Tuesday Wednesday & Thursday - 21-23rd April 2009

We had a good night in our hotel in Wales, and were up and off again by 8.30am. Today we are going to catch the ferry from Holyhead to Dublin and will be in Ireland tonight.
Ireland is a member of the European Union, and as such uses Euros for its currency. We had not realised this when organising our money, but we still have some Euros left from our cruise money. We had planned on keeping them for our trip to Lille at the end of the tour, but will probably have to buy some more before then.
The trip from our hotel which was just across the border from Chester, was across North Wales through the Snowdonia National Park, and the scenery was quite beautiful. We passed through little towns and villages, and over Llanberis Pass which was spectacular. We were able to stop for a photo shoot as we went through the pass.
We stopped at Caernarfon for a lunch break and a quick look at the castle there. Deb and I strolled around the outside and took photos, then grabbed a sandwich and a coffee before joining the bus again for the trip to Anglesey for a stop at the tongue twisting town of : Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.
Here a Welsh lady came on board the bus to welcome us and say the name of the town, and we bought some souvenirs and had our passports stamped with the name of the town.
Then it was off to Holyhead to catch the ferry to Dublin. It was a sign of the times to see that we were the only tourist bus travelling on the ferry to Ireland. As well there were very few other travellers on the ship.
The trip across the Irish Sea took about 3½ hours, and was very smooth, but a bit boring. Ian had warned us to bring books to read, which we did. The cost of food and drink on board was exorbitant - €2.00 for a tiny 150ml can of diet coke.
When we arrived at Dublin, we re-boarded our bus and headed off to our hotel. We are staying 2 nights at the Royal Marine Hotel in a town outside of Dublin called Dun Laoghaire. It was about half an hour from the ferry terminal.
The hotel was quite modern, and we had been allotted a room supposedly suitable for a disabled person. It was room 533 so was on the 5th floor, and once again nearly at the end of a long corridor.
We went out for dinner as it wasn’t included when we stayed 2 nights in a hotel. We wandered up the road, and found a little Indian restaurant that had an early bird special of 2 courses for €14.95 per person.
Our waiter was from Nepal, and he said he wanted to migrate to Australia as he wanted to play cricket for Ricky Ponting – his hero. We really enjoyed the meal, and afterwards returned to the hotel for the night.
Because we were going to be there for 2 nights Deb decided to do our washing, and lucky she did. When she tried to use the shower hose to rinse the clothes, she found that it was impossible to control the temperature, and it was either freezing cold or scalding hot. We phoned the reception, and they sent up a housemaid, but she wasn’t able to help. By this stage we had practically flooded the whole bathroom as there was only a poorly designed drain hole for the water to drain from. The housemaid sent up the duty manager, but he couldn’t solve the problem – so we were moved to another room – by this time it was nearly 10.00pm. The room was directly below the one we had been in, and when we got there and checked the water found that it was just the same as the room above.
Deb and I decided that there wasn’t any point in complaining again, as they obviously weren’t able to do anything about it.
So we went to bed after a long and exhausting day.

Wednesday 22 April 2009
I decided to try the shower when I woke, and found that it was just as difficult to control the water temperature as the one in the previous room had been, so Deb and I had really short showers as it was too hard to shower safely.
After breakfast, it was back on the bus, and off for an orientation tour of Dublin. We had no idea of what Ireland would be like, and while Dublin was similar in some ways to Paris, it just didn’t quite make it in terms of sophistication and elegance. The weather was cold and grey which didn’t help.
After driving around the city we were taken to Trinity College (University) to see the 1,200 year old Book of Kells and the magnificent Old Library in the University. This was really interesting, and Deb really enjoyed it – especially the Long Room with the ancient books on high shelves. A lot of restoration work takes place there and we were able to see the workers vacuuming the books to get the years of dust from the edges of the books.
After that we had a quick lunch in the university
students’ cafeteria, and found it was quite reasonably priced as compared to elsewhere.
After lunch we were left to explore on our own, and Deb and I wandered around the old Medieval area of Dublin, and along the river front until it was time to rejoin the bus for the return trip to the hotel.
Back at the hotel we rested for a couple of hours, I tried to sort photos and write the blog up, while Deb had a rest. The we went out around 6.30pm to find dinner again. This time we went to a local pub which was a couple of blocks from the hotel and had a really lovely meal again. We have found that most places make really great soup, and we usually have the soup of the day, with something else like a pasta, or salad. After dinner it was back to the hotel to watch TV for a short while then off to sleep as we leave the hotel in the morning again.

Thursday 23rd April 2009
We had been advised to bring our raincoats today as the weather forecast had been for showers, they were correct. It was grey and wet when we set off on the bus after breakfast.
We were heading across the Curragh to the Irish National Horse Stud at Kildare. Because it was raining we didn’t have a great view of the countryside as we headed for Kildare.
I’m not sure why they include a visit to a horse stud, but I suppose there wasn’t a lot else for us to see. The rain stopped when we got to the stud, and we had a guide to tell us about the horses, and show us the foals – there were 2 which we only 2 weeks old, and they were cute. We got a full description about horse breeding, and how much it all costs – but not being terribly interested in horses or racing, I found it a little boring. They had a lovely Japanese garden to view as well as the horses, and of course the obligatory visit to the gift shop. Deb and I find it all a bit much being constantly channelled into places where you are expected to spend money. We have stopped buying at every place we go to, but there are some people on the tour who are still buying up – goodness knows how they are going to get all their stuff home.
After the horse stud, we were supposed to see the Rock of Cashel where St Patrick was supposed to have preached, but it was surrounded by scaffolding – so didn’t see it.
After another short stop for lunch at a little village, we continued on through Tipperary, and arrived at Limerick for our next stop. It was wet and cold when we arrived but the hotel is really first class, and we have a lovely room on the 5th floor – the bathroom is much better designed for disabled people – so it looks like showers will be possible here.
We were booked for the optional banquet at Bunratty Castle tonight, and after a quick rest in the room, had to be ready to leave at 5.00pm for the castle.
It was wet and cold when we left for the short drive to the castle.
We were taken up to the banquet room where we were given mugs of mead – really delicious – I had 3 mugs full during the evening.
There were about 140 people for the banquet which was along the lines of the sort of shows they in most places. A simulation of what it might have been like at a medieval feast.
We had a lovely vegetable soup in a bowl – which we had to drink without a spoon – but we had lots of damper like bread to eat with it. Then they brought out mountains of ribs (smoked pork) absolutely delicious – which we had to eat with a sharp knife and our fingers. Great fun and very messy. After that it was a chicken with potatoes and vegetables – once again no forks, just fingers and a knife to eat it with. They had way too much food – and it was amazing to see how much was wasted.
They also served a desert which was delicious – throughout the meal there was entertainment, and at the end, there was also more singing from the cast. There was a very talented violinist and a harpist accompanying the singing.
The show finished at around 8.30pm, and we returned to our bus to be ferried back to our hotel and bed (after writing up this blog). Deb is pretty tired and has fallen asleep as I write this.
Tomorrow we go off on our west coast of Ireland excursion which should be really exciting.