Day 3

The gardens at the Castle of Kilkenny: I look like a little person!

Day 3

Kilkenny Castle-- the home of the Earls of Ormonde (sadly the title was lost in 1997 as someone had only girls).

Day 3

Katie, no fouling!

Day 3

On Day 3 we left Dublin and arrived in Kilkenny. The countryside is amazing. Full of cottages, green grass, sheep, and cows. Our hotel is super cool. It is called the Butler House (pictured above) and was once the dower house of Kilkenny Castle, where we toured today. It was fascinating-built in the early thirteenth century and used up until the 20th, mostly by the Butler family, aka the Earl of Ormonde. We had Irish Italian for dinner- not what you'd think. I had thoughts of corn beef and lasagna, shepherd's pie and pasta, guiness and wine. It was actually close to American Italian, just with more salmon, Irish chicken, and Irish beef. I had polpette al pomodoro, aka spaghetti and meatballs. My room's view is amazing, out onto beautiful gardens. You can look out on them from the toilet! Now that's what I call classy :D

Day 2.4.2

You'd think with all the effort they put into making the beer that it would taste good. It doesn't. I managed two sips. Which got me to thinking, bars should have vanilla milkshakes on tap.

Day 2.4

One of the most popular sites in Dublin, the Guinness Factory. My ancestors, the Roe family, owned the distillery that Guinness bought in the 1700s. Yet again, I do not luck out. I could have been Lady Iveagh!

Day 2.3.2

The outside of St. Patrick's Cathedral

Day 2.3

The inside of Saint Patrick's Cathedral. I took this shot with the sun shining in and somehow made my Dad look holy. My grandmother would disagree :)

Day 2.2

This is the women's waiting room in Dublin Castle. The women would wait here until the men came to bring them to the ballroom. Supposedly, the women were forgotten on more than one occasion as the men drunk themselves into a stupor (or is that several stupors?). Now, the focus of this room is the chandelier-filled ceiling. How much do these beauties cost? Often over $20,000 each. How do I know this? Did you think I would not investigate such a sparkly treat? Sadly, I could not afford even one of these. A good birthday gift though...hint.hint.

Day 2

Day 2 was full of activities in Dublin (it was our only full day in the city and we had to get everything done). We took a step on-step off bus to the biggest tourist points in the city. Above are pictures of some of our stops. Directly above is a picture of Dublin Castle (which is more a palace than castle).

One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small....

Is it a shoe? Is it a plane? No, it's modern furniture!

Day 1.5

The picture is of the Dylan Hotel where we stayed in Dublin. It was modern-chic (sorta like shabby-chic...well, actually no, but shabby chic is such a fun word). I will add some pictures of the interior above. We arrived at this hotel at 6:00 AM after our flight. After check-in we went to see the Book of Kells at Trinity College Dublin. In my opinion, it was highly overrated. It was pretty and all, but the admission cost was too high. And I could not even read the Latin as it had medieval words and spellings. Grrr. After I took a four hour nap we went on a bus tour and ate at a pub. I had Shepherd's Pie. Yum! (NOTE: This was the first and last time I had Shepherd's Pie in Ireland...I think it might be one of those Irish American things...like French Fries for France or "Greek Salad" for Greece...my discovery in Greece that Greek salad has no lettuce in it was one of the greatest let downs of my life. Okay, I am going to end at this long parantheses).

Day 1

Am I going to prom? Am I getting married? Nope, I'm going to Ireland! My mom ordered a car to drive us to Logan Airport thinking "Black Lincoln Town Car," instead we ended up with a white limo. I guess we drove in style (I wonder what the neighbors thought).