Blogs from Kilkenny, County Kilkenny, Ireland, Europe - page 4

Today was our last day of traveling the island. Kinda sad and kinda happy not to be in a car for 4-6 hours a day.... Mixed emotions, but we've seen a lot and have had a great trip, so I'm mostly happy. Today we left Limerick and traveled to the southeast of Ireland and visited Ireland's oldest city, Waterford, home of Waterford Crystal. :) Our GPS is not the most reliable and doesn't recognize the newer, major hwys so we've had a bit of trouble these past few days deciding whether to listen to the GPS lady or go with the signs. Just an FYI... follow the signs. :) We make it to the city centre of Waterford and go in the Waterford Crystal store. The next tour isn't for an hour or so and we ... read more

Monday, October 11: We woke up fairly early for us—about 7:30! Repacked after three nights in the same place, loaded our car, and checked out of the Royal Marine Hotel. The Royal Marine is a grand old historic hotel in Dun Laoghaire and it was a wonderful place to stay. We learned that Queen Victoria, Laurel and Hardy, Frank Sinatra, as well as Michael Collins (hiding out with his mistress), have stayed there. It was a beautiful morning in Ireland and we walked down the East Pier to see Dublin Bay (the water, not our favorite pub back in Ames) and back—about two miles. The Pier is a busy place with walkers, joggers, bikers, fishermen, and mommies with strollers. We stopped back at the Harbor Bar for a shared lunch of fish and chips and then ... read more

Geo: 52.6538, -7.24798July 15, 2010Waterford, County Waterford, Republic of IrelandWoke up once in the middle of the night dreaming that a rat was in my bed! Then woke up at 6:45 with a headache! Too much of the strong stuff (Yes, I know, I only had a shot of Whiskey but I'm not much of a drinker!). I had to walk 4 flights down to the lobby since the only elevator in the building was being used to collect the luggage. The usual breakfast foods were available, but this time an offering of thin-sliced cold ham and cheese was available. Along with my scrambled eggs I had a ham and cheese on toast sandwich. Waterford to KilkennyWe got into Kilkenny about 9:12 a.m. It was cloudy and cooler than in Waterford. We spent time taking a ... read more

Toured Dublin Castle, Trinity College, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Guinness Brewery and to the top of Guinness to the Gravity Room. Road the Hop On-Hop Off Bus all over Dublin. This money thing is a real issue, going from pounds to Euros has been a challenge especially at the bus stop. Now you wouldn't think $1.20 would throw you into a tither, but .... This is for all you die-hard Catholics out there, did you know St. Patrick's wasn't Catholic anymore? I hate to burst your bubble, but it was Catholic for 500 years but now it is Episcopal. But guess what, they still sell rosaries.. hmmmm. We made it to the pub last night for dinner and they had Irish dancers and singers who were awesome. We all sang and danced with them and had ... read more

Geo: 52.6538, -7.24798Today was a travel day, Dublin-to-Kilkenny, and it was supposed to have been spent primarily in Kilkenny, normally about 2 hours from Dublin.But, from walking cross town to pick up the rental car (because of the taxi strike), relearning the mechanics of driving a stick while driving on the left (hand side of the road), sitting on the right (side of the car), and shifting with the left, a confusing maze of 1-way streets, no right turns, dead end alleys one-car wide (yeah, trying a 33-point turn to get out of THAT one), and Dublin's disdain for street name signs -- they don't have ANY that can be read from more than 10 feet away, in most cases don't have ANY, and those they do have aren't on street corners or above intersections but ... read more