Blogs from County Waterford, Ireland, Europe - page 4

I got permission from school to visit my distant family in Ireland this weekend and its been great! I met my distant "cousin" Regina Heavey at the airport in Dublin, and we got off to a great start with a bus tour of the Irish capital. We saw all the major sights including Trinity College, Phoenix park (with the second largest obelisk in the world, right after the washington monument), the Guinness brewery, many different cathedrals and churches and much more. That night we drove down to Waterford, and I learned a bit about the town's history, the famous Waterford crystal company, and Ireland's viking heritage. We stopped for pizza and had the local specialty pizza (topped with everything from pepperoni, to pineapple, to bacon, to corn, and peppers) followed by some great ice cream. Afterwards ... read more

After another day full of train travel, this time adding another train connection at the train station across town from Dublin station. Riding right along the water gives you a striking first impression. Waterford is one beautiful city. Beautiful historic warehouses, that have since been turned into shops, line the water and are only blocks away from the pedestrian shopping center. One of those beautiful buildings was our hotel. Granville Hotel used to be the mansion of a wealthy Irish merchant family whose son later designed the modern Irish flag. We arrived, late in the evening, only to find out that where had been a mistake in our reservation. They thought that there was only 2 of us when we actually numbered 3. To correct their mistake we were given one of the penthouse suite that ... read more

Finally at a B&B with good internet AND hot showers! I have posted some pictures from the past few days! Anyway, today was not a good day. As my loving boyfriend would say, "morale is low, press on." Driving around Ireland is stressful, to say the least. First, there is being comfortable with driving on the wrong side of the road. The driving part isn't the problem - the turning part is. It's challenging to make narrow left hand turns, and wide right hand turns. Throw in the fact that we spent 90% of the day lost, and the necessity of finding gas stations to ask for directions....not a good day. However, there were a few highlights - Powerscourt Gardens in Eniskerry (uploaded some pictures) - Waterford...home of Waterford Crystal I am sad that we missed ... read more

Snow has been falling in Dublin constantly for the last 5 hours. It’s now 9:30pm and we’ve been stuck in gridlocked traffic at the N7 motorway junction trying to get out of the city for more than an hour. About two inches of the white stuff has settled on the road around us and what looks close to ten inches worth is on the footpath. And as we sit here the snow keeps on coming... Lachlan’s never driven in conditions like this before and the 30 minutes which it took us to get here was quite fun to say the least. First gear results in wheel spin and no motion, so it’s off limits, and the brakes result in instant sideways action, so they’re off limits too. We must admit it looked very Christmasy as we ... read more

Geo: 52.2568, -7.1292We headed for our hotel where the driver had already unloaded our luggage. We got our room keycards and headed upstairs. The hotel, Dooley's Hotel, is located in the quayside area of Waterford. It has been owned by the same family since 1947. The place is quaint and the four poster bed and canopy is charming. There is no AC, and the reception desk said that their were no fans available. However, as I was unpacking, I heard one of the maids down the hallway talking in her little office. When she got off the phone, I asked if I could have a fan. She got me one!!! I have one window that opens, but no screen, so I hope there will not be a lot of bugs in my room tonight. Dinner was ... read more