Up at 6.30 .... Bus 8.30am
Drove out of Dublin through the rain and off down the motorway to Kilkenny....

All you South Park fans, I am studiously avoiding any references to killing Kenny OK?

In Ireland the 'kil' means church.

Lovely Drive, beautiful scenery.
Kilkenny was lovely. Seemed like a small town, colourful buildings... And an enormous castle.
Kilkenny Castle...
The same family had lived in it for centuries but upkeep and costs became too great and the family sold it to the Castles Museum Assoc in the 1960s for 50 pounds.
This castle was a bit different... It was made of darker grey stone. Only walked the perimeter again.
Went window shopping down the Main Street.
Constant rain but very warm ... So it was very, very humid.

An hours drive and we were in Waterford.
It was bucketing down.
But this time I stripped down on the jumpers and coats and it was very pleasant.
Had a long look in the Waterford Crystal showrooms. Beautiful to see.

Then we went on a walk through Waterford with the local guide Jack. It was still raining so we were a colourful procession of umbrellas!
Jack was a wealth of information and very, very funny. Great tour.

Ended up in the oldest pub in Waterford... Darren shouted us all a drink.
( I had Bailey's Irish Cream. ) and we spent an hour chatting and taking photos. Someone, years ago wrote his name on a pound note and pinned it to the wall... Theory being, he could come back and claim it at a later date.
So there was money being pinned to walls everywhere by our group.

Lovely dinner in the hotel.

Off to Cardiff tomorrow.
Had a drink in the hotel bar before dinner and I was joined by Robbiie, 37, Sth African....
Yep... He's a big Sci-Fi fan so we had lots to talk about.

Very, very, very excited about tomorrow.

When I thought that one day, maybe, I would like to go overseas.... I just said I want to go to Cardiff and sit where Cap't Jack sat.

Well, if the bus can find a park near the Millennium Centre tomorrow, that is what I will be doing.

If not, apart from the riot on board the bus, I will have to wait until I come back by myself.

But, it's close....
Xxx