Given that we met at an Irish folk session (at the incomparable Dan O'Connell hotel in Melbourne), Ants' visit wouldn't really have been complete without a trip to the Emerald Isle.
Some finds from March had to be revisited - a session in the courtyard at the Cobblestones pub in Smithfield, ending a night at the Talbot with the national anthem, meanderings past the Post Office, the Stein and through St Pats.
But travelling with Anthony also showed me quite a different city to the place I'd visited in spring. There was the Guinness Factory, for starters, and the trip to a local Gardai (police) station to swap badges (and a hat) with Dublin's finest. Glasnevin cemetery, where patriots including Daniel O’Connell, Cathal Brugha and Maude Gonne are at rest, was an eye opener for me. And Ants acquired a curious talent for posing with statues...
Our second best new find of all was the Marion Guesthouse, just of Parnell Square, which came complete with a fully cooked breakfast, bottomless coffee and juice, and patriot songs on the radio every morning.
The best one was our wedding rings... where else were we going to buy claddaghs from?!
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