Kilkenny

As I said, Kilkenny was a college town and we arrived on a Saturday. After we'd settled in at our B&B we went to find dinner. Everything was packed because it was Saturday but we managed to get into an Italian restaurant. It was fairly nice and my sister managed to get a gluten-free meal in an Italian restaurant. Amazing.

While we were there I noticed this man eating his pasta and skewering something from a bowl. I finally figured out he was eating French fries. Then two women came in and one ordered pasta and another pizza. They had a bowl of boiled potatoes brought to go with their meal. How do the Irish manage to stay so thin? Probably the fuel to keep them warm considering the price of heating.

Ireland 2007--Kilkenny

Afterward we were told there was live music as a couple of places. We hunted them down but it turned out to be mostly discos with security guards standing outside. Yeesh. I didn't want that so we popped into a quieter pub. Well, it was so quiet I mentioned it was downright funereal. We were finishing up our last drink when these guys sent over some drinks.

It turned out the three of them were from Belfast and down for the races. They were very nice, didn't hide that two of them were married and bought us drinks. I was talking to the cop from Belfast but as the pub closed he said let's go dancing. I said sure so we left. But it turned out the whole town was closing up, and it was very very foggy, and I had over two pints of cider sitting in my bladder. Since none of us knew the town enough to know what was open we said goodbye.

My sister and I found the car (with burgeoning bladders) and tried to find our way back uphill in the fog. It was so thick we drove past our B&B and really were only a block away when I had to pull the car over, run up someone's lawn and piss by the bushes. It was like Austin Powers, with the stream never ending. Sorry folks, it was the less embarassing option and the fog hid the dirty deed. Then I found our place and my sister ran up the stairs while I parked. She made it just in time too. :)

The next day we took in Kilkenny castle. No pictures are allowed and they make you check your camera. The castle was sold off by some descendant of the Butlers who held it for centuries, early in the 1900s I think. It's been renovated and refurbished and some orginal pieces bought back. Many were auctioned off and the Irish OPW keeps hoping to find some of the original piecies. There was a very long drawing room, filled with paintings on the walls. They said it was only about a third of how many were in there. Overall, they've redone the castle in a Baroque/Rococco style when it was probably at the last of its opulence.

It was a good tour and I wished I'd recorded it. There's so much that you forget. After Kilkenny we headed back to Dublin. It was a bit longer of a drive and we got into the city okay but true to Dublin, promptly got lost several times. Finally, after asking directions often we got to our B&B and then took the car back downtown to where we had to drop it off. Yeesh, none of the directions matched what we were told so we had to drive around three times to find the drop-off point. And of course that meant going some very long blocks out of our way. I don't relish ever driving in Dublin.

Waterford

Ireland 2007--Waterford Crystal

Waterford was one of the last stops on the Irish trip on a Saturday. We didn't know if the cyrstal factory was open as some guidebooks and maps said no and others said yes. It turned out it was so we zipped in after the Lismore adventures and a short stop at Carrick on Suir to see the disappointing and locked (and fenced) supposed Castle Ormonde. Previous incarnations were probably a real castle but this was nothing more than a manor house. Booo!

So we made it to Waterford with enough time to browse the shops and go on the hour tour. I have a fair number of friends who are glass artists so it was quite amazing to see a glassblowing factory of this size. There were several buildings and although it was a Saturday there was at least one, or more people working in each section.

There was the special section for one of a kind molds, then the assembly line building for blowers blowing into molds. There was a large are with row on row of cutters and another smaller room for engravers. As well there was a quality inspection area. Every piece is inspected and must pass high standards. Every piece is hand blown or molded and hand cut or engraved. Then these pieces of crystal are put through a hydrochloric acid bath that takes off the sharp edges and white brushed look to the glass. I remember some older pieces of crystal goblets my mother had, having sharp edges. obviously the acid baths are of a new era.

I ran into a glass artist here in Vancouver who said they did an order for Waterford. Waterford Crystal's Q&A team came over and the studio only had a 50% acceptance rate, the controls were so stringent. It was quite amazing to watch the cutting and engraving and the sheer size of the factory. I was curious how they got the rounded edges on the cuts. Now I know but I still don't find crystal that appealing. Meh.

We drove on that evening to Kilkenny, home of the beer, of course. We almost lost our luck for B&Bs. We tried two pubs for asking and were told everything was full. It was always better to ask where there were older people serving as the younger ones weren't that friendly or helpful. We drove to three B&Bs that were all full and finally found a nice little house with a very friendly couple. Turns out Kilkenny is a college town where everyone comes on the weekend to party. And yes, it was the weekend.

Dungarvin, Lismore and the Benedictine Abbey

Ireland 2007--Dungarvin, Lismore & the Benedictine Abbey

After Cashel, we went on to Dungarvin, a cute little coastal town in the south of Ireland. It was warm here and the accents on some people, like one fisherman, were very thick. We drove up to Bridie Dees, with its colourful front of black and red and had a drink. There was a little fireplace at the back with a pot of coal and a shovel to take the chill off. I don't even know if this place had any other type of heat but it was pleasant at this time of year. I believe we were on to Friday night by now, though I've lost track in this journey.

We asked the bartender if there were any B&Bs and he suggested a place two doors down. We called around a few places but they seemed to be a little more expensive and 40 Euros each was about our top limit. I couldn't find the place (because he'd given me the name of another one) so he walked me down the two doors. There were many many stairs as this was more like a small hotel above a pub. Any place that has a pub underneath is less personal and more hotelly in all.

I carted my sister's suitcase up the stairs so that it would minimize how many times her now sore knee would have to deal with them. I think we went back to Bridies and had another drink. I don't remember at all where we ate but we went to another pub. (is this where we met Dungarvin Dan?) There was this older farmer fellow (tweed jacket and cap, baggy worn corduroy trousers and wellies) in one place who was barely decipherable. He bought us a drink and talked about Irish hospitality, which was about all we could understand.

We then went to another pub that had live music and listened to a group called the Rogues. They were rather good and played some fast paced music, so that I couldn't stand it anymore and just got up and danced. Unfortunately they were out of CDs or I would have bought one.

The next day, Saturday we scooted out of Dungarvin, then went to Lismore but the castle is still occupied (and very spiff overlooking the river) so we couldn't go in. There was supposed to be an abbey but either the lads thought it closed or they thought we meant the Benedictine abbey which was down a winding road but not in Lismore. It was all right but not particularly old. The little winding roads can take a long while at times.

It was a pleasant and warm drive. Our next stop, Waterford.

Blarney Castle

It turns out my pictures are a bit in the wrong order. There was the day that included Limerick and King John's castle (getting there in the nick of time) and then driving to Blarney and finding we just had enough time to get to the castle. So Blarney was the end of our day and thenwe did Cashel the next day. I think.

Ireland 2007--Blarney Castle

The weather was so warm this day and we got there just before the sun was setting. They said, you have about a half hour for the castle but the grounds are open longer. The grounds were very peaceful and evocative. The castle itself was impressive for it height (destroyed in 1446 and never reconstructed from the looks of it. It was here that the Blarney Stone kissed me when I was snooping in dark and narrow passageways.

After the stars stopped spinning about me I went into the castle. There were only a couple of other people and at one point this guy yelled down, Are you going up or down? I said up and he said, hurry because I'm closing. So up and up and up and up I went. My sister had wandered off, having both a bum knee and a fear of heights, she couldn't have done Blarney.

I have to say the view was spectacular the the grounds exquisiste. I love some of the pictures from the top in my faves of Ireland. I didn't kiss the stone at the top, where you lay over this open grate to the grounds hundreds of feet below. I said to the guy, I hear the local lads do other things on the stone. He said not since he'd been there and since the grounds (and later the castle) were locked I could see that it's probably not done anymore.

A couple of women completed the ritual as I wandered and took pictures and started down. I didn't realize it but everyone had left except for the Blarney guy and me. He accidentally found me on the way down and said, you better hurry, I almost locked you in. So I trundled down and spent another 20 minutes on the grounds.

It was starting to get cold and dark and it was time to go. My sister might have thought I'd been locked in but I eventually found her outside the property gates. As we walked back to the car the Blarney guy drove by and beeped his horn, then turned around and went back the other way, beeping his horn at me again. Friendly fellow. We then drove on to Cashel and found a place to stay.

Limerick

I seem to have got myself out of order. Limerick was before Cashel and Blarney was after Limerick. I'll probably fudge the dates in a day or two to get these right. So without further ado, here's King John's Castle. We were in and out of Limerick in about two hours. The pictures (and the captions) speak for themselves.

Ireland 2007--King John's Castle

The Rock of Cashel

Cashel was a lovely town (I've now officially lost track of the days). The Rock of Cashel is the mound on which the castle is built. It's suffered some weather damage over the years from wind (parts blown down) and rain. It's a sprawling place and cold. It was a windy enough day there but we could see from all sides, overlooking the town or the country. I didn't do as well a job of editing these photos so there are a lot of pictures of fresco details and pillars.

Ireland 2007--Cashel

Viewing over the cemetery, the distant hills show a dip. We were told that the tale goes that one day the devil was walking along, in a foul mood and took a big bite out of the hills. That dip is called the Devil's Bite and when the devil spit out the chomp he took, it made the Rock of Cashel.

Brian Boru, and his grandson were some of the Munster kings that ruled from here. But his grandson gave the castle over to the Bishop of Limerick. The town itself was fairly small and we were hardpressed to find a place to eat that night, but ate at the Town Hall a higher end but very good restaurant.

We'd had a drink in one of local pubs earlier and many of the pubs in this area of Ireland have little hearths and some that burn coal still. We spent several hours at Cashel and then moved on to Limerick.

Delays, Death and Life

Unfortunately I hoped to get all of the pictures of Ireland up before the end of the year. But first my place was broken into and my camera stolen (I had it for all of four months). I did have all the Ireland photos uploaded so I didn't lose them but I did lose the Nikon D80 and two lenses.

The next week a good friend died and then it was the holidays. It's been a bit of a tumultous winter with everything. But I'm going to endeavour to get the pictures up and then on to other matters.