Visiting the IDA and the National Gallery

Up until today, this has felt like a strange, wonderful, long vacation with 38 other people. It has felt like we signed up for a tour group view of Ireland. (Something we would never do). Today, however, was an actual business visit. We visited the IDA. It is an agency responsible to helping recruit businesses to make Ireland their base in Europe. The man who gave the presentation did a wonderful job, being very real about Ireland's current position in this new global economy.


After the visit, Bill and I took off to hunt down lunch, get some good alone time, and try and visit some shops. We burned out on that after a couple of hours and went to the National Gallery of Art to enjoy some amazing art. We saw works by Vermeer, Picasso, Reubens, Renior, Monet, and many others I am sure I am forgetting. We only had an hour until it closed, so we had to move much more quickly than I normally would have liked. But better quick than not at all.

Over all it was a much less hectic day and a welcome respite from the packed schedule we have been keeping ever since we landed on Irish soil.