Cherbourg, France to Rosslare, Ireland

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

We got in the car and drove back to Cherbourg. We stopped at McDonald’s for dinner about half way between Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer and Cherbourg. The kids played at their playground and had lunch.

We got back to the rental car company in Cherbourg around 4 PM. The lady from the rental car office drove us to the port in the car we rented. This was a big help as otherwise we would have had to take a taxi. We checked in and went through passport check exiting France.

The officer who checked our passports noticed that it was Stevie’s birthday and wished him Happy Birthday. Stevie’s response was excited “you speak English!”.

We waited about another hour before the bus took us to the ship. We were taking Irish Ferries’ Oscar Wilde to Rosslare in Ireland. The ferry was scheduled to leave at 6 PM and arrive at 11:30 AM the next day. We booked a small cabin with 4 bunk beds.

We were waiting on the bus in the port for quite a while and started getting concerned about missing the ship. But in the end, the bus took us there just a few minutes before the ferry sailed.

We settled in our cabin and went to explore the ship. They had a small padded play area for the kids which the kids enjoyed as they could literally bounce off the walls.

We had dinner at the self-service restaurant. It was very expensive (came to about $80) but at least it was decent food. After dinner, we went back to the little café next to the play area and visited with a couple from Illinois we met on the bus while the kids played. When Stevie realized they spoke English, he wanted to sit with us and speak with Cindy. We have never seen Stevie carry on such a long conversation with an adult (usually he is pretty shy) but he was simply excited to speak to someone who understands him.

Settling for the night in our cabin, the boys took the top bunks and the girls took the bottom bunks. The kids slept well, the grown-ups not so much. The beds were comfortable but neither Steve nor I slept well that night. It may have been because we slept 12 hours the night before (after being completely exhausted from the night on the train).

Surprisingly, the ferry ride was pretty smooth. We were expecting more waves but the weather was good and it was smooth sailing.