We woke up this morning to the sounds of the surf at Ross Lare Harbor's youth hostel. Clean, roomy, and conveniently located, the hostel is adequate for a brief stay. We slept in till check out and had to hurry into the village for an Irish breakfast: fresh tomatoes, fruit, a variety of breads, eggs, and bacon.

We chose Ross Lare because of its location: halfway between yesterday's location -- Waterford-- and today's destination -- Glenalough. In Waterford, we enjoyed the crystal factory, which was truly interesting. I bought a lovely one-of-a-kind pedastal fruitbowl. They shipped it home for me with no cost. After a two hour drive north, we found that St. Kevin's church at Glendalough was not open; nevertheless, we were able to take some very neat photos from the cemetery's edge. We drove to the village of Wicklow, where we stayed in a lovely B&B (The Arch House) run by Gerry and Hillary McGown. What a lovely family, home, and location. When we looked out our bedroom window, we could see a panoramic view of the harbor, the old village, and a large area of new homes under construction -- evidence of Ireland's current economic surge...

Tonight we had dinner at Pat Doyle's pub in Wicklow village. I had a delicious Irish stew (lamb and veggies in a heavy gravy) and a hot toddy, made with Jameson whiskey, hot water, lemon, and sugar. My daughter had an Irish coffee as we sat by the fire before our meal. Very cozy indeed!

We had a most wonderful Irish breakfast next morning: I ordered the eggs and breads, because they specialize in different breads. My daughter had the fruit breakfast, which was our first taste of passion fruit-- yummy! Some of my favorite parts of traveling around Ireland has to be the wonderfully flavorful meals we are served everywhere we go.

Next time I'll write about some of the other places of interest we visited in Ireland.

By guest writer Kathleen A.