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.