Sept 6th: Trying to catch up on the blog. The Ireland Trip

 I must be having a lot of fun because the time has certainly flown by! I truly have had little time to do a blog for over 2 months. I decided to wait until I had enough time to do a good job. I am currently in Burlington, Vermont enjoying my visit with my sister's family. Given it is in the high 80's, we are staying inside most of the day. So here is the first part of the Ireland trip. I am using links for a lot of the places we visited because the history and additional pictures are very interesting.

My niece's family, Christie, Will, JP and Kaitlyn invited me to join them on a trip to Ireland. They are a lot of fun and I said yes immediately. Part of the trip was to meet Will's relatives who live in Ireland, as well as sight seeing.

We gathered at the Dublin Airport Saturday around noon, rented a car, and headed to our AirBnB. Will was the designated driver (reverse side of the road driving,) and JP was the designated navigator. Kaitlyn, Christi and I sat in the back. Tight fit but it worked.

First night accommodations in Dublin

Christ Church

We walked past Christ Church. It is a very impressive complex. More info here

Medieval Dublin Castle

We then walked around Dublin and visited Dublin Castle. 

We attended mass at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church. It is quite impressive

There was a side alter to Our Lady of Lourdes

We had a fun dinner a short walk from our hotel to round out the day.

Closed for breakfast

The next morning, Monday, we walked to a recommended restaurant for breakfast. The website said it was open. We arrived and found it closed! However, we went to our second choice and it turned out great. 

Fun Piggy Banks

The Cheeky Piglet

However, we went to our second choice and it turned out great. 

Good food and a fun place.

We could see this church from our rental place stairs. A very interesting history. The link below has more info.

St Audoen's Church, Dublin

There are a great many old and ornate buildings in Dublin.

Our next stop, on the way to Kilkenny, was was Wicklow Treetops Tower and Walkway. It consists of a huge tower, 125 feet tall, and raised walkway among and above the trees. It is designed to educate people about the values of the forests and wildlife.

Raised walkway

The tower from the bottom

There were awesome views from the top of the tower.

It was hard to get good pictures because the tower was so high. This site has a lot of pictures. Wicklow Treetop Adventure Pics The trip was definitely worth it. We skipped the circular slide which goes from the top to the bottom. The line was very long.

Next stop was Kilkenny. Our lodging was nice and interesting. 

Our lodging was part way down this narrow street.

We had a huge bathtub which I really enjoyed.

A nice well equipped kitchen

One of many nearby pubs.

We went to a fun pub, Kyteler's Inn, for dinner.   As with virtually all the pubs, there was live music.

Dinner at Kyteler's Inn

I found Ireland to be steeped in interesting folklore, stories of witches, superstitions, mystical creature stories, etc. Kyteler's Inn had an interesting history as well as a "Spooky" Story. 

Ireland has many, many old  castles. Most are ruins, but some have been renovated. One such castle is Kilkenny Castle which we toured. The castle was built in 1260 A.D. Kilkenny Castle  This site does a very good job of providing a brief informative history.

Here are a few pictures I took but the entire complex is so huge it was difficult to capture in pictures.

 

The grounds extend beyond what you can see.

One side of the castle 

This room in the castle was completely renovated and has many paintings and tapestries.

Christi and Will did a great job organizing the trip. They made reservations for a narrated river boat ride through Kilkenny. The morning we were scheduled to go it was raining with no end in sight. Christi called to see if the cruise was still on. The captain said "Absolutely". So we donned our rain gear and headed out. We were expecting a lot of rain on this trip so we were prepared. 

The river boat.

 When we arrived we found the boat was under a bridge, protected from the rain. The captain provided umbrellas. 

Our guide was informative with a good sense of humor. We ignored the rain, which was on and off, and had a good tour.

In keeping with the supernatural side of Ireland, we had reservations for a Ghost Tour. I wasn't sure what to expect. It turned out to be a combination of history about Kilkenny and the rumors of people from the past still showing up in various "Ghostly" ways. I learned that the Irish people suffered terribly under a variety of rulers. This link adds to the description in the Kyteler's Inn notes. Cromwell and the beginning of witchcraft beliefs

Kilkenny was a very interesting and fun place to visit. Our next stop was Blarney Castle and then continue on to Glengariff where Will's relatives live.

More to come!