Kilkenny

23rd and 24th August 2009

After arriving into the city, and walking a fair distance to find our hostel, we dropped our bags for a quick look around the city. Kilkenny is not a large place, just the 2 main shopping streets and a hell of a lot of pubs, in true Irish fashion. We were in desperate need of some lunch, after only managing a bagel in Cork before we left. So after a bit of strolling we decided on just having an early dinner as it was closer to 6pm and no longer really lunch time. After having dinner we just headed back to the hostel to catch up on affairs and take advantage of the fast internet. Dan slept, and snored loudly.

After I woke Dan up around 9 we decided to go and check out some live music in one of the various pubs. We were surprised at how many places were offering music on a Sunday night. We ended up in the pub just around the corner from the hostel where there was a father and son playing traditional Irish music. It was much better than what we'd seen in Killarney; it wasn't as touristy and much more relaxed. After a couple of drinks we called in a night and grabbed some tasty, greasy chips for the short walk home!

Next morning we woke to some blue sky and sunshine, so we were up and dressed and out to explore Kilkenny. Our first stop was a breakfast stop, after quite a hefty walk through the city in search of something affordable (It is not just Dublin, ALL of Ireland is bloody expensive). After breakfast we headed up to Kilkenny Castle, which sits pretty much right in the centre of town. When we got there we found signs up saying that entry was free to the castle between 4 and 5 that afternoon, so we decided to go and do some other things and come back when it's free.

We really needed to get some washing done and with the hostel charging 8.50 for a load we thought we could find a laundromat and do it cheaper ourselves. We asked in at the Info centre where one was, but they could only point us in the direction of a place that washes it for you. We'd seen a similar place not too far up the road also so we firstly called in there. The woman there told us that she wouldn't be able to do it for us today, but it would 18euros for a load anyway. 18 freaking Euros. For a load of washing. Arghh. After hearing this we trekked over to the place that the info centre had told us about. Although these people could do it in the day for us, 1 small load would still set us back 18 Euros. 'Stuff that' we thought and headed back to the hostel. On the walk back to the hostel I was busy looking at all the sights, while Dan was obviously watching his feet. It paid off though, as he bent down and collected 100Euros off the ground (Roughly equivalent to $200 Aus). Bonus! I had decided that he should take me out to a nice steakhouse for dinner. Dan had different plans; he thought it would be a nice gesture if he cooked me a steak!

After hand washing some undies in the bathroom basin and stringing them up off our bunk we thought we'd check out the cool looking church right behind the hostel; St Canice's cathedral. We paid the admission and had a bit of a wander through the church. It was pretty dark and gothic inside; similar to the one we'd seen at Galway. They seem to use much darker bricks in the churches over here, and it works; they look really cool. In our admission we'd also paid to climb the round tower outside the church. It sort've looked more like a chimney for a kiln, rather than something associated with a church. The thing that made the tower so cool was that it was not the usually spiral staircase. Instead, to get to the top you had to climb a series of wooden ladders. Towards the top, where the tower narrowed out,, it got a lot more cramped and made letting people pass you difficult. The views from the top were pretty cool, we could see most of the town. The castle looked pretty impressive from up there too.

Following the descent from the tower it was about 3.30, so only half an hour until free entry into the castle. What better way to pass the time, but to have a pint in a local pub. Dan had already sampled Kilkenny the night before, so he'd decided to try another locally brewed beer, Smithwicks. He did find out however when we went to order that it's actually pronounced "Smithicks" - the w is silent! Beers downed, and we strolled up to the castle. When we were there earlier in the day we'd watching a short film on the history of the place. It was never really used as a defence castle, more of a stately home for the Butler family. Free admission and we wandered our way through the castle. It was pretty cool, and had been decorated all in Victorian style. The paint and the furniture were all bright and colourful, and ofcourse there was the typical American tourists that touched everything that had labels saying, "Do not touch". We're glad we didn't pay to get in, because we were in and out in about 45 minutes. We wandered through the lawns for a little bit, but decided that we needed to get back and sort out our bags for flying the next day.

On the walk back to the hostel, after picking up steaks for Dan to cook, we did happen to notice the annoying, whinging, hair drying Canadian, about a block away from the hostel. I said to Dan "Would it be funny if she was staying at the same place as us!!". On walking into our 4 bed dorm, I laughed quite hard when I realized that they were her bags laying on the bed next to ours. Dan and I spent the next hour or so doing, the bug weighing and clothes juggling act that is required when flying with Ryanair. Cheryl, again, we would've been lost without our scales!!! Dan cooked up some lovely steaks with mushrooms and coleslaw, and we sat and chatted with some young girls from Adelaide. After dinner we headed back up to the room to watch some TV on the laptop. Whilst laying under the bunk, partially covered by undies strung up, we head the door open and 'she' walks in. She has a quick peek through and then asks us "Are you the same people from Cork the other night". We responded yes, we sure as hell remembered her. That was all that was said and Dan and I continued to watch Packed to the Rafters. 10 minutes later she arrived back into the room and then started lugging her 8 bags out again. Nothing said to us, but she moved into the room next door. She really must have a problem with us or something. I was a bit disappointed as I had good plans for her in the morning. We need to be up by 7 in order to make the train in time, and I thought she could've gotten up with us. We also wanted to borrow her hair dryer to help dry off our undies!!!

After a good nights sleep, and a early rise, I find myself now on a packed train to Dublin. Although we had reserved seats the stupid cows in them refused to get out so we had to find other seats. After asking one of the staff members it appears that there are 2 carriage B's, and we must've been in the wrong one. So we're sitting in an unreserved seat while our booked seats up the other end of the train are most likely empty. We're sitting with a2 adults and their 4 young kids, all of which are playing a DS. Dan's joined in with them and playing his DS too, he's just the biggest kid of them all.

When we arrive in Dublin we'll have 3 or 4 hours to spend, hopefully finding my necklace, in the city before catching a bus out to the airport. When we arrive at Stansted we will get a shuttle bus to our hotel, THE HILTON!!! (Seriously it was the cheapest of all the airport hotels!!) We'll have about 9 hours there though before its back to Stansted and on the 6:30am flight to Venice!!! Until then Arrivederci or something.