I woke up at 9:00 a.m. totally rested after 13-hours of sleep. I hopped into the shower lathered up my hair for a much needed shampoo when ---------------Poof-------------- the power went off and took the water with it. Thank goodness I had rinsed the shampoo out and we had all showered the night before. What a mess. Remember, we were on the eleventh floor and I went right out and got on the elevator (like an idiot). Thank goodness the elevator had a backup generator, but you could not get out of the outside door without a key because the electric eye wasn’t working. I lucked out and a girl was there to open it. Turns out there was work going on in the road and they cut a power line to the hotel. I finger dried my hair and then had mostly flat hair all day. I am so grateful I got a good haircut before I left. We were too late for breakfast, so we headed out to Wicklow. We had a list of places to visit but when we got into town we were hungry so we checked the Garmin for places to eat that were close. We were directed to the most marvelous place. It has a rich history. The place is called Tinakilly Country House. It is the house build for the man who was responsible for laying the cable under the Atlantic Ocean to connect the US to the UK. It has been turned into a hotel and restaurant. As we drove up the lane to this beautiful estate we got more and more excited to see where we were going. Here it is.
We were in between meals and the restaurant was closed, but we could sit in the drawing room and have scones and “tea.” It was delightful and the first positive experience with food in Ireland. The scones were typical dense and hard, some with raisins served with unsweetened whipped cream and fresh blackberry jam. It was heavenly!
Then we walked around the grounds to the “bird reserve.” Not many birds, but a lovely walk in the cold wind. We admired the gardens and the huge redwoods. We took pictures and then drove on to Wexford.
By the time we got to Wexford it was raining and the wind was still blowing like a son-of-a-gun. We stopped some girls on the street and asked where we could get something to eat. One of them directed us to the back of a building. The restaurant was named Chocolate. Can’t go wrong with a name like that, right? The seafood chowder was great, everything else was bland except the chocolate cake. It was GOOD! Before we even left the restaurant I got sick, but it passed in about ½ hour. After touring the city, we drove on to Waterford to stay in our first Bed and Breakfast. What a delight! The one we chose, Ainsling House in Mooncoin, had just opened six weeks ago. They were eager to please. The other people staying there were from Boston. We had a nice visit with them.
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