We started this Sunday off by going to church at a Methodist church in Donegal. The people were very friendly, and the service was quite nice. The pastor had a children’s lesson on gift-giving through the last hundred years, from cloth wrapping to brown paper to fancy wrapping paper. All three gifts contained the name “Jesus” and the point was that God gave us a great gift in the form of Jesus, who has stayed the same through the ages. The actual sermon was quite good as well, with the passage being based on two passages – one when Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, and the other when Peter, John, and some others go fishing, and then come to shore when Jesus tells them where to cast their nets to catch a large number of fish. The point of the sermon was that Jesus calls us “to get out feet wet.” We should be serving each other, and looking to engage the area in which God has put us. We should see the beauty around us and be thankful for it, and we should try to share that beauty.

After church, I checked my e-mail. I had a message from Aunt Mary that indicated that Mer’s father, Dale, was quite ill and in intensive care in the hospital. I used Skype on the computer to call home, and after talking with Aunt Mary and doctors at the hospital, we decided we should make every effort to get home efficiently.  Our B and B hostess was out, so we took a walk out to the river in Donegal, and walked along the lower walking area along the bay for a little ways. We had a very good view of the bay. We headed back to the B and B, where we found our hostess there, so we explained everything to her.  Before going to the airport, I decided to try to see if we could get tickets, so we managed to book tickets on Aer Lingus for tomorrow (Monday). That was a huge relief. Marie, our hostess at the Water’s Edge B and B, only charged us for two nights (it was 3:00 in the afternoon, so she could have charged us for another day). I strongly recommend Marie’s place if you ever get to Donegal.

What followed was about four hours of pretty driving to get us to Dublin. We dropped off the car and got a shuttle bus to the airport and then a shuttle bus to our hotel. By then, it was about 7:30. We still needed to eat, so we got a cab to Grafton Street in downtown Dublin, where we ate at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen restaurant, which seems to be a chain (at least, we ate at one in London a few years ago).

After supper, we wandered down Grafton Street to Stephen’s Green, a large park in the middle of the city. We wanted to get a picture of the statue of the poet Yeats that is there. To our surprise, the park was locked. It is enclosed by a fence, and there was no way in. It must close at 9:00 or so (it was 9:05).

Disappointed, but undeterred, we headed over to another nearby park to get a picture of the statue of Oscar Wilde. Happily, we got there five minutes before the park closed, so although we could not enjoy the park, we did get the photo.

We also wanted to see the grounds of Trinity College. We knew the buildings would be locked, but the grounds were also walled in, and we saw no way to get in. Lastly, there was a statue I wanted to get a picture of – one of Molly Malone. There is an Irish song about a young woman who sells seafood, and her name is Molly Malone in the song, and there was a statue of her on Grafton Street. Note the “was” — because of construction, the statue was moved. It was only moved two blocks away, but we did not know that until I checked when we got back to the hotel. We went 1-for-4 in Dublin, but it was still a good evening to walk about, especially where we could not do any good in the hotel (as far as getting home).

So, if all goes well, we should be back in Toronto around 4:30 tomorrow, and then have to clear customs before driving the five hours back home.