An Irish Travelogue

Day 3 in Ireland found us in Kilkenney. The town of Kilkenney is a touristy area and there were many people walking about town. The town is full of narrow stone streets and beautiful architecture. We arrived at 11:30 am and had plenty of time to walk around the town and have lunch before our tour of Kilkenney Castle at 2 pm.
Our first stop was at the pharmacists to get contact solution for Casey. I had a blister so I got some bandaids as well. The bandaids are called elastoblasts and are so different from what we consider bandaids. Once our purchases were made we climbed a hill to a church at the top. This was St. Canice's cathedral and it was beautiful. It sat on the edge of town and even had a watch tower. That is my family looking down from the tower. My knee and my fear of heights prevented me from doing this. I sat in the church yard and looked at very old graves and Celtic crosses.
After this we walked back towards town stopping at the most beautiful church along the way. The stained glass windows were beautiful and we were able to go in and observe Mass there. Lunch was at Subway (don't laugh - it was quick and easy) and we were quickly on our way for more time around the town. There were street performers and a beautiful walkway along the canal. Around 2 we headed to the Kilkenney castle for our tour.
The Castle was over 800 years old and had been in one family for many years. The tour lasted about an hour and was pretty nice - couldn't take pictures though. Afterwards, we were all back on the tour bus and headed to our Irish farms for the evening. Before getting on the bus, we stopped and got ice cream from an ice cream truck outside the castle. The main type they sell is a vanilla soft serve ice cream cone with a "flake" in it. The "flake" is a rolled Cadbury chocolate bar that consists of flakes of chocolate. The "flake is about 2 inches long and stuck into the side of the ice cream. It was fantastic. Of course, we love Cadbury chocolate and that is the only chocolate sold in Ireland so we had it often.

Our drive through the countryside to our farm - Moate Farm - was beautiful. I have to say this over and over, I can't believe how our bus driver, Jim Lynch, made it through some of the narrowest roads I have ever seen. We were constantly amazed at his driving. Of course, he has been doing this for 31 years, so it was no big deal to him. His skill at backing up the tour bus was even more amazing! More to come later!!!

In other news, I am enjoying my job tremendously. I am still working out the kinks with combining home life and working. I am pretty tired at night and don't feel like cooking or doing much of anything. I know it will get better as things go on. I have to start doing more meal planning and home organization in order not to be stressed about things. Everyone is helping out with fixing meals, walking Kitty, and being supportive. Greg and Casey even had breakfast for me this morning after I came in from my morning walk. For them to be up at 9 am on a Saturday stunned me. It was such a nice treat and I just love these kids.