Travelodge Waterford

... surprising considering the Irish love of spuds. Why exclude them from breakfast?

After fortifications are complete we head for the coast. Our drive takes us past Limerick and over the Shannon River, Ireland's longest river. A while latter we arrive at the beach, Spanish Point. As it was already late in the day we waste no time gearing up and hitting the waves. I'm completely decked out in loaner gear, but I'm using the same kayak I have at home, so it feels ...

I was really hoping, as I always do, to have a vacant seat next to mine on the flight. My hopes were dashed at the last moment when a gangly British man found his seat next to mine. He wedged himself in; all elbows and knees. We didn't exchange any words until feeding time, which is when I usually choose to voice my thoughts on the provided cuisine.

"It looks like they've outdone ...

... now there is a car up my ****... sorry Dad!!

We then continued onto Waterford.. the oldest city in Ireland. Lovely mixture of new and old and a very unusual piece of art hanging from the storage sheds over the river. See pics of girls face! We spent some time in our favourite place, the tourist centre and booked accomodation for tonight and our stay in Kilanery. Our guest house was called Portree.. very appropriate as we just came from that city in ...

... a very large white farm house that faced the ocean and it sat just 200 yards from the beach. Jim and I were very excited about this place. It was love at first site. We knocked and were let in by the host's husband, Gabriel. He said, Phil, was out with the sheep and would return shortly. Ha. It was our host we passed. How crazy is that?
Well, Phil came bustling in, showed us our room and offered us a pot of ...

... 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

... ss p*ssengers, but *t the end of the tour, we took the opportunity to look up Andrew's m*tern*l gre*t-gr*ndmother in their d*t*b*se. While there w*s no Minnie Lee Fl*n****n, there were sever*l M*rg*ret Fl*n****ns.

After le*ving New Ross, we went south to Tintern Abbey, where we tromped *round inside t*king photos *nd being in *we. After, we explored the woods surrounding the *bbey. App*rently, the monks who lived there were given jobs *t the beginning of the week *nd they ...

... to Manor Village and we are fed breakfast and lunch with our WIT student ID account! The course materials seem to be pretty well inter-woven and will be even better demonstrated once we are able to visit sites and historical landmarks. For now, I am enjoying free time to become better acquainted with Waterford and (finally!) getting in contact with close family and friends back home. Tonight, several of us are planning to make dinner at our ...

... street in what looked like free parking. There was no machine to take my Euros only a sign which said 'disc' parking. Having no idea what that meant I muttered, 'bugger it' and set off into town leaving the car there in the lap of the parking gods. I was lucky to get that spot but unlucky because there was a 40 Euro fine on the windscreen when we returned. It will be interesting to see if it catches up with me in Sydney via Alamo. ( It did ) We went to the post office to find ...

... by the hire car company to get us out of the airport car park coming to a fee of €48, the unclear route signs heading south out of Dublin towards County Wexford leading me to take a slightly convoluted course, the struggle to find a pub still serving food at 9pm in the town of Arklow, and then when we did chance upon one finding out they didn’t have my first, second, third, fourth or fifth choices ...

... puking after night at The Grand * Amazing cliffs (I know I put twice) * Beautiful Beach looking at the Blasket Islands * Beehive huts (Aran Islands) * Ferry to Ireland (rough Irish Sea) * out on top for 4 hours to avoid getting seasick * Irish pubs and accents * small roads, winding and curving * stones built up to distinguish land * stones all over * Beautiful! Amazing! * cows right ...