Family trip to SF via DUBLIN 22/8/16

 Yippee! We've been to see Cub in San Francisco.

We flew  Liverpool to Dublin because we were able to do our American immigration malarkey at Dublin airport so we would arrive as Americans which was a massive bonus and saved us a lot of time. The fact that Ian totally forgot where he lived and where he had come from was a minor detail (ha!) but that's how nervous the officials  make you feel.

Our trepid flyers had survived the first flight, (half an hour) along with the Belvitas, YAY.

Of course, another BIG advantage of flying via Dublin was the GUINNESS.

I mean, it would be rude not to.

Team HolliBelly even pulled their own pints.

 

They headed off to the GUINNESS STOREHOUSE to see how Guinness is made, to pull  perfect pints and to sample them in the rooftop bar. 

After doing an Irish jig on the cobbles.

Meanwhile, Team HennaHolly booked in to the Island View Hotel in Malahide, away from the crowds and with some stunning coastal scenery and with me in charge of

A VERY IMPORTANT BAG ;)

Nem and Ian, the avid spinners, are good on bikes, so what better way to see the coast than with a bike ride.

The cycling conditions were perfect! (It was chucking it down the next day) And after dismissing the idea of a 4 people chariot style bike (to accomodate Husb's pulled calf muscle) (WAY too hooty) the Hennies set off, Ian not realising they would be going a good 20 miles, which was right up Nem's street.

It looked fairly flat.

Until they got to Howth...

... on the HILLY HEADLAND (gulp) 

 

We Hollies did no such exertions. 

We managed to find Malahide Cricket pitch (well of course!) and it looked as though they were dismantling some corporate type "buildings"....

and we were right.

 On our mission to find new shoelaces (yes shoelaces) we saw a poster saying we had missed 

Ireland V Pakistan 

by TWO DAYS.

We did however see a girls' game going on.

What a pretty area, perfect for writing 

HennaHolliBellys

in the sand.

We too had a bit of local brew and we weren't diasappointed although it didn't make me look any more awake....

(I'd had so many last minute things to do like the fish filter etc that I didn't realise I had mislaid my house keys till about 11.30pm and then we had an hours hunt for the blummin things)

The Island View restaurant overlooked the bay and an island.

The staff couldn't do enough for us, they were intent on us having plenty of food.. 

They really weren't happy that Nem didn't want a cooked breakfast. Having given everyone else several eggs each, they insisted she had a fruit salad, no one has NO breakfast it seems :)

And the Irish music in the bar was just brill :)