We left Scotland for a brief stop in Dublin. A few months ago I tried unsuccessfully to get our flights changed to go straight to Iceland and then home from Edinburgh. Dublin was proving difficult for both affordable lodging and transportation, so it would have been easier to skip it altogether and shave a few days off our trip. Nothing worked well enough to make the change, though, so to Dublin we went after all.

By the time we arrived in Dublin, we all felt pretty tired. Even with our small window of time to see and do things, inertia kept us at home base for our entire first day. As home draws nearer, we feel the inspiration to explore waning. The kids enjoyed the huge playground across the street, and Laila finished her school assignments for the quarter and earned her spring break.

We did all travel downtown one day. Our general impression was that Dublin is full of pubs and not a whole lot else of interest to us. I searched unsuccessfully for a Christmas ornament to add to our trip ornament cache, since the only options I could find were tacky tourist stuff. The kids found a few used books, but we didn’t see nearly as many used bookstores as we expected.

We toured Christ Church Cathedral, where the kids searched for the items on their scavenger hunt list. With our flagging energy and interest, we might not have looked at everything as thoroughly without that activity. Early manuscripts date the cathedral at this location as early as 1030.

After a beautiful lunch in a blossoming spring garden nook, we went down the road to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Only 800 years old, this cathedral was built on the site where St. Patrick baptized many Irish people into Christianity in the fifth century.

The family favorite in Dublin was easily our stop at Butlers Chocolate Café. The Irish love their sweets, and combining chocolate and coffee in one store is of course genius. The big kids slurped down their own hot chocolates (a rare opportunity to not have to share), while we enjoyed our caffeine boost. Drinks come with the option to add whipped cream and chocolate shavings as well as a free fancy individual truffle of choice! Delicious!

I went on one last yarn shopping trip on our last day in Dublin and found some fun yarn from an Irish brand I’ve used once before. I won’t publicly release to the internet how much yarn I’m bringing home in my suitcase, but it’s enough that Nic took it upon himself to count the skeins and poke fun at me. Our baggage has slowly lost weight as we’ve used up clothing and school supplies, so why not fill it with yarn? I have few opportunities to yarn shop in person at home, and I’m bringing home enough yarn to keep my fingers busy for the next year. Each yarn purchase serves as a reminder of some special place in Europe, and those memories will live on as I work with the yarn and eventually wear it. I’ve been knitting daily on our trip; it’s truly a necessary part of my mental health routine, and I’m thankful to have a portable hobby.