Day sixteen: Alone time and passport runaround

Irish folks are great. They're cheerful and friendly and generous. They're wonderfully wonderful. One thing, though...they're not good at giving directions. I'm just gonna put that out there. I asked a well-dressed man for directions to the police station and I was told, "Go down and around the bend and then go a bit down and further down and then make a left and then right and continue down." and then the bloody fellow ran away. What. The. Hell. I had to ask one person per block (went 15 blocks) if I was going in the right direction. Forty five minutes later, I arrived at the police station. No worries, Ireland. I'll be alright.

Anyway...

All the following photos were taken with my iPhone. No fancy pics today. l wanted to travel light, so I left the heavy camera at Joan's place.

Here's the bus I took into town:

Made my way over to the passport office:

I was told (by numerous employees) that I had all the paperwork that I needed to get my Irish passport. The next step was to fill out a passport form, get my photos signed and stamped by an officer at the police station (that's why I needed directions to the police station) and then come back and hand it all in. This was all stuff that I could do in a couple of hours, so I thought for sure I'd have the passport by the end of the week. But after three hours of running from office to station and back to office, I find out that I actually need to apply at the Irish Consulate in America. If I was a Dublin resident then I could've received the passport right away.

Oh well.

Spent the rest of the day moving from restaurant to restaurant. Ate lunch at an organic restaurant called The Farm:

Had tea and used the free WiFi at Boulevard Cafe:

Had a wheatgrass shot at Cornucopia. (No pic.) Then went back back to The Farm for dinner.

I've been spending a lot of time with family, so it was really nice to just do my own thing at my own pace for a day.

Tomorrow? I head over to my aunt, Marion's, castle. (Yes, she actually lives in a castle.) It has over 35 rooms. No joke.