Journey to Waterford and Initial Exploration!!

The bus was leaving in the evening, so I packed everything up during the day. I went to replace the kid's cereal I had eaten at the LIDL store. Unfortunately, I had already put the key in a pile of stuff I was leaving for everyone at the house, so when I got back I was locked out! One of the roommates had just left, so I had to get her number, go meet her down the street, and then go back. Could have been worse! Luckily I had lots of time.

I put things together and before I knew it I was out the door! I headed out to the bus stop, but went the wrong way at first. I then walked really fast concerned that I might miss the bus. I still got there ten minutes early, but with tired legs.

The bus was late, as they always are here. Seriously. Every one. If they are magically on time-ish to start, they arrive late then. It's kind of funny. I waited for a while, but at least it showed up.

The bus ride down was scenic! Waterford looked quite nice as I arrived as well :) I got a hold of my host, John, and he came to pick me up which was very nice! They had a nice map at the bus station too, so I had that covered right away :)

The house was adorable. Extremely clean, real fireplace, spare bedroom, warm, and cozy!! He had renovated a lot of it himself, so I have to give him props! We ate dinner, then sat by the fire and talked for a while. John is excellent at telling stories; he had a few really good ones :) It would take too long to type any here though.

I was feeling tired from the journey for some reason; maybe it was the comforts of the fire and the couch. I was even able to do a load of laundry (my pants still smelled like fire - they'd been stored in a separate bag)! I ended up having an early night here.

The next day was an exploring day! I walked the entire city centre fairly quickly... It was a nice day too so that made it extra nice :)









note the dog swimming in the fountain haha








I got a little lost on the way back, but after some more walking and help from John, I found my way. Overall I think I walked for about five hours or so. It was a long time!

I liked Waterford; there was a good vibe there! The tourist map info things had listed what has been done to green the place, lots of pedestrian streets, hemp type stores, etc. Even had two knitting/wool stores :)

When I got back, John was going to a pool out in Tramore, so I decided to come along! He introduced me to Father Ted first though (I think it was before anyhow). Very funny.

I hadn't swam in a while. He was going to do laps, I wanted to just splash around. It had been to long since I last did laps, and I didn't want to take up the lane being very slow... So I floated around, pretended to be a whale, acted like a child, then went into the steam room. That was nice.

I left feeling refreshed! We ran home before meeting one of his friends at the pub. There was this group of old guys and one of them was singing away. It was so loud we ended up deciding to go to a different pub... now I am not sure of the order but we went to one called ruby's and Geoff's bar...

we met a bartender from the first bar at one point, so when the last bar closed (it was a Tuesday night, so they didn't stay open overly late, the pubs were still super busy though!), he invited us to his house literally across the street!

We chilled on the couch listening to music. The camera came out for some silly pictures :) I am going to make sure John's okay with me putting them up, but I did end up in a sparkly poncho and sombrero, both from Mexico, so I hope he's cool with it. EDIT: he was!!







The walk home did me good, I made some beans that I'd bought in Kilkenny (I brought cookies too and gave them to John) too so I woke up the next day just fine. Ready for Cork!