We flew from Dubai and into Rome to drop our large bags in Rome at at our usual B and B as we only wanted to take hand luggage to Dublin. We also had dinner with Maurice’s brother and wife who had arrived the day after from Perth. We met at Piazza Navona and had a great dinner at “Mamma Rosa’s”. It was a beautiful sunny Sunday, twenty six degrees and there were thousands of tourists in the city.
Maurice and I flew to Dublin the following morning to a cold fourteen degrees and the weather over the next eight days was
mainly very cold, windy and raining.
We stayed at the Royal Marine, a lovely old hotel in Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Dun Leary) and our friend Mary from Meath came
and met us to have a lovely dinner overlooking the water at an Italian restaurant called “Toscana.
We met up the next day with Maurice’s German cousin and her husband to have another good Italian meal at “That’s Amore” in Monkstown.
The seaside walks along the coastal promenade at Dun Laoghaire, Sandycove and Glasthule are beautiful but warmer temperatures without cutting wind and rain would have been nicer.
Maurice’s sister Maura and her husband had also arrived in Dublin so it was nice to catch up with them as well as many other
cousins, spouses and children who had come from the USA, UK, Germany and Australia to celebrate his cousin Caroline’s 70th birthday. She had arranged a bus tour for twenty six of us over the wicklow mountains to Glendalough but unfortunately it was a wet, cold and very windy day and only the braver ones walked down to the lake while the others of us that wanted to remain warm and dry went to the bar. We had an excellent three course meal at the hotel.
After four days we moved to the “Windsor lodge” a very convenient and comfortable B and B where most of the other overseas cousins were staying.
The party for eighty people on a cold but fine day was held in her daughter’s house which luckily had had an extension done so that most of the guests could be seated inside.
The following day we were collected by Maurice’s german cousins and went down again to Wicklow to the “Wicklow Heather” in Laragh, an atmospheric old restaurant for lunch with Paul another cousin from the McCarthy side of the family and we then went on to Kilmacurragh National Botanical gardens which were spectacular with their amazing displays of Rhododendron and other colourful bushes and flowers.
We had a wonderful family reunion and celebration with far too much eating and drinking. Back to Italy on the 12th May.