Today, after my crazy night, I had some breakfast/lunch- a yummy morning sandwich with "rashers” (or bacon), and then we worked out how to get to Powerscourt and then what movie to see later on. Powerscourt is about an hour drive but it was nice, Andrew has a sat-nav so it was really straight forward to get there. We went to the house and gardens first. The house was nice, a bit stone building, slightly reminiscent of a castle with big stone walls and big heavy wooden doors. The house is mainly a large extended gift shop. Outside though the gardens were amazing. You walk through the back door onto a large graveled walk bordered with sculptures of Grecian angels. Walking down the broad stone steps down to a decorative stone inlaid base which then splits on either side in stairs leading down to a glassy lake with a Poseidon like merman figure spouting a great fountain of water from his mouth. Guarding the lake are two great silvered statues of Pegasus, facing each other. A s you walk around the lake old twisted trees line the walk and a small wooden sign points you in the direction of Japanese Gardens, Pepperpot Tower, and Killers Hallow. Following the path to Pepperpot Tower leads you through both manicured gardens and wild forest growth. And then a stone tower emerges from behind the trees. Not a particularly tall tower, but imposing just the same. It is ringed in by a small spiked wall and 10 to 20 cannons. Following the path to the door, you descend some steps through a metal wrought iron gate and then climb the circular stairs that spiral up to the crown of the tower. Emerging onto the roof you get a panoramic view of the surrounding forest and the great house. Birds call out and the sun shines down on the green trees and colorful native flowers of Ireland. I felt like a princess, like Rapunzel locked in the tower. It was magical.
We could not find Killers Hallow, but the name sounded so cool! We then went off the the car, hopped in and drove off the Powerscour waterfall. We got there, it was grand. I had to laugh when I saw the sign along the road leading to the waterfall. “No Antisocial behavior,” it is just a phrase I would not expect to see on a sign. But, the fall originated from high rocks and streamed down in many individual falls. It is nowhere as big as Snoqualmy falls, but it was lovely just the same. We then hopped back in the car to make the movie. On the way out of the waterfall area I saw a little dear in the woods. A real Irish deer! Ha! Driving back was lovely, breathtaking. We drove through the countryside, with sheep and great barren moor-like landscapes. While on that road, there were some guys having quite a bit of fun pushing their car down the road. It was quite funny and we pulled over to ask if we could help. They replied in there very Irishy-Irish accents that they were “out if petrol” (gas). There was not much we could do and they looked like they were having fun anyway, so we drove on.
We drove to the mall where the movie theater is which was playing the movie we were going to see. But because we got there an hour and a half early, and since we had not had any dinner, and because it was already 7, we went to this little buffet restaurant cafe place inside the mall. I got some delicious vegetable soup which came with some amazing brown bread which had some seeds and goodness in it. Then we went to the movie, we saw “Wild Target” which does not open in the US till October! Ha! It was good, cute, and funny. It was not all there plot-wise but it held together enough. J After the movie we came back to the house and Andrew’s mom had made duck for dinner. I t was delicious, I had never had duck before, and I also had scallops I think for a starter. Odd but good.
After dinner Andrew got a text from Stephen asking if we wanted to go out for a few drinks. I thought sure why not! Might as well go out and have fun. I made up my mind to have only one beer though. So we went over to Andrew’s friend Fiona’s place for a “drink.” We played drinking games and I got a bit drunk, but it was fun. Didn't get back till 6 in the morning! What influence are these Irish people having on me?
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