Day 4

Close-up of my play cottage.

Day 4

The seven dwarves' house? Or a cute pleasure house for rich, bored aristocrats? I wish I had my own pleasure-house....

Day 4

Mom modeling the old-fashioned castle toilets (yes, I made her do this every time we ran into a toilet in the castles). Fun toilet facts: 1. Toilet users would just go out the side of the castle into the moat...and that could be their drinking water too. 2. One of the most vulnerable areas of a castle was this toilet shoot. In fact, it was a wide seat so you could go the bathroom next to someone else in case someone tried to invade. The unlucky person who "volunteered" to climb the toilet shaft could be hit with falling um...yeah. And it must have smelled. Still, I can't imagine being on a toilet and suddenly a head pops up next to me. Eek!

Day 4

This small door within a door is a castle defense strategy--no armies can get through it quickly. It seems to me it is also a stumbling block for the castle owners. And yes, I did fall through it.

Day 4

A beautiful example of crystal work at the Waterford factory. Alas, Cinderella's carriage is a little out of my price range....

Day 4

Day 4 was our second day in Kilkenny (fun fact of the day: kil means church in Gaelic, hence why so many kils in ireland). It was really fun. We went to Kilkenny Castle the day before (first built in stone around 1206 and remodeled most recently in the 18th century). I love those tours where we learn history and archaeology. We stayed in its dower house so doubly cool. Anywho, the family who owned it, the Butler family (look up the Earl of Ormonde for cool stories) also at one point owned two other castles and a playhouse we visited. The playhouse was where one branch of the Butler family (Earl of Cahir) went to play peasant (a la Marie Antoinette...I can feel Michelle wincing). It looks like snow white and the seven dwarves' cottage (I have pics above, no fear). The other two castles dated to the late 12th century not the early 19th (during which period many of them were remodeled) and thus were more typical castles of Medieval and Elizabethan period (directly above is a picture of one of these early castles). Earlier the castle day, we went to Waterford Crystal and learned about how they make the crystals. The craftsmen there were amazing and it made me feel bad for all the crystal I will accidentally break in the future.