August 2025: Our First Trip to Ireland: Day 7

Day 7: Friday August 15, 2025

It’s moving day again! On to the part of the trip that Nick and I were least looking forward to and dad was most looking forward to.

But first, breakfast! After getting ready, we met at the hotel breakfast around the time they opened. We all enjoyed this breakfast again, and agreed it had been the best of the trip.

After breakfast we headed back to our rooms to get our luggage. This was interesting on the second floor, since a tour company was heaping luggage carts with the luggage for everyone on their tour. But we navigated well.

When we got back downstairs with our luggage, Nick hustled to the car park to get the car before the tour buses rolled in while I checked out. Laura and dad appeared shortly after, and we met Nick out front, where we loaded up the car and set off for Dublin.

The drive back to the Dublin Airport was pretty uneventful. The first part was a lot of local (tiny) roads, but eventually we reached the motorway, and then it was much easier driving. We stopped once at a service plaza and found it to (unsurprisingly, given the ones we’d seen on the drive to Northern Ireland at the start of the trip) be pretty much exactly like the service plazas in the States and then filled the gas tank close to the airport.

When we got to DUB, we followed the directions the rental car company had given me and pretty easily found where to return the car. Given the damage, we expected the process to take awhile, but it actually was pretty quick. He took pictures and a description of what happened, joked with us about the roads and car parks, and explained that they’d take an estimate deposit that would exceed the work, and then when the work was done, they’d refund whatever excess there was. And all documentation would be emailed to me so I could submit to the credit card company insurance. And honestly, the estimate was less than I expected, so while still painful, that was a relief.

That whole process took less than 10 minutes. We rejoined dad and Laura who had made their way towards the elevators to the terminal, and then we worked our way through the arrivals hall back outside to the taxi stand. Here there was a decent line, but it moved efficiently. They had a system, with a couple of people directing groups to appropriately sized taxis. We ended up in a Volkswagen van. Our taxi driver was chatty in a good way, and he gave us some tips while navigating traffic and streets that convinced me Boston roads must have been modeled after Dublin’s. We ALL were glad that the rental car had been returned and our driving was done for this trip!

We made it safely to our final hotel of the stay, the Harding Hotel, where our taxi driver very strategically unloaded and placed our luggage to prevent it from rolling down the hill (he’s clearly unloaded luggage here before!), and then we headed inside to check in.

It was still well before check-in (1:30 pm?) so I fully expected we would be storing our luggage. But surprisingly all of our rooms were ready and after a few minutes, we all were headed upstairs to our rooms. I think Nick and I were in 510. Dad and Laura were both on other floors. Nick and I found our room easily enough. Nick described it as “quaint”. For a room that looked old, I was really impressed by how clean it was. We both were more than satisfied with this room.

After ditching the luggage we headed downstairs to meet dad and Laura. We then headed further downstairs to Darkey Kelly’s for lunch. Getting seated was a bit of a process, but once we were seated, lunch was very good. I know dad and I both got the ham and cheese sandwich (panini really) which combined mozzarella and cheddar with the ham. I thought it was the best ham and cheese sandwich of my life to be honest. Combining those two cheeses with the ham was brilliant. I also had an O’Hara’s cider, which was better than Bulmar’s or Cronin, but still not as good as Rockshore and Orchard Thieves. Nick probably had bangers and mashed. Laura…no clue. But, overall the food was good, and more importantly did the job. We were hungry!

After lunch we set out to explore Dublin. The first stop was one for Dad, the Carhartt WIP store, or as the rest of us were calling it, Bougie Carhartt. As NH folks, we all appreciate Carhartt quality, but Dad is all about Carhartt. There is very little in his wardrobe that isn’t Carhartt. I’m pretty sure he was even wearing Carhartt at my wedding. So, he was excited to hear about the new designer Carhartt line, Carhartt WIP, that is in some cities, including Dublin. However, this stop was a bust. Seemed more like a display of (this part the rest of us had assumed) their bougie Carhartt clothes than a store to really stop at. Not sure if it functions like a shoe store where the stock is out back or if you have to order the stuff, but even dad basically walked in and walked out.

 
From here, we walked towards our next destination, very early, passing the Molly Malone statue along the way. When we found the Irish Whiskey Museum a block or so later, we were really early so we shopped in a couple of the stores close to the museum and then hung around outside the museum, taking in…Dublin. I think most of us came to the same conclusion pretty quickly. Dublin is basically Boston, with better architecture, thicker accents and double decker buses. They even have duck boats. It’s crazy peopley here too.

Eventually it was an appropriate time to check in for our “tour” at the Irish Whiskey Museum so we headed inside. This was about a 30 minute guided tour experience talking about the history of Irish whiskey overall, followed by a whiskey sampling at the end. The museum part was pretty interesting and well done. The whiskeys at the end were pretty terrible.

 
From here, it was time for the quintessential Dublin experience. We walked a couple blocks and very easily found Temple Bar. So did, apparently, thousands of other people. It was nuts around here. We walked in to say we did. The music was good, but the crowds were intense.

 
Our next step was basically next to Temple Bar. It was the Whiskey Reserve, and, while we all enjoyed it, it was definitely up Dad’s alley. Quiet and a massive selection of whiskeys, with a decor of rare whiskeys. Dad and Nick had…whiskey. Laura had a vodka and soda water. And I had a very American Malibu and Coke.

 

Drinks enjoyed, we headed back to our hotel, marveling at how peopley Dublin was this weekend. Back at the hotel, we listened to the near constant ringing of the bells at Christ Church Cathedral, which was across the street. I discovered that on Fridays they do bell ringing practice at the cathedral.

The bells did not stop me, however from crashing hard. I was TIRED. We even missed texts from dad about going out for a late dinner, which honestly was totally fine. Both of us crashed early and dad and Laura apparently found a good dinner across the street.