Emerald Isle - Part 4
The next few days were a blur. Not cause we were drunk, mind you, but just because we seemed to keep moving - running around the city to get in all the tourist spots and charming pubs that Maureen had missed during the earlier portion of my trip, waiting on a bank line to exchange Mo's Swiss Francs for Euros, attempting the near-impossible task of overnighting a package from our sweet Dublin hotel, visiting the Disney-esque exercise in branding known as the Guinness Storehouse, dining at the sophisticated, yet remarkably friendly Chapter One Restaurant, etc.
And, things only got blurrier when we rented a car for the next portion of our holiday.
Inspecting our map, it seemed that driving from Dublin to the seaside town of Bray (from whence Mo's family sprung before emigrating to the States) would only be a quick trip of a half-hour or so.
About two hours later we were there. (Damn those roundabouts and driving on the other side of the street!)
But then we discovered a wee gift shop, where Maureen promptly bought every single item emblazoned with the name "Bray." (I think she made their year!) And, we stopped off at the local fish and chips take-away (pictured above) and munched on the beach before hitting the road for further driving adventures - and hopefully a bit of scenery.
Another two hours later (as opposed to the predicted 45 minutes) we finally ended up at a bit of scenery:
Glendalough in the Wicklow Mountains.
But no sooner were we taking in the country vistas and clean air when we realized that we were pressed for time if we wanted to find somewhere pleasant to crash for the night before heading to Cork County the next day for the second lag of the trip.
And, about four hours later we parked ourselves in the quayside town of Wexford, where the streets were narrow and the restaurants closed early. We made the critical mistake of grabbing a drink at 8pm before ferreting out a restaurant. By 8:30pm nothing and no one was serving food - except for two sad looking Chinese outposts and one rather grand looking Thai spot, bizarrely named Vine (pictured below).
Yes, two Thai dinners in Ireland. And, this meal was actually better than the one at Tiger Bec's in Dublin. Even so, I vowed to not let Asian cuisine pass through my lips again until I was back home.
And, what did we do the next day? Get in the car and travel some more. We were in route to what we hoped would be an incredible manor house hotel outside of Cork. So, we had to motor if yesterday's misreads were any indication of map estimates versus real-world time.
So, we drove. And, drove. And, drove.
Finally I had to pee.
We had to stop.
And stop we did, in the adorably quaint town of Youghal (pronounced "yawl"). Luckily, we pulled into a parking lot right near a gorgeous seafood restaurant and lodge, Aherne's. And, after availing myself of the facilities, Mo and I plunked ourselved down at one of their outdoor garden tables and ordered a dozen sweet, briny oysters (pictured below), an Irish Smoked Salmon Salad and a Toasted Seafood Sandwich for lunch.
Mmmm...The sun was warming us. The food was sating our tummies. We could fall asleep right there...But, no! We had to keep going!
We allowed ourselves a quick walk through town and then hit the road once again, heading towards Cork.
Driving. Roundabout. Driving. Roundabout. Stuck behind farming equipment. Roundabout. Driving. Stuck behind a massive truck. Driving. Roundabout. Roundabout. Roundabout.
This was getting silly - and Mo was doing all of the driving thus far. It was time for another break.
And, then we saw it...A teeny-tiny stand selling just-picked strawberries at the side of the road. We pulled over and I purchased a pint of the fragrant, bright red berries. As I put my change away, I turned my head and was greeted with this unexpected view:
Oh, my.
Mo got out of the car. We nibbled on the sugary berries for a while and just soaked in the green surrounding us.
It was lovely. Truly lovely
And, then whoosh - DAMN - the massive truck from earlier in the day was back - and now in front of us once again. Aargh! We'd better get going.
One more look at the green - and one more strawberry for the road - and then we were off...