“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.”
Amanda and KarenAnn had the brilliant idea to return the rental car early, since I had declared vehemently Wednesday evening when we returned from Waterford, “I’m never driving here again!” Before doing that, we all went to our new favorite breakfast place, The Queen of Tarts, and had a lovely breakfast of coffee (no brewed coffee, only some type of espresso), fresh raspberry scones with jam and whipped cream, scrambled eggs, Honey Yogurt Pot, smoked salmon and brown toast, and fresh squeezed orange juice. That is the whole list of what was ordered, not just one person’s breakfast! We headed back to the hotel to discuss the return of the rental car. After much discussion of who should go with me back to the airport (KarenAnn insisted I was not going alone) and how we should get back to the hotel (bus or taxi) it was decided we should ALL go (since I wanted to return via taxi, it wouldn’t cost any more for the whole group to go — well, except Lexi who was at her intern job again).
We piled into the Nissan and headed off. Amanda navigated while I tried not to get another scratch on the car. Everyone was anxious to see how they would react at the Thrifty counter when they saw the duct tape all over the fender and wheel well. Kenzie was still determined that if all 4 of us insisted the car was that way when they gave it to us, they would have to believe us (notwithstanding the fact they took pictures before they gave us the car).
Anyway, being my Mother’s daughter, I just told the truth. The Agent was very sweet, “Oh, no worries then – you got full coverage so you’re good to go!” What a relief. She heard us talking about a taxi and said she would call one for us. We only waited about 5 minutes before a taxi drove up and the driver ushered us into the vehicle. I took the front seat and thanked him and we all started chatting. He was very Irish, young and very cute. I was thinking he would be perfect for Kenzie, but then noticed the wedding ring on his finger. Trying to be friendly, I pointed to the information card mounted on the dashboard that had his picture on it (just like the cabs in the states). I pointed to the word under his picture “Tiomanai” Deimhnithe and said “How do you pronounce your name?” He said, straight faced, “Leonard” – the girls in the back seat howled in laughter. I, too, was laughing hysterically and pointed to the words Tiomanai Deimhnithe again and said, “I thought this was your name!” It was only then that I realized his name was printed clearly above and slightly to the right of his picture — Leonard (and a last name which I now cannot recall). He sweetly explained that Tiomanai Deimhnithe was ‘Certified Driver’ in Irish! Of course, once he pointed that out to me, I saw that above his picture it said ‘Certified Driver’ and below his picture it said Tiomanai Deimhnithe (also certified driver)! KarenAnn, Kenzie and Amanda were still laughing in the back seat as this exchange took place, with a few “oh my gods” and “oh, Nanny” thrown in by Amanda and Kenzie! The driver was laughing too by this time. Once we all calmed down, he gave us suggestions on what else to see in Ireland and told his about his wife and little girl, even telling us how he proposed to his wife at the top of the Empire State Building in New York City. (Too bad he was married – this guy would have been a real catch for Kenzie.) He spoke with a very strong Irish brogue and we had to listen carefully to every word. He also threw out a “Fech” every now and then which just sounded adorable coming from him.
He dropped us off at the hotel and I ask for his card in case we needed a taxi on Tuesday to get back to the airport. We then headed off to explore more of the city and waited for our tour of the Guinness Factory, scheduled for 5 pm, so Lexi could come with us after she got off work. After sightseeing and having lunch, we took a short rest and then walked to Guinness to meet Lexi at 4:45.
Guinness pictures! Everyone loved the section on advertisements, wanting pictures with all the different characters used in Guinness ads over the years. After learning all about how Guinness is made, we went to the very top to the Galaxy Bar to get our free pint of Guinness.
KarenAnn bought us all matching T-shirts for the trip! They were so cute – green with “Girls Trip Ireland 2018” on the front and our names on the back. Here we are in front of the St. James gate at Guinness in all our glory! Note that the map of Ireland on the front of the shirt is missing Northern Ireland (something KarenAnn did not notice when reviewing the mark-up)!
Safari So Good 