Before I get to today's activities, I wanted to mention a couple of things from yesterday.
First, Co. Meath, from Dublin to Navan, at least, is full of horse farms - very pretty. There was a really cute little town that I wanted to get a picture of on my way back today, but it was raining too hard at the time. It's called Dunshaughlin, and if I'm not mistaken, an online chat "friend" of mine lives there.
Second, um.... I forgot what the other thing was <shrug>.
I finally got back to sleep last night around 2:00 a.m., and then I overslept! I woke up at 8:16, but I had set the alarm for 7:00. Turned out the time was right, but I had set it for p.m., not a.m. Duh. So I hurried and threw on yoga pants and a zippered sweatshirt and went up to breakfast. I was served scrambled eggs and salmon. The salmon was flaked and mixed in with the eggs. It was really great! The room, as I suspected, was expensive - 50 euro. It really was gorgeous, though. The breakfast room was a glassed-in porch with a tiled terrace outside overlooking the river. There were flowers and plants everywhere, and 3 cats who spent the whole time washing themselves extensively. After all of the getting lost and found, I had no idea I was actually on the Dublin road. I was going back to the M50 around Dublin to go south to Glendalough, so I was on the right road to head that way.
On the way to Glendalough, I passed two fields of sheep, one on each side of the road. The guy was there to feed them, and all of the sheep were waiting at the fences, except for one who was waiting in the road with an impatient look on her face. The drive through the mountains was really fun and pretty, although it got foggier the higher I went. When I got to the Wicklow Gap, the view was....nonexistent, like looking straight up into the overcast sky. Oh, well, it was still a nice drive, and I found Glendalough with no problem. Just as I got to the parking lot, I saw a man walking a horse along the road like it was a dog. It was a huge black work horse, just trotting out ahead of the guy on a lead - pretty funny.
Glendalough is a former monastic settlement with supposedly the highest intact round tower in Ireland. There was a nice visitors center that had an audiovisual presentation about monasteries in Ireland, and a very classy little museum with interactive exhibits. In the presentation, I learned the pronunciation of several Irish historic names:
Colmcille kolum-kill
Chuchulain koo-haul-in
Monasterboice mon-aster-boyce
It was drizzling steadily when I went back outside, but I spent quite awhile walking around the settlement ruins, taking pictures. I took the picture of a couple of American women, and they did the same for me. I wish the weather had been a bit better because I would like to have hiked down to the lake to see St Kevin's cave. But since I was almost the only one there, and it was icky weather, I figured that if was to fall or something, it could be a long time before anyone found me, so I decided to move along.
After Glendalough, I drove down through the Vale of Clara, looking for Avoca. I stopped at a bar/restaurant/shop to ask directions (and found out I hadn't gone far enough). It turned out that where I was was the Meeting of the Waters. Actually, if I hadn't needed to stop for directions, I wouldn't have seen the Bureau de Change sign. And if I hadn't needed to change money, I wouldn't have gone around back to the shop. And if I hadn't gone around to the shop, I wouldn't have seen the Avonmore running into the Avonbeg to create the Avoca River. Really a lucky break, especially since the girl at the shop said they were only open today because of a tour bus they were expecting.
Avoca was great! You are welcome to visit the actual weaving shop, walk all around the machines and the people working, and take pictures. It is the oldest woollen mill in Ireland, and is really interesting. I got several great pictures.
Ooh, I just remembered the other thing I wanted to mention from yesterday - text messages. When we were here before, we saw that everyone had a cellphone. Now it's all about text messages. Radio stations tell people to text them requests or whatever, and the big problem is text message spam - people texting ads or porn or fake contests to strangers who, say, have called a weather service and the weather service sells their number to the spam people. TV ads tell people to text them or see their webpages. And I saw a hilarious TV ad about ninja nuns (for some employment website).
OK, back to today. At Avoca I asked a lady where I might find a B&B. She sent me here to Arklow. The one she sent me to see looked like a haunted house from the outside, so I didn't even stop. I went back to the town center and took another direction, then followed signs to this one. It is gorgeous and new (well, the hall is gorgeous - the room is kind of neon green, yellow, and blue), and there is beautiful tile in the bathroom, beige with peach tulips. It's very nice. After checking in, I went out on foot to find a place to eat and try to call home. I walked down the main street to a place that was suggested as slightly less expensive, only to find that they only offered 2- or 3-course meals for 20 or 25 euro! So I ended up a bar called Christy's, where I had what they called a Doorstep Sandwich - toast with chicken and bacon (remember Irish bacon = ham), and a little salad with the funky greens and corn. I don't understand the corn, but it seems a staple in Irish side salads.
After a couple of quick calls home, I came back here and showered, and now I am planning my day for tomorrow. I had thought about driving up to the Sally Gap, but it's supposed to be rainy-ish again, and it would mean backtracking almost back to Glendalough. So instead, I am going to drive up the coast road back to Wicklow town, then get back on the motorway. The Dublin guesthouse is expecting by about 2:00 p.m. Then I will set off on foot, hopefully to find an internet cafe I heard about.
I forgot to mention, when I was checking out at in Navan this morning, I couldn't find my room key to give it back. After hunting all over, it finally turned up in the pocket of my sweatshirt, where I found it after practically unpacking in their front hall. What an idiot!
Quay key
Dail doyle (the parliament)
Gardai gar-thee (the police)
non-bio = anti-bacterial
Dettol Easy Mop = Swiffer Wet Jet
"turf accountant" = bookie
estate agent = realtor
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