A hearty hello to y'all!!
Well, Ireland is just as green, beautiful and friendly as we'd expected, hoped and imagined. We arrived in Rosslare port just after midday today after a 19hr overnight ferry ride from Cherbourg in northern Normandy, France. The ferry ride itself has now become my favourite part of the holiday so far - Irish Ferries. It was the longest I've ever spent on a boat and my first ever international boat trip. Quite possibly the closest I'll ever get to being on a real Cruise Liner, although the trip has rekindled the desire to work on cruise ships! The weather for the entire crossing was fabulous, the sun sparkling on the sea and view of absolutely no land in any direction was amazing, and the boat itself was magnificent (in my opinion anyway). Almost everyone on it was Irish - I only heard french spoken about 3 times the whole trip. That alone for me was strange - this is the first time I've been in an English-speaking country since the beginning of December!!! Starting at 9.30pm last night there was live entertainment on the ferry - a singer and four dancers. We got ourseselves seats right beside the dance floor, and at the end the traditional Irish dancing was happening (LIVE!!!) only about 2m from where Dad was sitting wrapt having enjoyed his first true Irish Guiness. The grin on his face was unparallelled!!! The show was followed by a two-man band who played collectively 5 instruments and sang as well - all good songs from my parents' era which I am proud to say I know, and that went on till after midnight. I slept really well, and we had a great hot Irish breakfast with a view of the passing sea and sunrise before landing. So far in Ireland all we've done is drive (back on the left-hand side of the road), but that's been SO pretty!!! Tonight we're in a lovely little Bed and Breakfast farmhouse run by Michael and Mary (!!!!) who have the LOVELIEST Irish accents you could imagine! Tomorrow we're planning on driving the route known as the "Kerry Ring" in south west Ireland and staying another night in that part of the country before our last night in Dublin before crossing to England for the remaining 2 weeks.
I'd have to say that I absolutely LOVE Ireland and the people here are about the friendliest and the most charming I've ever met. I'll go converse with them now - they fed us great coffee, scones and homemade raspberry jam on arrival - the first scones I've had in six months!!!
Love and blessings to you all,
Lisa
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