We all had a slow start on Saturday morning – our first day not on the tour! Eventually, we made our way down to the Hop on Hop off bus service and got on and rode a few stops until the driver told us to get off as we had to walk the rest of the way to our destination – EPIC: The Irish Emigration Museum. The word “EPIC” comes from the Ancient Greek word epos, which simply means “word, narrative, or song” which the museum builders thought was appropriate as it is a place “where innovation and interaction collide” and “people from all corners of the globe can explore Irish history, culture and identity”. The museum is the brain child of Neville Isdell, who retired as Chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola in 2009. “My own experience of being an emigrant has always stayed with me. And as they say, I left Ireland but Ireland never left me.”
There were 20 galleries in the museum (no I am not going to bore you with pictures from all 20)… however the fun thing we got to do was we got a card that as we went through each gallery we could stamp it! So now we have a record of what we did when in the EPIC museum! I only took a few pictures – it was busy and very engaging visually and not easy to document with a camera. Here are the few that I did take:
Now we got on the short circle of the black line of the Hop on Hop off bus so that we could transfer to the green line. The black line was a 45 minute circle route, which we had walked most of it already, however the green line was going to take us to places we had not visited previously. It was a 90 minute route, however Andrew and I got off at about an hour so that I could take some pictures that I wanted to get, run into Tesco for some digestive cookies for our trip starting tomorrow and then we were meeting up with Anne and Richard for dinner nearby where they would be getting off the bus. So here are some pictures while on the bus – not as good as if I was in a car or on a tour bus as while this was a double decker bus, I remain on the bottom floor – in fact we all remained on the bottom floor as part of the top was open air and it was getting a bit nippy out in the afternoon and might start raining!
Now Andrew and I are off the hop on hop off bus and going on our power walk to take pictures, get to Tesco and to the restaurant to meet Anne and Richard in the time it will take them to finish the circle on the bus! Let’s go!
Andrew and I actually were done with our photos and shopping early and Anne and Richard were available so we met early at the Milstone restaurant – which several people in the group had gone to on Wednesday night and raved about it. I had made reservations there for us 4, however Anne and Richard swung by and made sure that we could arrive 30 minutes early (it was also starting to rain so hanging outside was going to be an issue). Anne messaged me that I will recognize the place and I sure did! This was the same restaurant that we went to the first full day we were in Dublin! It is right near the university and we had walked there after seeing the Book of Kells. Now we are eating here on our last night in Dublin! So funny! And the waitress even recognized us – more due to my walker – however she remembered our “unique” accents!
Then we took a taxi back to the Egans Guesthouse and prepared for tomorrow’s ride to the airport, which had been arranged by Vinne with a “guy” that he knows! Pickup is at 9:40am so need to be on time as he might be early!