LEAVING DUBLIN! IRELAND

Good afternoon,
This hotel is called The Merrion...near Merrion Square in the Georgian section of old Dublin, close to many things.  The hotel itself is a series of 4 Georgian houses renovated to a most glorious state.  It is a fine 5 star hotel, perhaps the finest in all of Dublin...at least that is what the hop on hop off driver  said.  The people here have been incredibly friendly and helpful.  Sinaid O'Connor has been here for the past three nights, but we never saw her...just as well, never been a fan.

Around the corner is a very nice pub...Ron says...with a friendly bartender.  He had a beer there as I did a long blog.  He didn't get lost retuning this time...or get hit by a car.

There are convenience markets with yogurt...candy bars...fruit juice...Coke...and other necessary life sustaining foods.  Starbucks and local coffee shops which we prefer are near within a couple of blocks.

Matt the Thresher, that wonderful restaurant, is 3 short walking blocks away....the one with the crab arms and crab toes.

Hop on hop off is right outside the door about 200 feet.

The Irish Parliament is across the street.

So it was a great introduction to a wonderful county, and now, after a light breakfast at the local coffee shop, we are off to other parts...and this is where we veer off course a bit for part of the day...because we can.

The doorman told us to go to Killkenny...see the castle, walk around the town...instead of go down the coast to Waterford.

A taxi picked us up at the hotel...took us to the airport to get our car...a little tiny  Renault SUV, manual transmission that uses diesel.  Dd you read MANUAL?  All of them are manual, which should cause no problem except that driving is also on the wrong side.

Ron kept stalling the car and an attendant walked over to give him instructions.  A woman sitting on a bench and waiting for her husband made the sign of the cross.  (I am not kidding.)

Finally we are off...me scared to death.  He did ok once we got on the freeway...and we made it to Killkenny in the rain only 1 hour and 45 minutes away.

A quaint little medieval town with a lovely castle on a hill with very very very narrow streets with cars driving in both directions....OMG!  I admit I might have screamed a couple of times, and he said a very bad word.  He pulled off by a church and said he needed to potty.

The church was old old old and had a lovely cemetery with Celtic crosses, moss covered crosses, and some sections in ruins, but the gate was locked.  I love churches like this.  A well dressed old man, very old man, walked up to me, asked me where i was from and started telling me that the church was once Catholic, now Protestant, and to go around to the other side to see the rest of it.  Amazing...I wish I could have gotten on.

Ron returned...and we headed off to the castle that we could see on the hill, but we had to go through the colorful medieval town to get there.

After running up on two sidewalks and running over several orange construction cones, I decided the castle was not that important.

WATERFORD