A Home To Call My Own

Last night I spent a long time chatting with Liz over the next course of action.  The home search was continuing to drag on.  While I had more appointments for viewings, nothing of what I was going to see really fit my search requirements.  I have to be out of this hotel room next week and start work.  Where was I going to go and how was I going to look at houses while at the office?

The morning came and I sat down looking at listings again making calls on homes I previously skipped because, for one reason or another, they didn't fit our needs. To call it frustrating would be an understatement.  I was at the bottom of the barrel.

Then there was Raheny house.  It was small, but almost brand new, furnished, under our price max, close to a huge park, shopping, gym, the beach, and the Dart line.  The only problem really was that it's in the north-eastern quarter, while I've been focusing my search in the south-east.

Nothing that I was going to see had all these things in place as the Raheny house does, and if I didn't take it now there was a good chance it would be gone within a day or two.  A quick talk with Liz and I felt that the time had come to act. I called on the house, it was still available, so I took it.  We now have a home.

This search has been very difficult for me.  It was difficult for me to make on my own without the guidance and input of My Better Half.  I really am not sure it was a good idea for me to be the one to have to decide where the family should live in Dublin.  I have never before gone by myself to a large city in a foreign country to find housing for a family of seven in less that 10 days.

I feel I have made the right decision.  I am also most sincerely grateful that the search is now over and we can move onto the remaining to-dos.  It really is a huge blessing.

With the housing situation resolved, I decided to give myself the rest of the day (and tomorrow) off from official settling-in duties.  I walked down to the Ireland Museum and took a long tour of the fine art section.  For a free art museum, it was pretty good.

There was also a very lovely park along the way, the Merrion Square where I snapped this:

and what Irish park would be complete without a statue of Oscar Wilde?

I didn't take any pictures inside the museum because I think photography was prohibited, but I did see a lot of really great paintings.  Very well time spent.

On the way home I noticed crowds decending upon the Aviva stadium for what I learned was the Ireland soccer match against Austria.  I got back to my room, threw on my Ireland t-shirt, and headed down to the hotel's lounge to eat some fish n' chips (pretty darn good, I might add) and root for the home team.

Albeit, I have to admit, I have a pretty strong feeling about soccer which I think this sums up pretty well . . .