20 MAY: THE HEN NIGHT & THE STAG WEEKEND Hen night. Well, weekend, really. Left Stanstead airport at 8.00 p.m. Thursday. A bride has to have her friends with her and seeing as Andréa was busy, her trusty representative came with me. (Jackie is, of course, referring to the LAUREL BURCH purse I gave her in New York in September 2013.)
	Well, if you can't beat them, join them, R decided. We have never been to Dublin, so instead of going on a pub crawl, let's have a city break.
First night in Dublin; view from outside hotel. We are just across the road from the RIVER LIFFEY The building is a conference centre; we thought it was a night club.
We walked 12 miles today, all round the TEMPLE BAR area and O'CONNELL STREET.
	Had a full Irish breakfast and Irish stew for dinner. Oh, and a pint or two of THE BLACK STUFF.
	We walked round a lovely park, but it started to rain so headed for another pub.
21 MAY Off to see MALAHIDE CASTLE, HOWTH VILLAGE (pronounced Hote) and DUBLIN BAY. Had a great day out. Started off with a huge scone for breakfast and good coffee, then got on a city tour bus; half-open top double-decker. The driver was a lovely bubbly Irish girl who would also be giving us a running commentary on places we would see en route. We had only been five minutes into the trip when she stopped at a hotel to pick up another two passengers. She came back saying she had to go back to the first pick-up point and revved up the bus. She took off up the road, rounded the corner on two wheels, weaving in and out the traffic. She assured us that we would not lose any time at the castle because of this impromptu return to base and that her other job when not driving the big red bus was driving the big yellow ambulances. This was funny when said in an Irish accent and out of Boy Racer mode. She kept us informed and told jokes all the way to the castle, e.g., It only rained twice in Dublin last week - once for three days and once for four days. Or, It's really hot today; there is a yellow thing in the sky. Quick, take a photo before it disappears. The castle was very interesting . . .
	. . . then on to Howth. which was a fishing village with views across Dublin Bay. We were going to stay longer in Howth and go for a cliff top walk, but it was cold, windy and about to rain.
It was coming down in buckets when we got off the bus; we were glad we'd changed our minds and headed for the nearest pub for some more of the black stuff that was slipping down a treat. I never touch the stuff in mainland UK, but over there it tastes so much nicer.

THE CRUISE