Monday, June 10th

Today we decided to go to the zoo. We had established that we needed a number 23 bus. So we would walk to the bus station (as opposed to trying to pick the bus up somewhere along its route) as that would mean we knew where the bus stopped (in theory). When we got to the bus station (which was also the train station), there were marked bays, so we stopped by the bay marked 23 and waited. And waited......and waited. After about an hour we started to ask any likely looking staff what had happened to the bus. Only then did we find we had waited all that time in the wrong place and had missed at least one bus.

The buses were not very frequent, and since the next one was some time away, we stopped for coffee in the station café to celebrate another piece of Dungroamin master–planning. We eventually got the 12:00 bus and avoided further delay by correctly guessing which stop to get off at.

One of the attractions of going to the zoo was that entry was free with our tourist cards. It wasn’t a bad zoo, covering quite a large area which means the animals generally have plenty of room.

After spending a couple of hours wandering about, we arrived at the zoo bar for afternoon tea. (or maybe a beer even!) As we hadn’t had any lunch we decided we would also have a snack. It has become usual on Dungroamin holidays, when tables are not big enough, to segregate into male and female groups so the men can talk about manly things, like what size the waitress is, and the ladies can talk about womenly things, like what size the waiter is!

The main item on the menu was pizza, so the men carefully selected the number and size of pizzas to provide them with a suitable snack. Meanwhile, the ladies when asked what size they wanted, replied jumbo. The waitress questioned as to whether they would be able to handle a jumbo one and they assured her they could, particularly if they took their false teeth out!

Well, the jumbo pizza eventually arrived and virtually covered the whole table. What’s more it was about 4:00pm and the last bus left at twenty past. The ladies did quite a good job but did need a little help from the men to finish it off. And we did catch the bus.

On arriving back in the centre of town, we had a look inside the Franciscan Church and the Cathedral. Both were very ornate and of similar style.

Having trudged around for most of the day (well, apart from the 2 hours spent standing at the bus station), a cup of tea back at the hotel was very welcome.

Upon retiring to our rooms to freshen up, Jerry and Fiona dismantled their room in their re–newed search for the missing necklace which had still not materialised.

Maybe the fact that we had been on our feet most of the day had an impact on the Dungroamin tradition in choosing an evening eaterie, as there is no recollection of walking past lots of restaurants before ending at the first one we saw.