April 12 – Dublin to Waterford, Ireland

Got to Dublin in good shape. Good food, attentive Aer Lingus flight attendants, free entertainment the whole way, much better than we could have hoped for, but…. our flight into Dublin was supposed to land about 5:15 am (yes, A.M.!). It actually landed at 4:40 am, over half an hour early! We had expected to be able to sleep at least a brief period on the plane. No such luck! With the time difference of seven hours, we arrived in Dublin at 10:15 pm Denver time. We’re usually watching the news then, and watching TV up to an hour after, so it wasn’t even close to our normal bedtime. We planned on catching up later, not knowing how hard it would be until we could.

First stop, the car rental counter. We had a small car with manual transmission reserved, but ended up upgrading to a BRAND NEW Dacia Duster SUV. I think it’s made by Hyundai for the European market. More about cars and my driving as we go along – lots of interesting bits there!

We got directions how to bypass Dublin, since we’re going to be spending a few days there after we circle Ireland, and headed down the Eastern Coast alongside the Irish Sea. First stop was Ferns, Ireland, where we visited an old Gothic church and graveyard, the first of many we will see while we’re here.

Continuing South, we arrived in Wexford, a large port city at the bottom Southeast corner of Ireland. Deciding we were hungry for something to eat at 10:30 am, we started wandering around the town. We found a local heritage center with a square tower and a round tower, but ended up returning to them after we ate.

Our grandson has trained us well, and we ate our first official meal in Ireland at, wait for it….. McDonald’s! Let me just say this now about McDonald’s in Ireland vs. America – they look similar on the outside, but they don’t have Play Places ™, don’t have the wide ranging menu we have, and don’t have dollar coffee and soft drinks. What they do have is automatic doors upon entering and leaving, oversize trash receptacle with automatic lids, and lots and lots of seating, along with male/female/family restrooms, although they call them “Toilets” here.

Finally nourished, not realizing yet how tired we were, we returned to the two towers we had seen earlier and wandered around the only one accessible, the square tower. The round tower was on a high hill with no access.

Our next stop was New Ross, where the Irish Famine of the 1840’s hit very hard. It was during this time my ancestors, named McMahon, left Ireland for what they hoped would be a much brighter future. They initially settled in Maryland and moved around from there. The ship Dunroby, pictured below, was a “coffin” or “famine” ship, which was taken out of normal transport service and began transporting Irish Emigrants to Canada and the U.S. Thousands and thousands of Irish came this way in the largest single emigration in the nation’s history.

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Our first B&B reservation was in Waterford, so we headed that way, now just barely after lunch. Waterford, if you know anything, 😉 is the home of Waterford Crystal, some of the most expensive glass items in the world. We didn’t intend to take a tour of the factory, but to give you an idea of its exclusivity, they charge admission to their store!

We drove along the River Lee docks in Waterford with the usual range of shops that attract tourists, but didn’t stop to shop. Continuing to drive around, we found our second McDonald’s since arriving in Ireland, but we didn’t stop there, either.

We were now beginning to feel the effects of the flight, and decided to take a chance the B&B would allow us to check in at 1:30 pm instead of 2:00 pm. I’m sure Susan, the owner of the house, probably thought we were slugs, but once we got to the room with our luggage, we both crashed and slept the next three hours. The next morning, before we left, we had a nice breakfast and chat with Susan and another couple from England. Susan is 4^th Generation in a home built around 1850. Her 2G-Grandfather was in cattle and brought some of the first oil into Waterford, until he couldn’t bring it in on the river anymore.