Dublin, Ireland - Day 3 - Bye Dublin!/Hello Holyhead, Wales & Chester, England

Jean Marie and Mom leaving the hotel

 Well the morning started bright and early with a lovely breakfast and then mom went to have a little swim while Jean Marie packed and I did my computer work and before we knew it time had passed and it was 11:00am.

We enjoyed a little time in the shops near the port where mom and I were picking up the ferry to Holyhead, Wales. It was sad to say bye to Jean Marie but she had to get back to Galway because she has the kids tomorrow.

Fun Shopping

Mom and I were thankfully able to book the ferry last minute with a great deal for a sail & rail package. Mom had met a very, very nice travel agent on the cruise from Miami to Europe who amazingly was able to get us a phenomenal deal on going back to the States by ship instead of fly. I have to be back in NYC to teach a ESL class this summer so it just all fell into place when Melody was able to secure such a great low price for taking the Queen Mary 2 back to NYC leaving Southampton on May 25. Mom was just so excited about being able to do a cruise both ways and since it was not much more than if we booked our one way trips back to Boston and NYC  it just made so much sense to do it. And people can track us once we are on board by going to http://www.seascanner.com/schiffsposition.php?schiff=Queen+Mary+2

Having a coffee before boarding the ferry

I'm still kind of in a daze that in a few days we'll be on the Queen Mary 2 but it's also so, so exciting to be crossing the Atlantic and ending up right there in my beautiful city and then I'll put mom on the Megabus when we get in and she'll be back in Boston the afternoon of June 1st so it works great and she's most thrilled about not having to fly back.

Pretty fountain near the port and in front of the City Hall

So after saying a tearful goodbye to Jean Marie we boarded the ferry which is pretty comfortable with multiple restaurants, a large store and even offers a complimentary movie. Once we arrived in Holyhead we had about 45 minutes before we boarded the train to Chester, England. Our package includes an express train to London and thankfully you don't have to use it all in one day. Because the hotels were so expensive in London this week I did lots of research and found a fabulous hotel in Chester, a charming city in Northern England which was a main changing point for all trains leaving Holyhead so we simply slipped off and will use our remaining train ticket on Wednesday to head down to Southampton for a few days before boarding.

We met the sweetest young people on the train from England and Ireland. One girl who just graduated from college a couple of days ago and came to England to visit her friends. She's a professional sailing instructor and sailboat racer. A young man from England who is an adventure tour guide and has been living in New Zealand for the last few years taking groups on high adrenalin kayak tours. Yes, mom chatted with him about her obsession with her kayak and he was very impressed with her passion for the sport. He's off in a month of so to spend a year and a half working in Napal being a guide in the rural areas of the country. And interestingly he wrote a teleplay for a New Zealand soap opera "Shortland Street" which is on YouTube at - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEM5UmJ207Y

And also one British man who married an Irish women and had three children and then sadly got divorced and now commutes on as many weekends as he can to see the kids.

Following pictures taken from the train as we traveled through
Snowdonia a National Park in Norther Wales

We've met the nicest people today including the immigration officers who after finding out we were American's were so chatty. You don't usual find that with Border Control but the Welsh ones are great and gave us lots of advice on places to visit like Beaumaris and Bangor. We won't be seeing them this visit just because of time and the fact you really need a car to get the full effect of the area.

I was able to find a hotel in a renovated 1866 building, the Best Western Westminster. It's only feet away from the train so it was so easy and also only a quick 10 minute walk to the city center. "Chester Chester has a number of medieval buildings, but some of the black-and-white buildings within the city centre are actually Victorian restorations. Chester is one of the best preserved walled cities in Britain."

By the time we arrived it was after 7:00pm so pretty much everything was close but we look forward to walking around tomorrow and also walking along the wall which completely surrounds the city.  It's a beautiful old town that dates back to Romans in 79AD.

Our room at the Best Western Westminster

River near our hotel

Restaurant Manager with the largest pepper mill I've ever seen used

After an incredible dinner at Bella Italia which it turns out is a chain restaurant throughout Britain and just so good with a two course 9.95 dinner special which you just can't beat. It's in the city center so we had a nice walk back to the hotel, prefect for digestion.

Dublin, Ireland - Day 2

We had such a lovely day exploring Dún Laoghaire, a lovely seaside district just outside Dublin where our hotel is. The town is so charming with lots of shops and an outdoor farmers/artists market in the park across from the port.

Lunch

It was a lot of fun going in and out of charity shops and finding lots of great sun dresses, books and odds and ends. I do love the British/Irish charity shops they're always filled with great finds.

We headed to the neighboring seaside town of Dalkey which is even more charming and had a fantastic lunch at the Tramyard Cafe. The area which used to be where the tram's once stopped is an artist village now and reminded us of Rockport, MA.

Amazingly when we stopped in at the Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Dalkey at 3:45pm a Sunday mass was going on so we got to stay and it was very special with a children's folk group singing and a special mass for the elderly and sick as they were getting a special blessing. Also the young people of the town were giving them all roses and taking care of them during mass. It was just lovely and heartwarming to see the kids being so generous with their time and caring.

Mass at Our Lady of Assumption

Then off for a long, long drive along the water to County Wexford and the beautiful mountains and nature reserve of County Wicklow where the movie "P.S. I Love you was filmed." It's so gorgeous and with the trees and flowers dressed in greens of all shades, yellow and pinks it was simply breathtaking.

Following pictures are all from Wicklow

It's a great drive for those who love to gaze at nature, sheep, cows, chickens and so on which we do so it was perfect and the warm, sunny weather that stayed most of the day made it all the more amazing and fabulous.

We even had a soft serve ice cream at Teddy's Famous Ice Cream shop in Dún Laoghaire right on the water.

Strange picture I don't remember taking from the car

It really was just a wonderful day and Jean Marie was so great to drive us for hours around to see the sights and she was excited to have been able to visit Wicklow since it was something she'd never done and seemed to really enjoy as well.