Ireland day 1-3
As you may recall from my last post, I hit a bridge on my way home and had an adjuster from Progressive come out to look at it. While he was on the roof, he noticed the seal on the seam was badly cracked. On Monday I was taking it to the dealer, 2 hours away. I had my bags packed for my trip to Ireland and made one final check before taking everything to my Mom's, where I was going to spend Monday night. Up to this point everything was going smoothly, but that was about to change....
I have a surge protector attached to the end of my outside electric cord. They cost about $100 and have been known to walk away. I recently learned of a way to wrap a chain around it and attach it to the electric post. As I was packing up the RV, I couldn't find the key to the new lock. Couldn't find it ANYWHERE. Try as I might, I could not get the chain up over the electric box, so I guess it worked as intended. Time was running out so I went to the office to see if I could leave it till that evening when I could come back with a bolt cutter. The maintenance guy happened to be there and said he had a saw. We tried the lock first, not even a dent. It was a master lock in case you're wondering. After quite a bit of sawing, we got the chain off and I was finally on my way.
That night at my mom's, I was printing out my boarding pass when I realized with horror, I didn't have my passport! Lucky for me, my plane didn't leave till 5 the next evening. That left me enough time to make the 4 hour round trip back to my RV. I got up early and headed out. When I got there, my passport was not where it was supposed to be. My heart skipped more than one beat. One thing about living in an RV, they're small. I tore the place apart; there really wasn't anyplace for it to be, other than where it wasn't. I finally found it with my owner’s manuals. How it got there, I'll never know, but I finally had everything I needed. I made it home with just enough time to get the airport, and wait two hours for my flight.
I arrived in Ireland Wednesday morning. The tour company met me and got me to the hotel with enough time for a nap before the city tour. There are only 13 people on the tour. Most are couples of course, but there are two older sisters Marge and Janet. They are sweet as can be, I think they will be a hoot. There are two other solo women, one of whom we haven't met yet. Apparently she missed her flight and will join us today. Everyone seems really nice - it looks to be a fun group.
The city tour was OK, it was a quick bus tour with only one stop at a prison. The guide was very knowledgeable and made the talk interesting. It looked a bit like Alcatraz.
For dinner most of us went to a pub across the street. Everyone at my end of the table got stew, it was delicious! It was topped with mashed potatoes instead of having them quartered like we're used to. Someone else got fish and chips, which was served with mashed peas. Interesting...
Day 2
After a hearty breakfast, which included baked beans, we headed off to Meath to see Newgrange. It's a passage burial tomb over 5000 years old. Kind of like Stonehenge, primitive people managed to align huge boulders precisely with the sun so that on the winter solstice, light came in one opening and lit up the whole tomb for about 17 minutes.
Upon our return to Dublin, we had a lunch of vegetable soup, only here they puree it so it’s the consistency of split pea soup. Regardless of how it looked, it tasted awesome.
The sisters and I went on a shopping trip. We hiked about 8 blocks and they kept right with me. We passed a juice bar where we sampled bubble juice. I have no idea what it was, but in the bottom of the glass of pale liquid fruit juice were 3 transparent bubbles, which you ate for a burst of flavor. Tasty!!!
For dinner the group headed to the other side of town to a pub for dinner, music and dancing. The pasta, potato leek soup and apple tart were OK but the music was great. They even had a dancer from River Dance come perform. He did 3 dances, then called people from each table to come dance with him. I went from my table, along with my new buddy April. I'm sure it was quite the sight, none of us could follow what they were telling us, so they sort of pushed or pulled us to where we needed to be. It was more like a square dance, but it was fun.
Day 3
We left Dublin and made our way to New Ross to visit the Dunbrody Famine Ship. It’s a replica of a sailing vessel built in 1845 to transport emigrants away from the potato famine to a better life in the US and Canada. The ships were also called coffin ships, as many as 50% of the people died during the voyage.
Read more on the famine at: http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/index.html.
Our next stop was in Waterford to visit the Waterford Crystal factory. We saw how the crystal was made, including glass blowing and cutting. The workers apprentice for 8 years before becoming Master glass blowers, cutters, engravers... It was a very interesting tour, we got to ask questions while we watched them work.
Basically, they take a hunk of crystal, made from sand, lead and other materials. Its super heated, then the master glass blower blows into a pipe and spins the glass into the desired shape. It's cooled for 12 hours and sanded and smoothed out. Next, grids are marked on each piece and its handed to a master cutter who uses the grid marks to etch the designs into the piece. The one I was watching said he can do a piece the size of a flower vase in about 12 minutes.
Each piece goes through 8 quality inspections and at any point, a flaw or mistake is enough to have the piece shattered and used for something else. They don't sell 'one offs'. We got to see some special order items such as sports trophies.
We arrived at the hotel with enough time to wander around the town of Cork for an hour before a fabulous dinner. I had duck spring rolls, baked chicken and some kind of banana spiced pudding with real cream. I then waddled back to my room and soaked in my oversized tub and will be crawling under my fluffy down filled comforter in about 1 minute. One more thing, my room has a queen sized bed and a single, as do the other 2 solo travelers in our group. The rest of the group, all married couples, each have 3 single beds. I offered to trade rooms for a price...
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