Carphone Warehouse isn’t open today, so I’ll have to wait until Thursday to exchange my phone. I hate to be without my mobile, but Simon has his and Kevin will have his so I certainly won’t be out of touch.
Tidied up the flat, watched a little TV and Simon arrived around 11:20.
It was actually a gorgeous day and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride through Wales. Saw three castles and lovely villages along the coast. Was intrigued by all the road signs, in English and Welsh. Took some pictures but they aren’t as good as I’d hoped. (Wales=Cymru.) Simon said the only reason people speak the Welsh language is to make the English angry. (Ditto with the road signs being in two languages.) Of course, he was joking. Sort of.
When we got to Holyhead we joined long lines of other cars waiting to get on the ferry. The ferries are HUGE. Ours is the Irish Line’s Ulysses and I’m writing this on the James Joyce Balcony Lounge. This ship is like a cruise ship with the top deck being the 11th floor. We’re parked on 7 and sitting on 10. Nine holds a cinema, restaurant, shopping, gaming lounge and family lounge with a play area for the kids. It’s fun. The only bad thing about where we’re sitting is that there are no windows. I’ll go outside again as we near Dublin. The crossing is three hours on this one, classified as a leisure ferry. The rapid ferry on the way home will only take an hour and a half.
After we arrive in Dublin, we have a three and a half hour drive to Cork.
The drive was quite fun. It was dark and I couldn’t see a thing except when we drove through towns. Well, sometimes I saw the odd cow or beautiful stone fence. After the gorgeous castles in Wales, I could only imagine the beautiful castles I was missing on the long drive from Dublin to Cork. Then suddenly well-lit and rising out of a high hill was an astounding castle. It looked like a castle out of a fairy tale. Of course, I didn’t get a picture. Since it was dark, I’d put my camera away. Drat.
Wanted to add that it was so cool in Dublin driving along the River Liffey, then driving by signs that pointed to destinations previously unknown to me except in my dreams—Cork, Tipperary, Blarney, Kildare, and so on. This is lovely and I can’t wait to come back so I can see the scenery during the day.
We spent the time driving in the dark and singing singing singing. Sang the best of Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, and I discovered a new artist, unfortunately dead. Simon has several CDs by Eva Cassiday. She’s marvelous. Simon will copy some CDs for me.
We finally arrived in Cork after 10:30. The Travelodge Hotel isn’t a luxury accommodation by any stretch of the imagination. No Internet access. Ugh. So I’m without my mobile, my email and can’t dial out from my room without a phone card which I don’t have. Okay, this reminds me about the bad part of traveling.
POSTED 29 January 1:30 PM UK time
posted by Jerilyn Dufresne, author @ 07:26
<< Home