Waterford, Ireland

We left Northern Ireland by train and rented a car in Dublin.  We didn’t see any of Dublin (yet...) instead we jetted south to the city of Waterford.  Waterford is the oldest city in Ireland.  It was originally settled by the vikings in 853.  Waterford is described by many of the guide books as ‘gritty’... And this is a really good word for it.  Waterford is kinda dirty and a little unforgiving but has a lot of character.  

A QUICK SIDE NOTE:

What I forgot to mention earlier is our adventure with driving on the left hand side of the road.  It’s scary.  It’s uncomfortable.  It’s confusing.  We have no idea what the road signs mean.  We have hit many curbs.  And if we didn’t have navigation in the rental car we would have NEVER made it out of Dublin.  

So our first stop of out Dublin was to the Wicklow Mountains, specifically to a place called Powers Court.  This mountain reserve contains the highest waterfall in Ireland.

It’s a very peaceful state park where people picnic/ go for trail walks.

It took a total of 2.5 hours to get to Waterford.  We were not there for very long, but there are numerous viking relics to see.

I want everyone to know I have a new claim to fame!!! ...

Rick and I were walking down the back streets of Waterford and saw some lights on in a pub and decided to walk in.  It was a very small pub, filled with a handful of locals who stopped to stare at us as we walked in and sat on some open bar stools. After we ordered some pints, the patron sitting next to us stuck up a conversation, and told us, that up until recently, women were not allowed to drink in this pub.  The original owner, Thomas Maher, did not like women drinking at his bar, and since he died, the new owner has let the rules stretch a little.  The bartender told me I was only the 5th American Woman to drink at this bar in 128 years!  I want everyone to know I represented it well!  I drank stout and a glass of the house-made Irish whiskey.  What made this experience even better was when we were leaving the bar a local women happened to pass by, grab my hand and said “I didn’t think women were allowed to drink in this bar!?”.  (Picture this in the THICKEST most hard to understand Irish accent).  

So now I feel very important.  You may all call me ‘Lady Jennifer Weitman’ from now on. 

Tomorrow we go to Kinsale!