Holidays away maximize our vacation time and take advantage of our proximity to European gateway airports. Thus, we left Wednesday evening late and landed Thursday morning early in chilly Dublin. It was cold for our entire visit - even snowing a few inches two nights - but we persevered. We hit the tourist highlights, Trinity College/Book of Kells, Kilmainham Gaol, St. James Gate brewery, Grafton Street, Temple Bar, but somehow it was the neighborhood around Powercourt that I enjoyed most and Millennium Spire that was most memorable. (Only an extreme minimalist would love a stainless steel 400' pin, 10' in diameter at the base and less than 1' at the top...but there you go.) We had some memorable Irish food in pubs and restaurants and plenty of hot chocolate. We caught some rugby in a pub with a pint, ate an Irish farmer's lunch (at an outdoor food market), and even braved the bitter cold for two Magnum bars.

There were protests Saturday about austerity. Our hop-on/hop-off bus driver lamented that he didn't know how 30 million Irishmen could need a $120 billion bailout and I suppose he's right. We were aware of what was happening on the west side of St. Stephens Green, but since vacation is the eye of the news hurricane we didn't really know the details. Regardless, if austerity was on the way you sure couldn't tell from the merry throngs getting their Christmas shopping knocked out early on Grafton Street.

Then, just as suddenly, home. Home to happy-to-see-us cats, a firm mattress, and our routines in the form of basketball Monday night at Upper Perk and a car project tonight.