Ireland Day 2 continued

Moving on from Dublin.

We stopped at Duckett's Grove on our way to Kilkenny. Once upon a time, it was a massive estate belonging to very rich, influential people. Sadly, it was burned in the 1930s.

The gardens are still kept up, but sadly not much to look at in early April. At least they are green.

We arrived at Kilkenny to tour the castle there. It was the longest continuously occupied castle in Ireland- around 800 years. It did sit abandoned between 1935-1967, with all of the contents auctioned off so anything in the castle now is not original. But with hidden scraps of wallpaper, paint, and records of carpets and drapes purchased have allowed the restoration people to get close to the Victorian version of the castle.

This toilet was installed before a visiting royal's sojourn. The tour guide called it the Royal Flush.

I thought this stair case was both colorful and different.

Now THIS is a gallery wall. In its heyday, the walls had so many more paintings.

This was a fortress castle in Norman times, but then remodeled in Victorian times to make it feel less... fortressy.

I have a close up photo of the kids on the stairs below. However the sun was positioned in the best way to give the kids squinty eyes. So, we'll stick with the broader view.

Then we traversed the city streets. We found the medieval Butter Slip Street. It looks like it belongs in a Dickens or Harry Potter movie.

That fancy wooden door is totally fake. It was painted.

This, if I am remembering correctly, is St. Mary's Cathedral.

More ornately carved, tiled, and painted spaces, with gorgeous stained glass windows.

The sanctuary was walled off. But when a church worker noticed I was enthralled, he lead me around to the side and let me in so I could take pictures. He was so kind! It was stunning. 

We ate dinner at a pub, then headed to Rose Cottage for the night. All of the old buildings have THICK walls. I insisted someone stand next to the wall for perpective. The outside walls were a good 3 feet wide.

Isn't it cute?

The center section was the original cottage. It was remodeled before becoming an Airbnb. This one had the most interesting bathroom situation. The shower was tiled on two sides, there was a glass wall on a third, but the 4th side was just... open. The shower head was pointed at the glass wall, but the toilet was well within spraying distance on the open side. It was a small bathroom (like all bathrooms that we saw there). But at least we had hot water. This was a major improvement.