any description isn’t normally my favourite thing, and the Christmas variety especially so.   But actually today turned out OK.   We started out at the National Gallery shop and then moved on from there to Hodges and Figgis bookshop where I wanted to buy a map.   It’s a great shop, despite its slightly strange ownership structure, and wasn’t too busy today.   In fact Dublin seemed to have an ideal level of busy-ness today.   Enough people about to make it feel dynamic, but not so many that we felt hemmed in.

By this stage, we were both feeling hungry so we treated ourselves to a rather nice vegetarian lunch in Bewleys, Grafton Street.   After an enjoyable and relaxed lunch, we crossed the road to Marks and Spencer to buy a Christmas cake and a couple of other bits and pieces.   Although we still had plenty of things left on our list to get, it would have meant a trek across town to O’Connell Street to get to Decathlon, among other shops.   As it was gloomy and cold, we decided to park those non-essential items until a later visit and to beat a retreat to Malahide via Heuston.

We got back about 4:30pm, just as it was getting dark, which gave us plenty of time for another cup of tea and to get our things together for night classes at Portmarnock this evening.   And on that note, I’ll sign off now and go to brush up on my deberes one final time!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)

First stop – the shop at the National Gallery One of the best shops on Dawson Street (where else!)
Bewleys for lunch.   Very nice, but a bit chilly.. ..I had to keep my down jacket on(!)
Just time to check out the Christmas cakes Rather stating the obvious, I thought
Inside Hodges and Figgis.   A real treasure trove, though you need to know where to look
Interactive map

(No map today)

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