“My heart is quite calm now. I will go back.”
― James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

We only had two days to enjoy it, but we rung a lot of pleasure out of 48 hours in Dublin.

We ate at pubs specialising in traditional music (referred to as “trad”), and wandered Temple Bar following the sound of fiddles.

We stumbled upon hidden gems. Outside of Queen of Tarts we found a very small market where I fell in desperate love with a stall that sells old maps and reproductions with an appropriate name and signage…

When not at Cow’s Lane, he’s found just outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Which is great because I walked away from a glorious reproduction map of an late 19th, early 20th century publication detailing “Dublin’s Greatest Evil” and marks every then-operating pub in the city. I immediately regretted this decision and so when we quite literally stumbled upon the seller again in another part of the city, I parted with some euros gladly.

Even better, we happened to be in town on the right day to enjoy a once-a-month flea market that I fully intend on going back to enjoy someday because it was stuffed with treasure. London is great for antique or vintage shopping but it can get pricey really quickly. This place by comparison had some really good deals and I had to restrain myself from making furniture purchases because at the end of the day, we still live in a shoebox. But someday…

The market has an indoor space as well for food, books, prints, and collectibles that was also great to explore. Dogs were everywhere which on the one hand was a lot of fun and on the other, exacerbated our puppy lust something fierce.

48 hours flew by and Kelsey and Cody had to jet off to the Isle of Man to enjoy the grand prix (as one does, darling), but we naturally had to first repair to safe ground for a fortifying snack pre-flight…

Before catching a flight a la James Bond, by walking out on the tarmac. In the still (not to harp on this, but seriously) gorgeous weather.

We’re planning a return trip, obviously.