As expected, I woke in the small hours of the morning because it felt like about noon to my body clock. I pottered a while until breakfast. I arrived a little after 0700 to not appear too eager but there were other hungry humans there already.
I had both the cereal and the full Irish breakfast. It was very filling but not something I can eat often.
The hotel had a lounge with artefacts from another era. I wondered if this antique radio works.
Then it was time to move on. I had booked a train journey to Limerick, on the west coast. It departed from Heuston Station which serves the west and south of Ireland. To get there I had to take a bus into the centre and then west to the station, as the hotel was a few kilometres south of the centre, accommodation prices being much higher nearer the centre.Rathmines is a trendy suburb to judge from the establishments. I took many pictures on a rainy evening exploration, but since I never came back to this suburb later, that will remain an unpublished diversion.
An amusing sign spotted in a barber shop window while waiting.
I had to make one transfer from the bus to the tram, in ths case the red Luas line. Only after I had boarded I remembered that I was supposed to tap on at the platform. I made ready to alight if any inspectors got on. Fortunately I got to Heuston without encountering them and with a lot of time margin. I had to redeem my Internet booking ID for a physical ticket at a machine like these.
I wasted effort looking for coach B then realised it was the prefix displayed on the e-signs on the coaches. All the signs showed Cork as the destination so I would have to change trains at Limerick Junction.
Irish trains have WiFi and USB charging ports. I didn't see any power lines so I think they were diesel powered.
Green fields and cattle everywhere. Relatively flat part of Ireland. Villages looked homely. Occasional distant hills. Cows were Holstein or Friesian but there were brown cows too.
To be continued in Limerick.
