Athlone

My flight from Dublin to London wasn't until 9:15pm yesterday... rather than spend that time in Dublin, I wanted to go check out the county of Westmeath in the center of Ireland. So I activated my Eurail Pass and went to the station hoping to get to a town called Mullingar, right in the middle of the county. Unfortunately, of the two train stations in Dublin, I went to the wrong one (I didn't know which one to go to). The only town I could get to from this station was Athlone, a smaller town on the very west part of the county. Now I wanted to take this trip because my lsat name, Dillon, originated in the county of Westmeath. From what I read, the first person with the name (its Anglo-Saxon) came to Ireland with the last name De Leon, and it evolved over the years. Apparently, the Dillons became some of the largest landowners in Ireland but lost it all somehow. They also became really involved in politics. So I was hoping to get out there and find some cool remains of my heritage. What did I find:

And that's all. Not a worthless journey, but the hole-in-the-wall shoe store (one of many in the town) was a little lacking for such an auspicious past. I wonder if I could have found something better in Mullingar, like an old Dillon's Pub or something... that would have been awesome.