I can't believe I forgot to post about our last two days in Ireland! It's been really busy as we wrap up school at home, so it just slipped my mind. Sorry!
When I booked Noah's and my trip to Ireland, the only good flight for our mileage status out of Dublin was pretty early on Wednesday morning. Since it takes awhile to get to Dublin from Cork, and since Chris was leaving on Tuesday afternoon to fly to Switzerland anyway, I decided Noah and I would enjoy having a day to see a little of Dublin! In fact, I have been to Dublin a couple of times so I asked Noah the day before what he would most like to see. Our tour bus driver told us about Croke Park and the great tours they give, so Noah latched onto that--and that's what we did!
First, we had to take a cab from our hotel on Tuesday morning to the train station. From there, we took the 2-1/2 hour train back up to Dublin. This time, Noah stayed awake for the duration, playing his Switch and looking at the scenery. In Dublin, we had to wait for a shuttle bus to the airport, because we had booked a hotel room on airport property to make Wednesday morning as seamless as possible. We got to the airport drop point and had to pull our bags all the way to the hotel. Our bags were quite heavy and it was a longer walk than it looked; in hindsight, I should have just called the hotel for the shuttle bus. A really kind man on his lunch break walked with us to point us in the right direction, and offered to help Noah with his luggage several times. Noah was very grouchy and hot from pulling the suitcase, but continuously refused help. Once we arrived and checked in, Noah cooled off a little and was ready to go to Croke Park!
We took a cab there since I wasn't very familiar with the local bus stops and it was too far to walk. We had a couple of options for our tour and I was letting Noah take the lead, so of course he didn't pick the awesome Skyline tour in which you get to actually go on TOP of the stadium! Instead, he wanted the tour of the locker rooms and field and so on. Croke Park is the home of Ireland's Gaelic Athletic Association, one of the greatest amateur sporting associations in the world. Croke Park holds 82,300 people and hosts the annual All-Ireland finals in gaelic football and hurling, among other major concerts and events. Noah is really into the Irish sports and learning about them, so I knew he would love the tour.
The Players Lounge, where both teams meet after each game to mingle and show comradery. Amateur sports are unique!
In the Players Lounge, the famous chandelier is made of Waterford crystal hurling balls (sliotars) and Gaelic footballs. The colors can be programmed to reflect the team colors.
The locker room:
The indoor warm-up area:
Heading out onto the field:
In touring Croke Park, we also learned the history behind Bloody Sunday on November 21, 1920 during the Irish War of Independence. During a Gaelic football match here at Croke Park, members of the British military opened fire on the crowd, killing or fatally wounding fourteen civilians and injuring at least sixty others.
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| We found an Austin, TX Gaelic football association! |
The GAA museum was also housed at Croke Park; it had interactive exhibits so we tried hurling and Gaelic football!
After we finished our tour, we ended up walking into downtown Dublin for dinner.
We took the airlink shuttle back to the airport and this time, called the hotel shuttle to come get us. Early to bed for an early morning flight to Philadelphia, a two-hour layover, and finally, HOME!
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| We were so happy to be reunited! |
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