Winding down

Exploring the little town of Wexford is on tap for today, just as soon as we get a load of laundry done. We’re staying in a little place called the Doll’s House. It was built in 1900 to serve as the gatekeepers cottage for the Rathaspeck Georgian Manor built between 1680-1720. It’s an interesting little place with the essentials like a kitchen with a washing machine, but unfortunately a clothes rack instead of a dryer. We make do as we must. We finally drove into town and parked in the parking lot of the Church of the Immaculate Conception. With church attendance down these days, smart move to turn a lot that would probably stand empty into a money making proposition. Do you suppose they validate parking tickets for Sunday church services? We walked from one end of town to the other and back, exploring all the side streets in between. Wexford is noted for its opera festival in late October, so we went in search of the opera house. Must be special on the inside, since the outside would have been incognito if not for colorful flags flying. Guess our timing is off on this one, so we’ll have to get our opera fix elsewhere. Saturday is shopping day and streets were busy with people and their shopping bags. Suspect they don’t get many foreign tourists as I saw nary an Aran Island sweater shop. After the colorful painted buildings in Kinsale, the streets seem a tad drab. But then Kinsale was founded by the Spanish and the bright colors today are in tribute to its heritage. We did stumble on one of Wexford’s claims to fame. Seems that Commodore John Barry, founder of the US Navy, hailed from Wexford. The US gave Ireland a bronze statue of the Commodore in 1956 which now looks out over the Wexford harbor. Another homeboy made good! Unable to find a restaurant that called to us, we hit up the grocery store and came away with the yummiest southern fried chicken that just hit the spot. We’re looking forward to getting home, back to our normal diet and routine.En savoir plus