I got the sweater…where’s the boy?

Today I got up earlier than ever and then errand my book, showered, packed and headed down to the pub across the street for breakfast. My waitress had just gotten back from three weeks in Spain, why don’t we do holidays like that?

I stopped by the chemist on my way out because I did not want to bring this cold back with me as my souvenir! The sudafed is working wonders! I got on the road and drove and drove and drove, I stopped in Kildare, but realized I am going to be there tomorrow, so I headed on to Dublin.

As the gps couldn’t find things and I stopped using it last week, I wanted to do what I could from memory and I was pretty darn good! I did stop by a hotel at the airport for help, but I got there! Then I chilled for a bit and got on the bus for City Center. I got off at Trinity College and did something I haven’t done since I got here, retail therapy!

First thing I did actually, was get some lunch at KC Peaches, a lovely place with delicious, healthy, home grown ingredients sandwich. Then I headed to the Sweater Shoppe! And I got it! You guessed it! My Irish knit sweater! It was really hard to decide what looked right and felt good where I wouldn’t itch thinking about putting it on! Merino wool is itchy!

Ok, so I have the Irish knit sweater…where’s the Irish boy? Maybe I have to wear it to find him! Then I went into a few stores and picked up a few things, I can’t tell..someone might be reading this!

I walked up and down the streets, it’s a serious bustling city, I love it! It started raining on the way and never really let up. Someone asked me to pick up a tshirt at Hard Rock, so I headed to Temple Bar, http://www.templebar.ie, where all the bars seem to be, well, not all, but chunked together. This is where it happens! The noise, the music, the sites, the sounds, lovely! This is where you go for a bit of craic!

After The Hard Rock, I walked around the area and found…Boxty! http://boxtyhouse.ie, a restaurant that had and knew what a boxty was! OMG! I was in heaven! I ordered boxty scraps which were boxties cut like French fries, yum! And some awful vegetables, when the waitress said they were awful, I should have listened. But…the homeless guy I am sure enjoyed them both!

After dinner, I had the bread and butter pudding, yum! Very light and not a huge portion, easy to enjoy and walk off.

I spent some more time walking around, then found the bus and headed back to the hotel, unloaded the rest of the stuff from the car, brought it to the room, had a quick shower and headed downstairs for my complimentary drink and some live music.

I ended up getting an amaretto and cream, it was ok and I’m working through the effects of the cream, but that’s my problem! I sat at the bar for a while waiting for someone to notice me and ask what I wanted to drink. I saw out of the corner of my eye, a guy down the bar tell the bartender I was waiting. When I caught his eye later, I thanked him. I thought he was waiting for someone, he had a bouquet of confetti roses.

I told him they were pretty and he came over to ask me if I wanted to smell them and then tell me that he bought them at ya the grocers today and would give them to the first nice person he talked to..guess who.

We proceeded to talk for about an hour, I found out all about him, his company and the girl that got away that he’s trying to win back good luck! It was fun talking to him, he’s from Montreal and in Dublin in business.

I also talked to the singer, when he was finished, a great guy who was a lot of fun to listen to. He would ask if the crowd liked someone and I answered, so he directed a bunch towards me! He was funny and very talented and gave me his card, so I could email him to get a few tracks he wrote, lucky me!

Now, here I am sitting in bed writing to you and needing to get some sleep because I’m running a 5k in the morning! Wahoo! A 5k in Ireland! Go me! Something I wanted to do and now I’m going to do it!

Goodnight!

Positivity Challenge – Day #29
1 – I am thankful I found my way to the hotel…sans GPS (with a little help from a very nice person)
2 – I am thankful to have found a restaurant that serves boxty!

A fine Irish evening to ya!

I woke up in Waterford, ready to greet the day! I got ready and went out into the town of Waterford, walked around a bit and headed for the Waterford Crystal Museum.

Now, I am not a huge fan of crystal, but to tour this facility and see how they create these masterpieces is a must! First, you find out that it takes eight full years to become a master glass blower/cutter and that the FIRST ever woman is in the apprenticeship program right now!

These blowers and cutters work for years, some even forty for Waterford! They also work from memory, never have a pattern on the piece when they cut, just a grid. If there is a new piece, they memorize the pattern, that’s it. Every single piece is made and cut by hand. It really was amazing! http://www.waterfordvisitorcentre.com
(I made it through without knocking anything over!)

Next, I went to the Medieval History Museum, very interesting learning about the Vikings and the history of Waterford, the entire time, I thought about my GA Renaissance times and friends. I miss them and that time. http://www.waterfordtreasures.com/medieval-museum

After the museum, I went for a walk and went into the Christ Church Cathedral Waterford. It was a very pretty cathedral with a beautiful stained glass window, an amazing organ and I lit a candle for the B and K family, how could I not?
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_the_Most_Holy_Trinity,_Waterford

I walked down the bustling street, exactly how I imagined a busy afternoon would be and stopped in a little place for an awesome, fresh made veggie burger and unnecessary chips.

I went back to the car and chatted with the attendant, who asked me if I’d ever been to his home of Scotland, I told him it was next! Then we somehow got on the subject of NY and he said he spent time in Brooklyn and did I know the ….family, nope. He then asked where I was going next and recommended Dunmore, a lovely little fishing village that had homes with thatched roofs, oh yes!

I headed out to Dunmore, it was a lovely drive and there it was, beautiful! Right on the coast and across the way…Hook Lighthouse! I walked down a path to the beach below the cliffs, spectacular!
http://www.discoverdunmore.com/tourism/web

Eventually, I got back in the car and headed towards Cork, I was going to stop in Dungarven and look for the castle, but I kept going and stopped in Youghal, pronounced ‘yall’ http://www.youghal.ie/index.php

I found the Avonmore House B&B, reasonably priced and went in search of food and I found The Quays Bar & Restaurant, one of the few places serving food and settled in in with everyone else watching futbal, Ireland vs Germany and had a nice veggie stir fry.

Back at the B&B to talk to you! Who knows what tomorrow holds after breakfast?

Positivity Challenge – Day #26
1 – I am SO thankful that after Sunday it will be a VERY long time before I smell dung on a daily basis!
2 – I am thankful to know that the US is not the only country focused on breast cancer awareness.
3 – As a granola girl, I am thankful to see that Ireland is number 2 for recycling in the UK!

What a glorious day! In Ireland! Sorry, can’t help it! I hope my enthusiasm is contagious! Catch it!

Ah…to have no schedule or place you must be..it’s fantastic! I did set am alarm this morning so I could be there in time for breakfast, 8am, but it was all good, I was waking up about that time anyway. I got ready and headed down to breakfast, eggs, tomatoes and I actually asked for mushrooms, what?

It was time to head out and greet the day, remember, I was about 45 minutes away from where I wanted to be, no worries, beautiful drive! Even the highways are beautiful, either side lined with lush green landscape, trees, farms, houses, sheep, cows, horses, a dog here and there, simply beautiful! Did I tell you I saw a rainbow yesterday? A full on end to end bright rainbow! What was waiting for me at the end?

I started off by going to Johnstown Castle and Agricultural Center, http://www.irishagrimuseum.ie. The castle is never opened for viewing, but the grounds are spectacular! Guess what they have roaming the grounds…ok, I’ll tell you, peacocks! So beautiful! I waited and waited, none of them preened, but still, the colors!

I walked around the back of the castle, by the lake to the Irish Agricultural Museum, which was fascinating, showing different forms of farm equipment, tractors, carts, plowing machines and tools, carriages, then bicycles, information about sugar beets, a very depressing exhibit about The Great Potato Famine, very up lifting…then walking through to see different crafts and trades, then up to see hay making tools, other farm stuff stuff, furniture and scenes of life on the farm.

I was a wee bit knackered, time for sustenance, down to the cafe for a pot of camomile tea and a rhubarb torte, yum! The cream was not needed, not flavorful and we know about me and dairy…but it was alright. After that it was time to walk the grounds to walk off the sweet treat and enjoy the scenery and atmosphere.

Back in the car, I was going to head to Tintern Abbey and since I couldn’t find it, I moved on! Add that to the list for next time!

I headed down the road towards The Dunbrody Ship and turned off towards the Kennedy Homestead, the family home of John F Kennedy’s family and ancestors. Someone said it would be informative and it’s important, but slightly uninspiring, I have to admit, I agreed. It was fascinating to see his ancestry, but there wasn’t a lot to it, it’s a home and there are relatives still living there on the property. It took a long time to get there, very narrow road and 7.50 to get in and it was all over very quickly. No regrets for going, but not a place I would go again. http://www.kennedyhomestead.ie/follow-the-journey/

After the Kennedy Homestead, I went in town New Ross and realized I was hungry and found The River View Restaurant and had a yummy bowl of vegetable soup with some French bread, it was lovely. Just what I needed to reenergize.

Then on to The Dunrbody Famine Ship and Irish Emigrant Experience, http://www.dunbrody.com, the immigrant ship. This truly was an eye opening and chilling experience. This is a replica of the original Dunbrody and I had a personal tour as I was the only one there at the time! I went through the little gallery with the posters talking about the Potato Famine, backing up what I learned at the Irish Agricultural Center and this ship took people to the United States and Canada.

Then we walked onto the ship, there were two deck hands cleaning and doing repairs, so excited to be there…one of the cool things was the bell, it is the original bell from the original Dunbrody, which ran aground in 1857, how cool is that!

When we went below deck to see “first class”, captain’s quarters, steerage and crew, all of a sudden, there are two women who came down, one from first class and the other from steerage, it was great fun! After the tour, I went into the museum to read about what happened when the people emigrated including information about emigrating to Savannah, GA, giving explanation about North America’s second largest St Patrick’s celebration, among other things.

I got into the car, called dad and was driving off and realized as I was driving off, I saw something that I wanted to check out, back to a parking space I went! OMG, Anyone who knows me will know this is right up my alley!

The Ros Tapestries, http://rostapestry.com, the history of New Ross in tapestry. This was amazing! Fifteen tapestries in the making, 6×4 each. They tell the story of New Ross and first, they start with a painting on canvas, then trace it onto the canvas using a light board and then one of the 150 volunteers! will look at the painting and attempt to choose the correct color of yard to work on the tapestries. It was fascinating!

When I finished the audio tour, I asked the woman who worked there a lot of questions throughout and she did something special for me! She knew I had a genuine interest! She took me upstairs to show me one of the tapestries in progress and…guess what!!! She let me add a few stitches, OMG!!! I am now a part of history! I am so stoked!

After the tour, I bought the book, since I couldn’t take pictures and I bought a mini tapestry to complete myself, the logo for the town, I’ll show it to you as I go along, maybe I’ll do a progressive album. I can’t wait!

After the Ros Tapestries, it was back in the car and off to Waterford, not a long drive, found the Dooley Hotel, I felt silly, first I dropped the phone and it fell apart, but it’s alright, then I had to call the front desk because this is one of those rooms that you have to put your room key card in the slot to keep the lights on! Too funny!

Now it was time for some supper and I wandered out and found The City Arms Pub and had some scrumptious potato leek soup and lovely brown bread, yum! I might just be “souping” my way around Ireland! A lovely chat with the owner and waiter and back to the hotel.

It was a lovely night for a walk, everyone apparently thinks it chilly, I think it’s brilliant! And as I’m walking, I’m having a moment…why can’t I have a “Midnight in Paris” moment like Owen Wilson, if you haven’t seen the movie, check it out!

After a lovely walk, enjoying the weather, the night and being in Ireland and my new sweater, I got back to the hotel, put on my jammies and now I’m sitting here writing to you!

Are you tired from my day? Looking forward to tomorrow!

Night!

Positivity Challenge – Day #25
1 – I am so thankful to not be on a schedule! I have a list of things I want to do, but no schedules!
2 – I am thankful to be able to find plenty of things to eat, even straight up vegetarian options all over Ireland
3 – I am thankful I have wifi to be able to post every night!