Day 2 - Dublin to Waterford

We awakened to a sunny day and headed out on our coach toward Waterford.  Our assistant guide, Padraig, was along for the ride.


Initially we were on major highways, but soon the highways got smaller until we were on back country roads.  The roads were lined with green fields and we saw a lot of cattle and sheep.  We were headed to Jerpoint Park, and on the way stopped at Jerpoint Abbey for a quick photo.

Upon arriving at Jerpoint Park, we were greeted by Maeve and Joe, the owners of the property.  First we met Robin, a very large horse.

 We were then invited into their home and served delicious homemade scones, clotted cream, and raspberry jam.  While enjoying this we heard some of their life on this farm.  They have sheep, and they had just sheared the sheep last week.  Maeve said the sheep are so heavy with wool that they have to be careful that they don't fall over, with their feet up in the air, because they cannot upright themselves due to the weight of their wool, and crows will peck their eyes out to get to their brains!!  Yuck!  She also said they sell the wool for almost nothing to the Chinese.  Not many wear wool, so there is no market here and the proceeds from selling all their wool took their family of 4 out to an average dinner.  By now it was raining, and Maeve described it as a "soft day" where it was rainy but no cold wind.  

Joe then took us to see the remains of a village dating back to the 1200's.  There are ruins of the church and also the graveyard is still there.

The church is the St. Nicholas church, and the remains of St. Nicholas (or a third of them anyway as two other graves supposedly contain his bones as well in other European countries) may be buried there.  The story goes that St. Nicholas was quite well off and had 3 bags of gold.  He wanted to share them and took bags to two houses.  Upon getting to the third he found it locked, so he dropped the bag of gold down the chimney.  Hence, St. Nick coming down the chimney!

Then Joe took us to see his Border Collie, Tap, herd sheep.  Tap was amazing, and followed his commands to a T.

Our guide, Mal, had promised us a surprise and the surprise was that Tap also herds Geese!

We then headed off to Waterford.  We had some time on our own and Bill and I walked the main street down by the water.

Next we had a tour of the Waterford factory.  There were some amazing pieces, but the very cheapest thing was 50 Euros, so nothing is coming home!

 The factory tour showed us the various stages of producing these beautiful pieces of crystal.

Then we had a walking tour of Waterford.  Our very interesting guide took us to many local sights and shared a lot of history.  Waterford was founded by Vickings in 850.  There is a building in the main part of town that is the oldest complete building in Ireland - 1011 years in use.

We also went to a beautiful cathedral.

Here are some scenes of downtown Waterford...

Our hotel, the Dooley Hotel, was a very cute family run business.  Our room was adorable!

Tomorrow - on to Killarney!

A day in Dublin

After a difficult night's sleep, Bill and I finally got a few good hours before heading down to a fabulous and delicious breakfast buffet.  We had checked online and this morning the status of our missing luggage had transitioned to "in process for delivery" so we avoided the need for shopping and headed downtown via cab to the National Museum of Archeology.

This is a free museum and is chock full of interesting artifacts.  Many were discovered and preserved by being buried in the peat bogs.  Of particular interest were several bog people, mummified bodies they discovered.  The bodies were tastefully displayed along with information that could be determined using sophisticated testing methodologies.

Next up, find a pharmacy.  Bill seems to always get a head cold when we travel and without our luggage he was defenseless against his sneezing and nose blowing.  We found one, and discovered that different cold medicines are available here.  We got Sudafed, but the non drowsy kind only.  Not the nighttime variety we can get at home - he said only in the US.

Next, a cab again with a much more talkative driver to drop us off at the main Post Office to get international stamps for post cards.  The post office was HUGE and had various windows for different things, like paying bills.  Found the stamps window and asked about the need for basically an air mail sticker which I had read conflicting information on the need for.  He said you don't really need them now, because all mail to the US is via air, but people still use them as an interesting item of yore.  So... I got some to go on our cards.  The post office was called the GPO!  General Post Office... not the Government Printing Office - my place of employment for 32 years....

Next we figured out how to use the laus (tram) to get back to our hotel.  We got off and attempted a visit to the Guinness factory but... couldn't figure out how to get into the darn thing!  At this point Bill said to me "are you beginning to lose interest in this?" which was my cue he was, so we bailed and went back to the hotel.  No sooner had we returned to the room than we got a phone call that our luggage had arrived!  I've never been happier to see luggage in my life!!

Next up, out initial meeting with our tour guide, our group, and an overview of Dublin with a local guide, Ena.  Our prime destination was Trinity College, where we viewed the Book of Kells, a famous book containing the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John produced in 1840 by Monks.  It was beautiful, but no photography.  Upstairs there is the library which was also gorgeous, but I've not figured out how to turn off my flash and couldn't do so under pressure so no photos.  I did get some photos on the grounds of Trinity College.  Conferring of degrees had been happening.  

  

I love pretty bridges and got some shots of a couple as we drove thru town in the bus.

These bridges (and many others) cross over the River Liffey that runs right thru the middle of Dublin.    Also grabbed some pictures of some of the famous doors of Dublin.  

Please excuse the lack of centering on this, the most photographed of Dublin doors... remember I was on a moving bus!  (and my editing schools are nill)  Or maybe it was a creative shot?  No, no editing skills...

A pretty pub - there were many of these brightly colored and flower decorated pubs and store fronts.

We also went into Phoenix Park, a large enclosed park behind our hotel.  Saw a TON of deer, they roam freely in the park.  

Later we met our group to discuss our tour, and then Bill and I went to a pub for dinner and invited another couple to join us.  They were from San Jose, and they were Chinese.  It turned out that our waitress was Chinese as well, and their home towns were very close to each other!  They exchanged pleasantries in Chinese... at least we HOPE that's what they were doing and NOT talking about their terrible dinner companions!   Dinner was at Nancy's Hands and was very good!

  Tomorrow - on to Waterford!

Overnight stay in Sterling and our flight to Ireland!

We opted to stay at the Hampton Inn Dulles-Cascades in Sterling and make use of their reasonable park and fly rate instead of paying for parking at Dulles.  Good choice for a couple of reasons.  One, it was as cheap as parking in long term parking at Dulles, and two it forced us to be ready for the trip and have a night to relax before our flight.  Right across the parking lot was a Logan's Roadhouse, where we went for dinner.  There is a nice little pond in front of the place and these guys apparently know about the yummy bread they serve there!  They were at the front door when we arrived and there when we left!

Our stay at the Hampton Inn was perfect.  The hotel was extremely quiet - never heard a single plane despite being close to Dulles, friendly staff, really good breakfast (even the eggs which are sometimes questionable in hotel buffets).  Highly recommend.

The next day we took the shuttle to Dulles and got there before the British Airways kiosk even opened for checkin!  We got money exchanged, got checked in (when they opened) and grabbed some food.  Our flight boarded and took off on time.  Bill and I often sit across from each other on aisle seats on long flights, as we did on this one.  Unfotunately I had a young man next to me who was flirting with a young Bulgarian girl and they TALKED THE ENTIRE FLIGHT!  All night long.  I'm all for young love, but please!  The flight was fine, we landed in Heathrow to connect to our flight on Aer Lingus (booked via British Airways).  We landed in terminal 5, and had to get to terminal 1.  LONG walk and a bus ride later....  Plus we had to basically enter the UK (going thru passport control and getting our picture taken), then go thru security, then leave the UK and enter terminal 1.  I counted 4 times we had to show our passports just in one airport!  We arrived at Heathrow at 6:45, and it was 8:20 by the time we got to our gate to come to Dublin!  The fun just begins there.... our luggage didn't make it!  So we talked to the very nice folks at Aer Lingus and supposedly and hopefully it will show up in the next couple of days....  We had planned to take a taxi to the hotel - figuring we would be hauling luggage but NO - so we took the Airlink bus which is much cheaper and it took us almost right to our hotel, the Ashling.  We were able to get checked in right away and then walked to Kilmainham Goal, an old jail which played a pivotal part in the liberation of Ireland from England.  We walked from the hotel to the Goal and got a bit disoriented, and this was our first experience with the kindness of the Irish people!  Two nice ladies walked us in the right direction, chatting the whole way.

The approach to the Goal.

Inside the "newer" wing.

Bill in a cell. 

This lady was imprisoned twice and was given watercolors and drew a picture of the Madonna and Child in her cell, which has been restored. 

Entering the old part of the Goal. 

The cross marks the spot where people stood to be executed by firing squad.

It had started raining while we were out (we ARE in Ireland after all) and we walked back to the hotel wet and exhausted.  We went to the bar in our hotel for a meal where Bill had his first Guinness in Ireland.  He said it really DOES taste better here.