Kilkenny

There must be something in the air, and so far it's not rainbows.  Haven't seen one of those yet.  Each town we visit just seems to have more charm than the last.  Kilkenny is our favorite yet.  This weekend is quicker than last, two days instead of three.  Then it's four more days in Cork and then we stay in Galway next Friday and Saturday, and then finish off the whole trip with three nights in Dublin.

Aidan exploring the base of the rock, below the cathedral.  It could be he's trying to get away from the yellow jackets that are once again pestering me.

We start off with a visit to the Rock of Cashel.  It looms large in Irish folklore for a few reasons.  It supposedly came into being as Saint Patrick drove Satan out of Ireland.  The devil was in a frantic hurry to get away and a mountain was blocking his path, so he took a huge bite of it in his mouth in order to get away.  30 km later he dropped it - that's the rock.  It now has a cathedral on top full of amazing things and tourists blocking my shots, so you'll have to do an image search on your own.

We loved this though - it's the path of the dead.  People would make a formal procession with their dead and walk a particular path through Cashel and up to the cathedral for burial ceremonies.  We took a walk on it in the day time, but it would be fabulous to do on Halloween.  

History lesson over for the day, and one bag of Taytos later, we drove on to Kilkenny.  I forgot to tell you about the "Taytos accord."  Every time I take Aidan to something older than 500 years, I have to buy him a bag of these:


I had a surprise in store for the kids.  About 20 odd years ago, some guy named Eddie liked the California diners like Ruby's and Johnny Rocket's so much that he retired to Ireland and set up his own version, which borrows rather heavily from both.  It's called Eddie Rockets, and the waitress wear little red and white striped dresses, just like the Ruby's girls do.  The food is mostly the same with a few Irish twists.  There was an Eddie Rockets on the north end of Kilkenny next to a shopping mall.  Between hamburgers shakes and root-beer, I figured it would make the kids happy for the rest of the day.  

While there, a mysterious thing happened, that we may never see again.  We stumbled into a pocket of gingers.

I love gingers.  I married one, and I'm sorry that there wasn't enough ginger dna on my side of the family to produce ginger kids.  This is why gingers are predicted to be extinct within the next 100 years.  Gingers are not all over Ireland like you might think.  They are just one archetype.  However.  We walked into Eddie Rockets, and almost every person in the place had red hair.  Some of it was strawberry blond, some was ruddy, some orange and wild, some darker auburn, some was white with age with a tinge of rust remaining.  It was boggling.  Not only that, but as we ate, more came in the door.  Somewhere in Kilkenny, the ginger gene is strong. 

(I know what you're thinking - South Park Harry Potter.   I'll give it to you but please, only click through if you are not easily offended.  It's South Park, mkay?)

View from the hotel window.  I could photograph doors and flowers all day.

Kilkenny castle, taken by Riley on a far off hill, just before stepping barefoot into dog doo.  Ken and I are under one of the windows.

In one of the basement rooms

From our booth

Ken and I left the kids for the evening and we went to Kyteler's Inn.  

Kyteler's was the whole reason I had booked this weekend.  I wanted to have a few drinks in the oldest operating pub in Ireland.  Dame Alice established this pub in 1324, and it is a treasure.  

I think any woman who was convicted of witchcraft and sentenced to be whipped and burned at the stake deserves to have a pint lifted in her name.  We had a great evening with music and drunken Irish guys who were full of stories.

The next day we meandered back to Cork following a route that took us to a waterfowl refuge, where we found the Seehassen in his summer home.  We also broke the bee curse.  We had to walk on a boardwalk full of bees and yellow jackets to get to one of the observation blinds.  It took a few moments to screw up our courage, but we forged ahead, with me in the lead, and they didn't bother us at all!  Not coming or going.  Phew.  

Next stop was Duncannon Beach, where we added the Irish Sea to our list of waters swam in.  Though Aidan was the only one to get completely wet.  I didn't take pictures because the wind was fierce.  We had Beach side food and decided to try to hit the Waterford factory visitors center. 

However, we forgot to keep Garmina in check, and she led us on a road that dead-ended to a ferry dock.  Not having anywhere to turn around, we took it, since ferries are so cool.  We got to Waterford too late to look around, unfortunately.  But it was a warm sunny day and the drive was on wide two-lane roads, so we didn't mind.

Our Passar

Bad Garmina