Today we woke up in Toulouse. We were able to sleep in a little because nothing opens before 10 am. It was great to be able to slow down a bit. We have been doing all that is humanly possible each day! After breakfast, we brought our bags down to the lobby and had time to go explore the city again. Greg, Brett, Ryan, Kristen, Ali and Melissa rented bikes and explored a little farther than the city center.
Ali and Melissa were very excited to be able to visit the Jardin de Plantes.
The rest of us walked all over, admiring the beautiful architecture and doing some last minute souvenir shopping for our families. Being close to the Spanish border and the Mediterranean, Toulouse is an eclectic collection of styles. It’s also a center for ironworks, so no two balconies or staircases are alike.
We ordered up taxis from the hotel to get us to the airport. To everyone’s credit, everyone was back at the hotel early and ready to go. The students have been great like that for the whole trip! We were dropped off at the Toulouse airport and easily made our flight.
We arrived in Dublin around 7:00 pm. The hotel shuttles had stopped running so we took taxis to our hotel. It turns out the neighborhood our hotel was in has gone a little downhill since last year. Our taxi drivers gave us great safety tips and good recommendations for places to go.
We ended up at O’Neill’s tavern and restaurant near the Temple Bar area, on Kevin’s recommendation. It was a beautiful 3-story restaurant with a buffet of traditional Irish food and live music. The food was fantastic. I had Irish stew and others had Shepherd’s pie, bangers and mash or fish and chips. Everyone sang along with the music and there was even some dancing. They had a few Irish dancers there to encourage people to get up and try some traditional steps.
The bars all close at 11:30 pm, so we were tossed out and returned happy, but tired to our hotel for the night. It was a great way to celebrate the end of our travels.
-Elaine Asma and Rachel Fish