Flew to Dublin after an uncomfortably early wakeup call. The Finnair flight to London was as smooth as they come, but troubles started upon landing in the UK.
The Aer Lingus shuttle was delayed, and no gate information was given. Clearly an opportunity for an early lunch. Which Giraffe in Terminal Three served in the form of huevos rancheros.
In addition to being late, the flight to Dublin was very crowded. Took no chances with checked-in luggage on the inbound trip and had two pieces of baggage – recipe for trouble on a plane where the overhead compartments were full way before I boarded.
Cab to the hotel seemed to take a roundabout route. Then again, it was the cup final in the neighboring stadium and that might have closed some routes for traffic.
The hotel, D4 Ballsbridge Inn, turned out quite dingy. The rooms were large, but that’s about the sole good thing about them. The bed was straight out of a jesuit training centre, the faucets predictably british and drippy, the carpet soiled thoroughly in the years in service.
The environment was packed with football fans – Sligo fans in the hotel and Shamrock fans everywhere else.
Downtown was a soccer-free zone. Had the first pint of Guinness at the first opportunity (in such a hurry that the name of the bar went unnoted – on the corner of O’Connell Street and the Liffey River) and that eased matters a lot.
A slow Sunday meant that a lot of restaurants were closed. Settled on Winding Stair (after a long walk) next to Liffey. Sheep kidneys for starter, a pork chop for the main course and an apple cobbler for dessert, accompanied by a very nice amarone. Much better than expected, and the environment was far from the usual pub fare.
After a final pint (Smithwick’s, for a change) in the Temple Bar in Temple Bar (drunken locals and tourists both milling around) it was time to head back to the hotel for a decent sleep before the early morning wakeup for the conference.
As they say in Spinal Tap.
Began the day again at Sapori, the alternate breakfast spots on Horseferry Road were not open on the weekend.
The Kew Gardens was a big area. And unlike, say the tightly-packed Montreal Botanic Gardens, the sights were rather far apart from each other. Most of the greenhouses were ancient, the Princess of Wales memorial the only truly modern environment amongst them. The plantlife varied from commonplace trees to plants that have already vanished from nature. Unsurprisingly a lot of the content originates from the former colonies of the british empire.
Ate a quick lunch at the Pavillion restaurant and noted that it’s under protection from New York’s most beloved superhero. Someone had forgotten a Spiderman toy on the premises and it had ended up in a vantage position in a fence.
The last greenhouse of the day contained multiple biomes – moving from deserts (a very nice collection of living stones of 
The next target was 
Rambling around the area revealed yet another old theatre (Rose, almost next door), a hen party (surprisingly well-behaved), and an on-the-wall mosaic Bub (from 
Along the way back to the hotel stopped in a semi-posh restaurant for a refresher. Northbank served a very passable selection of drinks, even though their mint storage had run dry so that no mojitos were available.
I broke the fifty reviews-barrier at 
Been slowly adding reviews to the 
The game reviewing gig for Helsingin Sanomat ran dry after the weekly Nyt-supplement got rid of most of its fixed content.
Consecutive late nights are not very conducive to long entries in the blog.
Rode the metro downtown again, this time with the full complement of luggage.
Walked into downtown Kifissia for dinner.
Had my very first meal in a 
Had dinner in Golden Adler, the oldest restaurant I’ve eaten in (the advertising alleged that it was founded already in 1390).
Ate twice in Cafe Sacher today. And that’s accomplished well before dinnertime, but I don’t really see the need for a hat trick.