Today was really incredible, and as I write this I am sitting in an Irish pub listening to traditional Irish music being played less than 5 feet from me! Just the icing on the cake. Seeing Castecomer, where my Mom's family is from was so neat. I am so excited to get home and put the pictures together into a story of our history! It was an adorable town, and the stable yards had been transformed into a visitor's craft center of sorts. What more could a girl ask for? Needless to say, I made some memorable purchases. We had so much fun, walking around town and discovering. I wonder what it was like to live there so long ago!?
And then it was on to Kilkenny where we are staying at a lovely b&b right in the center of town. We went straight to the castle here and made an appointment for the last tour so that we'd have time to do a bit of shopping and grab a bite to eat. We had what was probably the best pub food so far-huge dishes of seafood chowder with delicious brown bread at a little place called The Field. There's a movie by the same name, apparently.
The castle wasn't much to write home about, I'm afraid, and probably made worse by my encounter with the tour guide at the beginning of the tour. We were dead tired, and so when he ushered us into a room lined with chairs to wait for the last few stragglers of our group, we sat down. Then, to make matters worse, I took a photo of James just as the guy came in. I was told "I'm sorry, but there are no photos allowed, and all the furniture in the house is antique, so please don't sit down." Things he had neglected to tell us, I guess. What made it funny was that he then tossed his keys on several pieces of "antique" furniture throughout the tour. I felt like a rebellious school girl throughout the tour, as it was also exceedingly boring. Unfortunately, not all of us have as much of a love of antique furniture as this man, but that was all he talked about. I kept getting scared I was going to get caught giggling. Anyway, it was a pretty castle, if not what we had imagined it might be like.
Now we're at the end of our pub hopping, and I'll sign off. Tomorrow is another day! And sometime between now and then we'll decide where we're going next! :)