Majestic Hotel Waterford

Well as it turns out, I chose a good week to visit Michelle and George, as they had already planned a weekend of surfing on the West Coast.

The day started off right, with a proper Irish breakfast. As Michelle puttered away with breakfast prep, George rolled in, busy getting his gear ready for the weekend.
'Do you have any pudding?' he inquires
'no' is the sheepish reply
'well it's not exactly breakfast without pudding now is it?'

Michelle can ...

... roads in Ireland are miniature versions of the variety we have in Canada, but the speed limits don't reflect this. We clipped along, squeezed between rock walls and oncoming traffic.

"The side mirrors on the car fold in if they're hit" Michelle informed me.
That was immensely reassuring.

We arrived home in record time, Michelle threw together a proper feast, and I was in bed by 8.

... around the town, taking in the historical cathedral, Reginals tower (viking built), peoples park and the old city wall. Then we headed off across to Kilanery. We stopped off at the Waterfor Crystal visitors centre.. just some lovely crystal here, famous for their sporting trophies, ie Wimbleton and golf and also the Ashes!

We drove thought some lovely country side and towns such as Currich-on-Suir and stopped at Cahir to have a look at their castle ...

... c'est tres beau et relaxant . demain on vas faire un tour guide en autobus et apres on vas prendre l'auto pour aller se promener dans les campagnes. a bientot on vous donne d'autre nouvelle plus tard ps;ici c'est le temps des fraise pis y sont bonne en crisse . lylyet sophie

... crystal factory has gone out of business - bought by Bank of America which is going to send manufacturing to someplace like Texas for sure...sad, but we'll see what's left tomorrow.

Then back to Dublin...Guinness Factory Tour and then sadly back to the US.

Now for Sister Carolyn - Darnit Katie has all the fun! I ate dinner with a window salesperson from Wisconsin. Turns out he sells Kolbe and Kolbe windows. Which we have in our house. I hate them ...

... to see the other side of the Atlantic Ocean - the town of Ardmore was much more impressive in the vision of Nora Roberts than it was in person! Because it was a Monday, pretty much everything was closed, It was drizzly and windy all day, so after a short walk on the beach, we headed out.

Happily, a wrong turn took us up a country road and ...

... and so the next stop on our journey was to the local tyre fixing man. Three stops in and we were still within spitting distance of Navan, oh well. The offending screw was dealt with, in no uncertain terms and now has to live out its days rusting away on the side of the a-fore mentioned tyre fixing mans wall, no mercy was shown. We had a few jobs to do in Dublin on the way to our first stop in Limerick. We packed ...

... various crystal products. It all looks very labour intensive, which probably explains why it is so expensive. We also visited Reginald's tower, an defensive tower in continuous use since the 1100's. On our way out of Waterford we met John and Helen Kearns, Dave's grandfather's cousin's son and his wife (yes, a distant relative). Lovely people, they gave us lunch, and sent us on our way to Killarney.

... up we took ourselves into the city and found that we were moored right in the centre with all facilities to hand - 2 internet cafes, more banks than you could shake a stick at (one of my more diverse interests), restaurants shops etc etc. Last night we went to the gym in a local hotel (cheap showers not exercise) and enjoyed a beer/glass of c******nay overlooking the river. We intend staying here for a few days prior to continuing West towards Crosshaven.

... to buy. Looked around the grounds of the castle before paying for our photos which they then ship back to your home wherever that might be. It cost us €7.50 each which we decided was worth it. Back into the car and this time heading in the direction of Cahir and a visit to Cahir Castle. We went on the brief guided tour before wandering around ourselves and taking some photos and video. The castle has the last operational medieval ...