A Scrap of Life

Today was a busy day in Dublin! We started out bright and early for the long walk to our first adventure. We could have taken a bus or taxi, but Brian and I enjoy learning more about a city by walking through it. The temperature was in the 30’s when we left and could be breezy at times so we were glad we had purchased our new wool items yesterday. Along the walk I found my heart for Ireland, which was on the utility covers there. I'm sure it's some logo, but it has a heart and I love it! Kilmainham Gaol was our first stop. It’s an old jail built in the late 1700’s that was in use until the early 1900’s. It housed not only men but also women and children, the youngest only 7 years old. There is so much history in the jail and it helped us understand more about both the history of Ireland and the conditions in which it’s residents lived (and were punished). It held participants from most of the Irish rebellions and our guide shared some of their stories with us in the tour. At th...

Happy Leap Day! In Rome, one of the only English stations we could find on our hotel tv was CNN and it was doom and gloom about the Coronavirus. Then we get an email from the state department yesterday requesting no non-essential travel to Italy. By now, Brian and I were just ready to go. And then we walked outside to meet our car this morning and came upon a huge x in the sky right outside. If that’s not a sign, I don’t know what is. About half our day today was spent in transportation. We had quite a jump to make, going all the way from Rome to our next stop - Dublin, Ireland. Once we arrived and got through security we grabbed a taxi into town. Our driver was quite the introduction to Ireland. Every other word was the f-word or “shite”. He wanted to go over our plans and make sure we weren’t wasting money at the Temple Bar or going to the Guinness storehouse. It was pretty funny. A terrible storm has hit the area and our original plan today was to take a walking tour around town but...