We are in the grounds of the Kilkenny Castle, having just taken the self conducted tour through the beautiful rooms and gallery's within the castle, the outside gardens are massive and as the sun is shining brightly today the Irish have come out to play, it is a lovely atmosphere.
We came to Kilkenny from Cork yesterday driving along the coast through several little and large villages, the scenery was breath taking and I got to walk along many a cliff face, which were adorned with flowers, it was a lovely day. We stopped in the seaside town of Tramore for lunch, it poured down with rain the whole time we were there, though there were still a few mad Irishmen brave enough to chase a wave along the shores.
The lady whom served us lunch was so attentive of our needs and comfort, to the point of following me from one side of the building to the other to see if I'd like gravy with my roast chicken lunch, even though Jo had told her I would. This has been typical of the level of service we have experienced in Ireland, what the Irish must think of us when they come to Oz worries me, we could take a feather out of their caps.
Whilst in Cork we visited Cobh, the port town of which was the last place the Titanic departed for New York on its fatal journey. The old White Star building where the Irish passengers boarded tenders to join the ship has been converted into a tourist attraction "The Titanic Experience" if you get the chance take a photo of the building from the street and keep the $9.50 Eruo in your pocket, the tour was shite,very disappointing.
We were told of an old pub down the road from us at the Butler House, at 300 years it is the oldest pub in Kilkenny, we went there last night for a drink and were to discover that Rob Strong, father of Andrew Strong lead singer for "The Commitments" was to be playing from 9:30. Though we had to go to another pub for dinner, we returned to the Tynan's for some major craic and a few more pints of the good stuff. We were blown away by Rob Strong's voice he was awesome, he sang songs like Sitting on the dock of the bay, but in a bluesy fashion, he was unreal, his rendition of Mustang Sally was almost as good as his sons.
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| Shopping in Cork |
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| the remains of the dock where Cork passengers boarded tenders for Titanic |
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| For Cliffy |
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| Cobh Co. Cork |
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| Cathedral Cobh |
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| Our suite at Butlers House |
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| Bathroom has view to garden |
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| View from room |
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| Tyan's Bar pre dinner drink |
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| Several pints later |
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| Drinking mate at Tyan's, Jack & Peter Molloy |
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| Kilkenny Castle |
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| President of Ireland visits the castle |
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| The Pres with the Mayor |
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Jo made a couple of friends, they were good blowers
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