Dublin To Waterford

Woke up from a good nights sleep we packed up our luggage and go it ready to go. We had to put our luggage out in the hallway for it to get loaded up on the bus, we didn't have to bring it down. Made our way down to breakfast. Breakfast was always a buffet style but the menu never changed at all on our trip. We got our choice of cereals, breads, fruit, scones or croissants, scrambled eggs or poached, sausages and bacon. With the eggs we either got scrambled or poached at the hotels but we didn't get a choice on the eggs. Neither one of us ate the blood sausages, no explanation needed. I didn't like the link sausage, it really tasted different. I did like the bacon, it was more a Canadian type bacon than the strips we get here. The scrambled eggs were powdered and very runny. We finally got some hot coffee and tea,but only after the meal, never during or before. Once we finished breakfast it was time to get on the bus and head for Waterford with stops in Kildare and Kilkenny.

Our first stop was in Kildare to tour the Irish National Stud Farm and Japanese Gardens. The stud farm is their race horses. We learned all about the thoroughbreds and how the farm operated. They were pretty excited as two of their fillies were running in a race later that day, we never did find out how the fillies did. Very beautiful horses. After the tour of the stud farm, we had about a half hour to wander through the Japanese Garden. Very pretty. It had started to rain on this day, but it was a misty rain.

Our next stop was the town of Kilkenny. We stopped at Kilkenny Castle and wandered around the grounds. We didn't tour the castle as we didn't have enough time and besides we got to tour Blarney Castle and Bunratty Castle later on in the week. We ate lunch here in a nice little restaurant across the street from the castle. It was cafeteria type place. The food was very tasty even though it was quite different for us. After lunch we had just enough time to get back on the bus and make our way to Waterford.

Arrived in Waterford, got checked into our motel. We had a great view of the town and the river. We got settled in and then made our way down to meet our local tour guide. We signed up for the optional excursion of the walking historical tour of Waterford. Our guide is a noted historian and he was very informative. He gave us information from the Viking beginnings all the way up to present day. It was very enjoyable. Waterford is also the birth place of Thomas Francis Meagher who was the first governor of Montana. They are very proud of that.

Our tour ended and we made our way back to the hotel on our own. This is where we made our mistake optional excursion. We have two itineraries and one said that after the walking tour we would go to a local pub for a pint, the other said nothing of the sort. Once we got back to the hotel our tour guide was waiting and told us that we were just in time to get on the bus to go to the pub. We really couldn't figure out why we would need to take the bus to the pub, but ok, on the bus we went.

This was the optional excursion for an evening of Irish entertainment. On the bus our tour guide took a head count and was surprised that he gained three people. We would have gotten off the bus, but he assured us it would not be a problem. Turned out it was a very enjoyable evening. We were taken to a pub out of Waterford called Murphy's. It has a thatched roof and the owners played their traditional instruments and we got a brief history about the music and songs of Ireland. We also got a drink. Mom and I both had a pint of Guiness, that nasty black stuff while Jen had a pint of apple cider. It was very enjoyable and to our surprise our tour guide played the spoons. At the end of it all the bartender let us get behind the bar and pose for photos with the Guiness.

Here are some photos on our travels on Saturday.