Irish Breakfast
After a very good night's sleep, we got up to a yummy Irish breakfast.
Butter
Those round balls are butter. :)
Scones
These are REAL Irish scones! Yummy!
Tea
The tea in Ireland tastes so much better than the tea here in the States. Irish tea is silky smooth, bold, yet
mellow. Mmmm...
Irish Brown Bread
Full Irish Breakfast
Abi and TJ. ordered the full Irish breakfast which includes (clockwise), sausage, or bangers (they came to be known as bangers during a food shortage when the Irish put water in the sausages to stretch them, making them explode while frying); mushrooms (yuck!); tomatoes (sorry, Abi had already consumed them before we snapped this picture); white pudding; black pudding (this B&B didn't serve it, but most B&Bs do); fried bread; bacon, or rashers.
Frank and Sheila
The older couple are Frank and Sheila, our host and hostess. We really enjoyed them! They were so kind, giving us directions and driving tips. Frank even turned our van around in their driveway for us! When Sheila first saw us, she thought we were nuns, so the next morning she wouldn't let Frank come out of the kitchen (he does the cooking) because she was afraid that he might say something that would offend us! :) We reassured her that he wouldn't bother us at all, and actually we really enjoyed his good sense of humor! :)
Kilkenny
Here we are, walking on the streets of Kilkenny toward the trolley pick up. Frank told us that we would really enjoy riding the trolley around town and hearing Kilkenny history.
Outside Kilkenny Castle
The trolley pick up was outside Kilkenny castle.
On the Trolley!
TJ. and Aunt Carol. Notice the round about sign to the left? We dreaded seeing those. jk :)
McDonald's!!!
Mystery Place
I'm sorry to say that I can't remember what this church or abbey or monastery was. I thought it was a nice picture, though. :D
Scarlet Door
This is a good example of the bright colored doors in Ireland. With all the houses looking the same in the cities, they had to have some variety (not to mention remembering which door was theirs!).
Black Abbey
Thanks to Dick and Jo Marshall, we recognized this abbey!
"The name Black Abbey is based on the fact that in England and other countries the Dominicans were often referred to as "Black Friars" on account of the black cappa or cloak which they wear over their white habits."
-Thank you, Wikipedia! :)
Access Only
Alternative Route
Irish Football Fans
Irish football is similar to our soccer. The people of Kilkenny were very enthusiastic about their football team. :)
Narrow Alley
Our trolley driver was a very, very good driver. This is one alley that he drove down; you can see how close the wall was to us. It was that close on the other side too!
Kilkenny
Kilkenny City was built around 500 AD, but wasn't made a 'real' city until 1609 AD.
Scary Streets!!!
Here's a good example of Kilkenny's crazy streets.
Kilkenny Castle
We weren't allowed to take pictures in Kilkenny Castle, so, I'm sorry you can't go through it.
Tower
Another view of Kilkenny castle.
The inside was ok, but they were still doing a lot of restoration inside, so we could only go into a limited amount of rooms. My favorite room was the picture gallery room. When we walked in, it was SO huge that I just had to stop and stare. It looked as big as the ark, or thereabout. There were gigantic pictures on the walls of different Irish people, all dressed in old style clothing. I'd say the pictures were at least 7 ft. tall and 4-5 ft wide. The pictures looked dwarfed in that huge room.
Kilrush Corn Mills
After leaving Kilkenny City, we headed out to Cashel Rock. This was an abandoned corn mill that we saw on the way.
SLOW
More 'scenic', but really scary roads.
Ruins
These were some ruins that we saw along the way. I think that it was a private property as this gate was securely locked and there was a castle back in there.
Nostalgia
I didn't get out to see this one, but everyone who did said that it had grave stones in it.
Uho, Mom's driving!
Just kidding, she did a great job!
Unforgettable
We drove around a curve in the road, the trees and hedges suddenly parted and there, perched on a high hill, was Cashel Rock. We were all gasping and exclaiming over it. It was a perfect beginning to our discoveries there.
Cashel Rock, aka, St. Patrick's Rock
This fortress was donated to The Church around 1600 AD. The Brothers semi converted it into a monastery/chapel. You can still see signs of the fortress in the church-like atmosphere.
The Hand of Reason
Aunt Carol put her hand right in Abi's picture. We thought it rather funny. :)
Mural
This was a mural that they had discovered under layers of whitewash. The example of what it will look like all restored is in the bottom left of this picture.
Here lies the body of...
Magnificent!
This picture hardly shows the vastness of the inside of this monastery.
Watch Tower
The architecture was amazing!
Celtic Cross
Pronounced "Keltic, not "Seltic"! Just kidding, both ways are correct, but the Irish say "Keltic" and the Americans say "Seltic". :)
Scully's Cross
This is Scully's Cross, put up in 1867 to commemorate the Scully family, but the top was struck by lightning in 1976.
(I checked my info carefully this time. Let me know if I'm still wrong, though!)
Ó Scolaidhe
I found out what this says! :) This is the inscription on the Skully's Cross mausoleum.
"Life is but a vapor..."
I think that this is about my favorite picture! It really makes me think about the brevity of life.
Horizon
Smile!!!
The sun was SO bright, we could hardly see! L-R Aunt Carol, me, Gram, Abi, and Mom (TJ. is taking the picture).
Portal
Abbey
Beyond the monastery lies an ancient abbey. This is looking through an archery hole.
Up close of the Abbey
The Brother's "dorm"
Kitchen
"Mind your Head"
We loved this sign. :) Notice the big wood door.
"What used to be"
This was Cashel in all its glory.
Cormac's Chapel
This was the monastic chapel. Read the picture!
Ancient Paintings
Just like those murals that I had talked about before, these ceiling paintings had been covered up in the chapel by an invading army. The paintings were thought to be idolatrous, so they tried to efface them and cover them up. The paintings were just discovered, so they aren't completely restored yet.
More Murals
Mistaken
I was mistaken as to this cross's identity. This isn't Scully's Cross. You'll find a couple pictures of the real Scully's Cross higher up. :)
History
We watched a neat documentary here on Cashel's history.
St. Patrick's Cross
12th Century
St. Patrick's Cross
The Narrow Way
TJ. Abi and I followed this narrow little path outside of the castle walls.
Beautiful!!!
Restaurant
This was the back of a little Irish restaurant outside of Cashel. We didn't eat there as it was a little too expensive.
Supper!
Papa John's... Pretty authentic Irish food, huh? :)
I thought that you might enjoy this excerpt from my journal (that's where I get most of my information).
"After leaving Cashel Rock, we drove into Kilkenny and promptly got lost. We enjoyed the "tour" of the city, but it was a little nerve racking. Once we finally found the City Center, we dropped Aunt Carol off at Papa John's (which was harder than it sounds) to get pizza for us all. We tried to find a parking spot in the rush hour traffic, which was nearly impossible, but we did finally find one! Mom and TJ. walked down to find Aunt Carol to make sure that she could find us. When they got back, the smell of pizza was just heavenly! After not eating since breakfast, we were so hungary! ... Getting back to our B&B we fell to and devoured the 2 pizzas and most of the fries that they had given us."
God bless you! ~Emily
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