After a long day of travel and on an hour or so of sleep, we rolled into Dublin as the sun rose over Ireland.

We found our way to our Air B&B and gratefully bathed, ate, and (despite our best efforts to not nap until dark) fell asleep mid-day Irish time – exhausted, excited, and a bit overstimulated by our through-the-night travel to a city bigger than those we normally explore.

Despite sirens and honking outside our windows, we all slept deeply (though we limited ourselves to an hour or two, in hopes of a decent rest at nightfall), then set off across the road (oh, the traffic!) to lay in some supplies from the butcher, fruit shop, and corner grocery.

I let the kids talk me into fresh bread, grassfed Irish butter (because: duh!), and marmalade – among other local treats. (All food rules are off at the moment, as we explore the flavors of this new culture and country.) And as folks who never refrigerate our fresh eggs at home, all of us delighted in finding them stored in the grocery isles here, rather than the coolers. 

We spent the rest of the day drinking copious amounts of Irish tea to help us stay awake and reset our clocks. The only venturing out we did on our first day was a short walk around the neighborhood where we're staying, but today we're off to see the Trinity College Library and the Book of Kells, then explore Dublin by foot until we're too tired to carry on. 

Tomorrow we depart by car, headed for the west of Ireland. (So I think lunch in a Dublin pub is in order today as well.) 

I'll share more again soon.

Until then, from Ireland – slán!

Rachel