The Grass is Always Greener in the Country

After a very late night, the girls were groggy this morning and trying to gather excitement for their coastal bus trip outside of the city. We were booked on a 4 and 1/2 hour bus tour heading south of Dublin along the coast of Dublin Bay to Powerscourt Estate.

All weekend I kept seeing a sign for Tim Horton's at the corner store called SPAR. So just before we boarded the bus, I ran to SPAR to buy a Tim Horton's tea and a muffin. Tim Horton's donuts are also available at the grocery store around the corner from our apartment. It's very strange to see Tim Horton's outside of Canada, especially in Ireland, where I expected they would have their own tea/coffee shops. The donuts are large and the muffins are shaped differently compared to home.

We sat up on the double-decker part of the bus, but after a while both PM and PMW went to the lower level because they were frozen. The upper level provides great views of the river, the cottages surrounding the dockyards, the Bay, which looked freezing and of the small towns we travelled through. Finally, we arrived at Powerscourt Estate and did a little shopping then explored the landscape. V and C spent more time outside and saw the Pet Cemetary. The Estate is enormous with a great staircase to Triton Lake and anchored by the Winged Horses. It must beautiful there in the summer time with all the flowers in bloom in the Japanese Gardens, Italian Garden, ad the Walled Garden. The Powerscourt Estate has been featured in films such as Braveheart and Henry V.

The central perron:

The Spitting Men:

Triton Lake behind the Winged Horses:

Powerscourt Estate:

Statue of Victory:

Statue of Diana:

Statue of Apollo Belvedere:

Once back in Dublin, we started packing our bags and went out to do some last minute shopping. It was a whirlwind weekend just as I expected, but the sight-seeing, shopping, and nights out in the pubs were wonderful. I couldn't have asked for anything more. Dublin is a great place to start/finish a trip to Ireland. One day I would like to return and see more of Ireland.