Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Gray Stone and More Gray Stone

We slept a little later today. I think we are adjusting to the time change. We had enough time for breakfast and then checked out of the hotel. However, we left our car in the hotel parking lot and went out touring Kilkenny on foot. Our first stop was Kilkenny Castle which was just a short walk across the bridge from our hotel. The castle was impressive particularly for the huge grassy grounds stretching out south of the castle. We toured inside and it reminded me in some ways of Versailles.

When we finished the tour we found an ATM to replenish our Euros and took a walk along High street toward St. Canice's Cathedral. We detoured from our route to also visit St. Mary's to see the stained glass windows there. From St. Mary's we continued our walk to St Canice's Cathederal and Round Tower. We toured inside St. Canice's which has some nice stained glass of it's own. Then Ethan and I climbed the 7 stacked ladders inside the 30 meter Round Tower. The top affords a nice panoramic view of Kilkenny. We waved and snapped pictures of Janet who photographed us from below. The trip down was much easier but still an effort.

We walked back to the hotel to collect the car but decided to grab lunch at the hotel restaurant first. After lunch we drove to the abbey ruins at Jerpoint Abbey. It was interesting to walk among the crumbling walls and imagine how it looked when it was whole.

We left Jerpoint with the NeverLost set for our hotel in a valley of the Wicklow Mountains. It was about an hour and a half drive. The GPS took us on a route that was scenic if sometimes confusing. The hotel has a restaurant, but we chose to eat at Casey's Bar and Bistro that occupys the same building.

The weather has been mostly good today. We didn't have Monday's sun, and it rained while we were inside Kilkenny Castle and on part of our drive, but it was only cloudy and mildly cool anytime we were outside. Tomorrow we will look for a couple of waterfalls and some other sights in the Wicklow Mountains National Park.

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