We left Dublin yesterday morning and headed for Kilkenny.  We stayed at a really nice, old place in Kilkenny city that was right in the middle of the main stretch of road so everything was right around us.  

The hotel was really, really nice.  Outside in the yard was a beautiful public garden with benches and flowers and the outside of the building was covered in bright green ivy. Through the courtyard and garden is the Kilkenny design center with two beautiful shops full of homemade crafts of all sorts.  

Shortly after arriving, we headed to Tullaroan where my dad’s family lives.  This is one of the most important parts of the trip for me.  We met my dad’s grandmother’s brother (Dick at the Church) and his wife (Kitty) and their son (Richie).  Dick at the Church is 92 years old.  Kitty and Dick at the Church gave us each about 20 cups of tea, little ham sandwiches, fresh brown bread with jam and butter, and lemon cake.  We sat around the table in their cluttered dining/sitting room and talked about family history and shared stories.  Then Richie took us on a tour of the farm and to The Church down the street.  Tullaroan is a small little town, so their house doesn’t have an address.  To know where you’re going, you just say “The Church”, which is why he is “Dick at the Church”.  The farm spans hundreds of acres (they don’t own all of it anymore but still have access to all of it) and it is home to a bunch of horses, sheep, and a handful of cows.  

Dick at the Church and Lizzy

After the tour, we had more tea and then headed back to the city.  We had some dinner then turned in for the night.  

This morning, we casually got up and got ready, then taxi-d over to the hospital to visit with Ceily, Dick at the Church’s sister.  I have never seen anyone that old with that much energy.  She is 80-something years old and was all over the place.  So much spunk.  And just the sweetest woman.  We visited with her just for a little while and met one of our relatives from New York’s sister.  

I learned a lot this trip about my dad’s side of the family- even information about the family members that I already knew.  

After the visit, we headed to Galway (which was a much better driving experience even though we got lost and we didn’t have the correct address for the hotel…).  We checked in and walked around a bit, then grabbed some dinner in the hotel restaurant. Afterwards, Dad turned in for the night and Lizzy and I got ready to go out.  We headed out and walked around the city for a little bit, then caught some live Irish music (fiddle, guitar, flute, and percussion, as well as some vocal) at a bar and then sat outside and watched the people walk by.  The woman with the band had put an Oscar Wilde poem to music and she performed it tonight, acoustically, and it was really beautiful!  

Tomorrow is more Galway City (shopping and walking around) then probably some more music.  

We’ve been in Dublin for the past two days AND we have Lizzy with us now!  Yay!!

Yesterday, after ANOTHER incredibly stressful drive (no open gas stations, etc) and before we went to pick Lizzy up at the airport, Dad and I went to see Trinity College.  We walked around campus just a little and then we went to the old library and the Book of Kells exhibit.  The Book of Kells exhibit was really interesting, the artwork included in the books are really absolutely beautiful.  

Then we went to pick Lizzy up from the airport!!  I am so happy to see her.  I missed her SO much while she was away.  We cabbed back to Dublin, walked around a bit, then went to dinner.  Afterward, we were all too tired to do anything else so we just headed back to the hotel where Lizzy and I ordered dessert and an AWFUL movie.  

Today we got up and had breakfast, then went to the National Gallery of Ireland- which is a museum with a bunch of Irish and European art.  It had paintings, sculptures, and drawings by Irish and other European artists from all throughout history.  Then Lizzy and I shopped until we met Dad for dinner.  

Tomorrow morning we leave for Kilkenny, where I will get to meet my Dad’s family.  I am SO excited.

Today, we spent a good amount of time at King John’s Castle.  Yes, that King John, from Robin Hood.  He never actually lived here- it was built for his representative in the area- but it was named after him nonetheless.  

I have to say, I’m pretty impressed with the museums we’ve seen so far.  Each one has had a recommended path to take so that visitors strategically see everything there is to see.  The tour started in a museum exhibit-type thing with a little slideshow at the end about important events in history.  Following this, there was a second exhibit that led to a movie about the Siege of Limerick and The War of the Two Kings, as well as other important information in European History.  After that, we went and explored the castle.  I was surprised at how much… freedom? we had while we were exploring.  We were allowed to touch things, move them, go up flights of stairs, go into rooms and there were no guards or anyone restricting people from doing things.  There was only one staircase blocked off that I noticed and that was, as far as I can tell, because it was open on the side and therefore was a safety hazard if people went up it.  They had models of people that spoke and “told you their story”.  And then there was an archaeological excavation that they are currently working on.  It takes a look at some sites of houses that were leveled when the castle went up and some of the old walls from the castle.  

This was probably my favorite thing that we’ve done so far.  I really love European history, so being completely enveloped in it was really great.  

We are leaving for Dublin at 4AM to avoid traffic since driving is so weird here.  An interesting observation my dad had today was that as far as we can tell, countries that were once part of the British Isles or were once British colonies all drive on the left side of the road.  These are not the ONLY countries that do, but it’s still interesting. 

Anyway, we leave at 4AM for Dublin and Lizzy’s flight comes in at 2:35.  I cannot wait to see her!  :)

Today we spent seven hours walking around the city.  My first task was to find and buy either a new camera battery or a means of charging the battery I have.  I eventually found a small electronics store and bought two camera batteries, meaning I won’t have to rely on iPhone to take pictures.  Dad and I separated for a while and I shopped a little bit, struggling through the Euro system.  

Dad and I met back up and we started walking toward King John’s Castle. On our way, we came across the Hunt museum.  The Hunt museum holds three floors worth of artifacts from the European Bronze and Iron ages- weaponry, jewelry, clothing, cutlery, dishes, crucifixes, religious replicas and garb, and much much more.  It also houses a lot of artwork by Irish artists.  

We had lunch at the museum’s restaurant serving traditional Irish meals.  I had chicken in a mushroom cream sauce with turnip, potatoes, cabbage, and brown bread and my dad had carmelized onion tart with the same veggies.  It was very good and there was a lot of it.  I was worried I wouldn’t find much to eat while I was here but so far I have eaten pretty well :)

We left the museum and continued walking.  We went and visited St. Mary’s Cathedral. 

The cathedral used to be a castle until the area was invaded by Oliver Cromwell in the 1600’s.  It was taken over and used as a stable (to be disrespectful).  The building was then established as an Anglican church, as it remains now.  Its grounds are surrounded by graveyards and beautiful archways and walls.  

After we were done here, we continued walking and found ourselves in an older area of the city with old buildings and pubs and shops.  Dad and I stopped into an antique store and spoke with a woman for a good while.  She had lived in NYC for years and had friends in Kentucky, but said there’s nowhere like Ireland.  She gave us some places to visit later on in our trip when we are out by the coast and she, of course, told us a bunch of great stories.  

Then we went to the Limerick Museum and looked at some artifacts representing Irish history.  They were featuring an exhibit on growing up in Ireland with toys, pictures, drawings, schoolwork, and clothing.  It was really interesting, especially after the talk Siobhan and I had before I left for the trip.

Just woke up from my “It’s sooo late in my world and I haven’t slept in almost 24 hours” nap.  

The drive from the airport to the hotel here in Limerick was…. very very stressful!!  Even though Dad was driving, I was totally feeling the anxiety anyway.  Trying to relay the information from the GPS to my dad, who isn’t used to driving on the left side of the road was so stressful!  AND the rotaries go the other direction.  AND there’s a lot of them.  It was quite the adventure, at least.  

The hotel rooms weren’t ready yet when we got here, so we went and did a little walking around the city.  

It is so so beautiful here.  It is this wonderful mix of downtown city with beautiful old buildings and statues and monuments and castles mixed in, all surrounded by farm fields.  My room overlooks the Shannon River and looking directly across it I can see King John’s Castle.

Pictures to come!

So here I am.  It is 7:30 AM here (2:30 AM at home), and I am awake but only because I’m usually up this late back at home.  I’m hanging out, like a cool kid, in the airport waiting for Hertz to get our car together so we can drive over to Limerick.  I am excited at everything I’ve come across so far.  I can’t wait to be completely enveloped by this country.  I’m so happy I’m starting my trip out in the Western part of the country.  

Limerick-bound in half an hour!