There once was a man from …

SDSpivey

As much as we hated to, we had to leave the warmth and tranquility of Wexford and the Round Chalet.

Our next stop was near Limerick, a 3 hour drive, but first there were a few items yet to be seen.

In the middle of the town of Wexford, there is a ruins of an old church, Selskar Abbey, so we headed over.

It was a bank holiday, so I was uncertain if we had to still pay for street parking, so I did. Better safe than sorry. As we walked up to the gates, there is a sign stating that tours are given daily, at 3pm. is was only 10, so we could not go into the grounds to see it. Oh, well.

We then zipped up the highway, back towards Dublin, to Enniscorthy. There is a castle that is listed on all the brown “informational” highway signs, so it must be something to see. It is now a government office, and closed on bank holidays, of course.

Spying a steeple, we walked up (and I do mean up) the hill to St. Aidan’s Cathedral, an actual functioning church. Most old churches we had seen were no longer functional or had limited services. We went in and luckily there were only a few parishioners inside. Still, I didn’t want to be rude, snapping pics everywhere, so I just grabbed one from the back, as we were going out the door.

Driving down yet another skinny road, mom needed to pee. There was obviously no stores or petrol stations. I spotted another church ruins and was able to do a U-turn and park close to a wall, for privacy, there wasn’t anyone about, except a terrier across the road that just sat and looked at us.

We found the place easy enough. It is right next to a small park, with a small river running down beside it.

It is a 2-story, and a lot more room than the two of us need. We even have a spare bedroom.

I had received instructions from the owner that we needed to call the local manager, but we don’t know how. Since I wasn’t able to check my email for a few days, I didn’t know if I could send one or not. Fortunately, his wife was on their computer when I sent is, so he was able to get there in about 15 minutes. We weren’t going to have to sleep on the grass. Hurray!

We had dinner reservations (yes, like civilized folk) at Bunratty Castle, so we changed and head out.

The dinner was “by hand” no forks or spoons, only a knife to cut and pick up the food. Or using your fingers. It was served in 4 courses, a soup (good), short ribs (good, but messy), chicken and vegetables (juicy meat but not much flavor), and a small cheesecake (yum).

Period songs were sang and played on violin and harp throughout the evening by the hosts and hostesses, while we sat on benches at a longtable.

The castle was about 100 feet tall, but only 3 floors. Very tall ceilings. Very narrow spiral stairs. Mom loved those.

After returning, it was almost midnight, off to bed.

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Johnstown Castle

SDSpivey

For our last full day in Wexford, we set out for nearby Johnstown Castle.

I needed to squeegee the rear window, staying on a dirt road does have some disadvantages. Apparently, gas stations here do not have any squeegees. Perhaps it is to get you to buy a car wash.

Shortly after the second gas station, I noticed google maps had gone “offline”. It had no directions, but still updated the maps as I zoomed and panned.

We were still able to follow informational signs to get to the castle, so no harm.

Our trip came at an inopportune time, the castle was closed and being renovated. It has stood since the Normans invasion of Ireland. There is still a large landscape we walked around, as well as an agriculture history museum. Mom and I are both over castles and churches, so this made a interesting diversion that we would not have chosen otherwise.

Prior to entering the museum, some owners of antique cars (pre-WWI) pulled up in the museums courtyard. One of them had kerosene powered headlights.

Inside there was a large collection of manual and powered farm equipment and period furniture that the Irish families had used. Also included were several “shops” that would have supported the farmers, cobblers, furriers (horse bridle makers), blacksmiths, etc.

The grounds were quite nice, but another timing problem was that there was an apparent storm recently (a week ago?) that damaged a lot of the trees, requiring many branches and even whole trees to be cut unattractively.

There was a “fishing” tower, but I’m not certain there were fish. There were lots of birds, including peacocks, hawks, doves, swans, and ducks.

Several small streams ran through the property, some with small water falls.

As we were ready to leave, I noted that google maps was still not working. We were close to the house, 30 minutes, so I was able to drive back without difficulty, but I had to skip the other sites we were going to visit today. It is hard enough to drive on the wrong side of the car, with maps, there is no way I would find my way to there and back, without.

Weeks ago, I signed up for an international data plan on my ipad. I am afraid I may have already used up my allotment. I don’t remember the monthly limit. My username/password doesn’t seem to work and I noticed yesterday I was unable to get my email on my computer or ipad (on wifi), so I can’t reset the password. I’m not able to check or renew.

I still have more than 2/3 of my trip to go and I need my maps.

Hopefully, it works tomorrow (and everyday) or we will be lost forever.

Ruins and Famine

SDSpivey

Finally, a good night’s sleep.

We prepared breakfast and then headed out to New Ross, a town near the borders of counties Wexford and Kilkenny.

I found a brochure in our house for a old church, St Mary’s Abbey, that looked interesting. It had no roof!

Okay, most of it had no roof, but it was still a functional church in one “wing”. Supposedly, the functioning part was well maintained. There was no service today, so we were unable to go in and verify this.

A block away was a church of the Augustinian Order, but also not open today. <grumble> <grumble>

The other item I wanted to see was a bit far away, over an hour. It was an old copper mine and smelter, right on the southern coast. I do mean right on it, the drawing of the original buildings showed some that would now be down in the sea, as the cliffs have receded.

We were there at about 1pm, but the fog was rolling in from the sea. We couldn’t see anything more than a mile or so away. There was sun here in Wexford when we left.

Strangely, this was a popular spot. There was a couple already there when we arrived, and 2 more cars while we visited.

We cruised around the area, not having any destination, stopping into a pub, looking for some sandwiches to go. They had none on the menu, so we left. There was too much manure in the air to enjoy eating anyway.

I was trying to get far enough away that we could travel back on a different route, but at one point I noticed I was back on a road I had already seen. So much for that plan.

With nothing else in the area to see, we headed back to the house, coming right through New Ross again.

I hadn’t really want to see the Dunbrody, an 1840’s transport ship during the Famine years, but since we had time to kill, and we were driving back right by it, why not. Especially since we were rained out from the Dublin ship, Jeanie Johnson.

We took their little tour, which was pretty cool. They said the quarters were sparse and cramped, but I think they had more room than most airline flights nowadays.

New Ross is only a few miles away from the Kennedy Homestead, where JFK’s grandfather came from.

We spotted a Tesco and went in, hoping to find ready made sandwiches, but failed, they had no deli. We did find some salads (including forks) and we ate them in the parking lot before heading back.

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Leaving Dublin

SDSpivey

Last night, I walked down to the parking garage to get the car and park closer to the hostel. The fee was €56, but I had a discount from the hostel that brought it down to €25, that’s awesome. I realized half way to the hostel, I didn’t have my license with me. Oops.

We had a new roommate when I got back. Saying he was a chainsaw, would have been an insult to power equipment everywhere. I slept some, but awoke around 4am. It seems to have been habit for me in Dublin.

I was going to have to start paying for the street parking after 7, but since we were both awake, we decided to go ahead and leave.

This was the best looking day we’ve seen so far. Sunny, without being hot. Perhaps it was because we were out of Dublin. They say that it only rains twice a week in Dublin, once for three days and once again for four.

We headed out, taking side roads as much as possible and had no specific route and meandered southward.

We started up a small (extremely small) road going up one of the mountains near Dublin. Mom hated this road as it was barely wide enough for two cars to pass each other. Also, there was often a hedge or wall, right on the edge of the road, so it was very close to her side of the car.

It was very nice looking, but she wouldn’t let me take pictures while driving. Mothers, right?

I only had one destination en-route, Ashford Studios, where many scenes from the TV show Vikings were filmed. As we pulled up, the gates were closed. I though we were just too early, too many places in Europe don’t open until 10 or 11.

Driving down the road we found a pub, the Brass Fox, and went in for breakfast. I spoke with a man outside and he let us know that the Studios were closed until June. Dang!

He recommended checking out the remains of the Black Castle, which didn’t seem to be black. He also had us visit the Wicklow Gaol, another 1800’s prison. It had a very similar history, being mainly known for the many prisoners that were guilty of insurrection against the crown, or even being Catholic, the most grievous of crimes.

At this point, I was getting very tired, having so little rest in the past few days, so we skipped any other possible sights on the way and headed straight for the house we rented. Going down some more of the tiny roads, only now many were unpaved and had few street signs.

We pulled up and were greeted by the owner’s two black dogs, very friendly.

This place is beautiful, truly. Raw, unstained wood throughout. It is called the Round Chalet.

I’ve never really been in a round house before, but this place has a good layout, plenty of space, and large, soft beds. For the latter, I know because I crashed out for a couple of hours, until Mom woke me up to go get food.

We drove down to the city and found a Tesco Extra. The extra was that they had free parking. That is always a plus in a city.

We got a couple ready-made items and some breakfast foods to add to the farm-fresh eggs that are included at the Chalet, from their free range chickens. It took a few moments trying how to turn on the oven, and then we puzzled over why the oven wasn’t getting warm. There is a master switch on the wall for the stove/oven. That is certainly a novelty.

Tonight, we will certainly have a good sleep. We have no roommates coming in at all hours and we even have separate bedrooms, so we won’t bother each other.

Going to Jail

SDSpivey

Spoiler Alert: We got out.

We first headed out to the Jeanie Johnson, a ship used to transport the few lucky Irish families who were able to scrape up the money for passage to America, instead of starving during the many famines of the 1840’s and 1850’s.

It was not yet open and it was beginning to rain, again, so we nixed that plan and headed off to the Little Dublin Museum. Again, we got in for free. I wish there was a Dublin Pass for the whole country.

The museum was devoted to the modern history of Dublin. There was one room devoted to local boys U2.

We then headed to Dublin Castle. It is still used to house some government officials and several offices.

There was also a memorial garden and a small museum about the famines.

A short bus trip later, we toured the Kilmainham Gaol, an old jail from the time of the Famine. Ha Ha, tricked you. We didn’t get arrested.

Many political prisoners from the independence movement were jailed there, as well as many were executed by public hanging.

There was a long wait for the bus afterwards. Our last attraction was the Leprechaun Museum. Because of the long wait, we arrived just a bit late to go in. Dang it.

Tomorrow, we leave Dublin to go to Wexford, in the south east. Just when we were starting to get the hang of knowing where we were, we are leaving. Then we’ll have learn a new place all over again.

No more hostels on this trip. All the rest of the places are via AirBnB. No more roommates. It is cool to meet people from different areas of the world, but it sucks to have to be woke up by not just the roommates, but by loud people in the halls and other rooms.

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Getting drunk in Dublin

SDSpivey

Today we awoke to rain and strong winds and cold, of course.

We walked down to find the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus that will take you around town. I had ordered a 3-day pass. I was using a map I picked up in the hostel, but since Dublin has so few street signs, I wasn’t always sure of our location.

We stepped into the bus and I presented the passes and was told are only good for a single day on the bus, but we can “upgrade” each day if we want.

We rode until we saw the Dublina museum, which is a history of Dublin. Our passes got us in for free.

The end of the museum leads across the road to deposit us into the Christ Church Cathedral, which we also got free with the passes. There was a “crypt” downstairs with cool objects and some outfits from the HBO series “the Tudors” that was partly filmed there.

We jumped back on the bus and got off at the Guinness Brewery, again FREE with the passes, which included a free pint at their restaurants. During the tour they offered everyone a small (~6 oz) glass of Guinness and “taught” us all how to properly drink it. Neither of us cared for it at all.

Afterwards, we used the bus again to go to the Jameson distillery, again free entry and a shot at the end.

Departure and arrival in Ireland

SDSpivey

Mom came down to Inverness on Sunday, staying at Grandma’s. I went over to meet her, but when I pulled into the yard, I noticed that the trailer was not in the yard, where I know it was left.

I checked the garage and found the back screen had been pried out and someone had taken my air compressor and nail gun also. Strangely, other tools were still there.

I saw no evidence of entry into the house, fortunately.

Once mom arrived, I told her about it and we then filed a police report. It is considered “grand theft auto” as it did involve a titled, VIN item.

We had to displace this event in our minds, so we would be able to enjoy Ireland properly.

We left the next day, late in the day, so no rush.

It was an overnight flight, getting in at about 10:15am. Because we booked later than we should have, we were right behind the wings, the noisiest part of the plane. Plus the general talking and such, we didn’t sleep much, if any.

Dinner wasn’t bad, but they served an “Irish” breakfast burrito that was mostly mashed potatoes in a barely cooked tortilla, with a small amount of cheese and egg added.

We easily passed passport control and headed out. Apparently, there was no customs control. Odd indeed.

We found the car rental desk and the lady sent us down to the “car park”, but someone there said we had to take a shuttle to the pickup area. What was the point of this first lady then, she didn’t do anything that a series for signs couldn’t do better.

Regardless, we got our car (a Skoda) and drove out.

Since we couldn’t check into the hostel until 2, we just drove around looking around and allowing me to get used to driving on the wrong side of the car.

After driving around the hostel a few times looking for somewhere to park, I managed to grab one just around the corner, still too far to carry our heavy bags, but it would do. It was €2.40 per hour and only took coins. Luckily I had brought the remaining coins from the last trip so I was able to drop in a €2 and got almost an hour.

We walked toward the Tesco grocer, to find mom’s distilled water for her CPAP. Nobody in Ireland needs any, so nobody has any. So we ended up just getting filtered, which still has minerals.

We didn’t take any photos today, as we only saw one thing that we might want a photo of, a spire about 10-12 feet in diameter and about 700 feet tall, seriously. This thing was so tall it hurt my neck just trying to see the top. But there isn’t any way to photograph it, as you’d never get the whole thing into frame.

After shopping, we were going to drive out and find some food, but we didn’t want to loose the spot, it would be free after 4pm, so we we walked toward a Subway restaurant, but luckily, we spotted a Chinese restaurant before we got there.

Food was good, but slow and after eating and waiting on the check I was starting to fall asleep. It was only 5, but I had gone about 27 hours without sleep, so we ended up crashing around 7. I slept for about 2 hours until one of our roommates came in and then left a minute later. The only way to close the door is to slam it, which is always the preferred way anywhere someone tries to sleep.

I was chilled when I went to bed, but it wasn’t too bad, and I got under the duvet they provided. When the guy woke me, I was drenched in sweat, something I didn’t think I would have to worry about until back in Florida. The duvet was very efficient, too efficient. It wouldn’t let any air flow through.

When the guy came back a few minutes later and was making up his bed, our other roommate came in and they talked a bit. The first said something about his stuff being moved, but it was that way when we arrived.

They both went to bed, but tossed a bit, so I didn’t get back to sleep for a few hours.

I awoke just before 4am, and was too restless, so I dressed and grabbed my computer and went downstairs to type up the day’s events.

So far, not a lot of good to talk about, but we still have 20 more days to turn it around.

Last day and coming home

SDSpivey

It continued being unseasonably cold in Inverness and very windy.

We took a bus tour around town. It was a Hop-on Hop-off brand bus, seemingly popular in Europe, where you buy a day’s ticket and can ride as much as you want and get on and off at will. They also have audio commentary throughout the ride, remarking on features as you pass them.

At one point the bus crosses a canal and is talking about the locks and the lochs, very hard to differentiate by ear.

We walked across a foot bridge to a couple small islands in the River Ness and visited the Botanical Gardens.

The gardens had all sorts of flowering plants, cactus, shrubs, and even vegetables. On a cold day, it really felt good to go into the “tropical house”, even though it was probably on in the 60’s, it felt warm and wonderful.

We also stopped at a weaver’s shop, where you can watch them make wool cloth or tartans. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any one doing it while we were there. The shop had huge amounts of clothes, mostly wool, and souvenirs and a large selection of Scotch whiskey.

I did finally realize why the day seems so long, besides all the walking of course. I checked a program on my phone and got that we were at latitude 57.5, less than 9 degrees from the Arctic Circle, above which you can have at least one day without any sunset.

This also helps explain the cold.

We had to get up early to catch the plane, so I set my alarm on my phone. Early the next morning we were awoken by a loud alarm, but it wasn’t mine. The fire alarm was going off.

We went down, but when I got to the bottom of the stairway, it was just me and another girl. It appears that everyone else decided to ignore safety protocol and take time to get their shoes and jackets and such. Meanwhile, I am standing there in just my pants, no shoes, no shirt. At least I wasn’t wearing shorts.

Since we were up and everyone else was up, we went ahead and took our things and headed next door to the bus stop.

Upon check in at the Inverness airport, they had no record of mom’s flight info and I find out that the airline had changed my schedule after I had already landed in Europe. Since I had a print out of the bookings, the clerk issued a ticket for mom anyway and required us to check in at the next airport, Manchester, in order to fix the scheduling.

I noticed that our seats were not together, despite the seat next to me being empty. So I was able to stretch out a bit on the flight.

When I got home, I realized that I had forgotten where I hid the keys on the back porch, and I didn’t have a light to look for them. But one of the doors wasn’t closed firmly so I was able to get in and turn on the back light. Took me several minutes to find them.

Day 25, Inverness

SDSpivey

The night train I had booked was supposed to be a straight through, we were constantly making stops on the way. Despite the 30 minute head start, we still didn’t arrive until 30 minutes late. That makes 13 hours on the train, without anything to do or eat.

We watched the scenery as we made the final few hours through the country side. Saw many sheep and lambs and snow on the mountains in the distance.

Finally we arrived. The station had WiFi, so I was able to finally look at the map. A quick trip down the road and we were at the last hostel for this trip.

We dumped our bags and walked around town. It was freezing, down in the mid 40’s and gusty winds, so we made it a short trip out.

After a crashing on the sofa, it was a bit sunnier and we went back out, going to St. Andrews church and Inverness Castle, which is a working court house.

Every flag I see is a Scottish flag, the only Union Jack was part of St. Andrews Cross flag, in the church. I take it they still think of themselves as Scots, not as part of the UK.

Despite the cold, the days here in Europe are long. As I write this, it is after 10pm, but the sun is just setting.

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Day 24, Highclere Castle aka Downton Abbey

SDSpivey

On Sunday we had to check out of the room and then head out to Heathrow Airport, where I had a rental car waiting.

I drove out to Highclere Castle, where the popular show Downton Abbey is partly filmed.

I really had reservations about driving on the wrong side of the car. I frequently drive in the left lane, so that wasn’t too fearful, but sitting on the right side of the car is unusual, much less driving on that side.

I didn’t have too much trouble, other than a drifting to the left on occasion. As we were leaving the castle, we were following a single lane road for quite a while, so when I turned onto a real road, I was on the wrong side for a few moments before I recovered. Luckily no one was coming.

There was some sort of “game festival” also going on elsewhere on the property, but didn’t affect us getting there. It must be nice to have property big enough that you can have two events, without conflict.

As we were awaiting entry into the castle, we saw the Countess Carnarvon escorting Newt Ginrich and wife.

Inside is mostly still original, with the only new items being the family photos displayed all over, much like any home. With the exception that most homes don’t have candid photos of the Queen or young Princess Diana.

With the house being so old (1830’s), there is obvious wear and destruction, which is one of the reasons for allowing visitations to the estate, to help pay for the expensive restorations needed.

The 5th Earl Carnarvon was co-discoverer, with Howard Carter, of the tomb of Tutankhamun in the 1922, there is a permanent exhibit on site of the mummy and casket and many various other artifacts found throughout his explorations.

We had lunch at the manor house amongst the many children playing on the back lawn. Afterward we strolled the gardens, including the “secret” garden, which isn’t very secret with a sign pointing the way.

With the rain threatening, and a night train to catch, we headed back to Heathrow.

Despite the navigator having all the Enterprise locations pre-installed, it did not have Heathrow, so I programmed it to go to the zip code of the agency. We spent at least half an hour trying to follow the directions, the signs didn’t list any rental locations and the navigator was too slow with the directions to easily get into the correct lane or make the correct turn.

I did finally get there, but I was unable to find and gas stations on the way back, so I was hit with a£40 refueling charge, about what I pay to fill my entire tank.

We then took the underground back into town to the train station.

There was little chance to get food on the train, at least not until morning, so we grabbed a bit at the station. Then I went to check the board to see if there was a platform listed yet, we still had over an hour.

There was only one train listed at our departure time, and that was going elsewhere.

I went to the info booth, but was closed, so I headed to the ticket area. It is all ticket machines, but I did spot an employee, so I asked him about it. He walked out to the board and looked also, and did not see the train listed, either. So he went back into his office area and came back with the news that the train schedule had been push up 30 minutes and was currently boarding.

I grabbed Mom and we headed to the platform, where the employees there also knew nothing about the change, but the porter did.

I have never hear of anyone pushing a schedule ahead before. We were well under way before the original departure came about. If we had been 20 minutes later getting to the station, we would have been stuck. I really expect better from Richard Branson’s Virgin brand.

This cabin was even smaller that the previous had been, but at least we were in it, instead of sitting at the station.