We arrived in country at 5am today.  55 degrees and rainy.  We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.  Our hotel was nice enough to let us check in extremely early, so we didn’t have to lug our bags around town for the day.  We enjoyed some tea brewed in our tiny in-room tea pot, figured out how the lights worked, where the towels were hidden (dresser drawer labeled “Towels”), and had fun noticing things like the retractable clothesline in the bathroom, and then headed out on the town.  We walked from our hotel in the general direction of the city center.  We’re pretty low key tourists.  Eliot saved my life once during the walk and I saved his life at least four times.  (Look left for the traffic Americans!)  We stumbled upon a place along the way that advertised free range chicken eggs and local suppliers and we tucked into some very large breakfast plates.  It was delicious, but the sleepiness that overcame us afterwards was intense.  We managed to make it to the National Museum and all the way through the Viking section before we gave up and headed back to the hotel for a nap.  We had a nice discussion about how this was the worst approach to adjusting to the time change en route and then we slept for three hours.  We got up around four and headed out into some driving rain.  San Antonio is desperate for this kind of soaking and our rain jackets were working, so we splashed along happily to the closest bus station.  Eliot was like a little boy when he realized the buses were all double decker.  In any event, we drank our requisite Guinness(es) and listened to lovely music and made it back to the hotel just as it was getting dark.  10:30pm.

We’ll head out to Connemara National Park tomorrow and link up with the members of the US Team.   I’m guessing there won’t be internet access at the lodge we’re staying at, but you never know.  Fingers crossed for blogging.  🙂

PS.  It is so much fun to hang out with Eliot.